Nick Clifford

If you want to understand how David Ellison might approach the future of DC Studios, I think we need to look at what he did with the TERMINATOR franchise. Ellison was heavily involved in TERMINATOR GENISYS (2015), which attempted to modernize the franchise by revisiting the original film, changing the timeline, and turning John Connor into the villain. They even mapped out an entire trilogy and television series before knowing whether audiences actually wanted any of it. Sound familiar? Then came TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019), another Skydance production that essentially ignored the previous sequels, returned to TERMINATOR 2, and promptly killed John Connor in the opening minutes. Now, James Cameron has taken responsibility for that particular decision, but Ellison was still actively involved in developing the movie. Twice under his stewardship, TERMINATOR attempted to reinvent itself by fundamentally changing the role of arguably its most important character. And twice, those attempts failed to establish a sustainable franchise. Which makes me wonder about Ellison's philosophy toward established properties. Does he see these franchises as something to build upon, or something to deconstruct and reinvent for modern audiences? Because there's a difference between updating a property and fundamentally changing what made people love it in the first place. But then you've got TOP GUN: MAVERICK, another Ellison production that embraced its predecessor, respected its legacy, and became an absolutely massive success. So clearly, he's capable of recognizing when nostalgia and continuity are assets rather than obstacles. And that's what makes his acquisition of DC so fascinating to me. We've seen both approaches under his watch, with dramatically different results. Now he's got Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and an entire universe of established characters at his disposal. I'm genuinely curious which David Ellison we're going to get, because I'd really hate to see DC become another TERMINATOR situation.

This is over 23years ago