An unnamed comic book movie set to bow next year reportedly had no fewer than 45 writers contribute to its script. While nothing has been confirmed, evidence points towards said movie being Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming DC Extended Universe film The Flash.
As reported by Deadline, a "high-profile" comic book film slated for release in 2023 recently had its final script submitted to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for screenwriting credit. According to insiders, 45 writers were involved with the script at some point or another during development. One source claims that all 45 writers actually being credited is "basically impossible." Deadline also explains that, these days, "having as many as 20 writers involved on a script has become all too common," not to mention "frustrating to the original writers."
Directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller as main protagonist Barry Allen, The Flash is scheduled to release in theaters on June 23, 2023. Officially, the film's screenplay is written by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey) from a story by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Joby Harold. However, numerous writers (and directors) have been involved with the DCEU project since it first entered active development around 2014.
In 2015, the duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) were attached to write a story treatment for The Flash, with an option to direct. However, Lord and Miller departed the project in favor of working on Lucasfilm's Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Seth Grahame-Smith being tapped to write and direct a version of The Flash based on Lord and Miller's story. Grahame-Smith himself departed the DC project in 2016, though Warner Bros. opted to retain his version of the script.
Later in 2016, Rick Famuyiwa, Grahame-Smith's replacement as director, completed a revision of the script. Famuyiwa departed the project by the end of the year. In early 2017, the aforementioned Joby Harold was brought on board to do a page-one rewrite of The Flash. Dan Mazeau later made his own contributions to the script.
By January 2018, Warner Bros. was eyeing the duo of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to write and direct The Flash. In 2019, however, the film's star, Ezra Miller, was revealed to be writing a new version of the script alongside legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison. Warner Bros. ultimately rejected Miller and Morrison's script, with Daley and Goldstein departing the project the not long after. It's at this point that Hodson was enlisted to write the screenplay, with Daley, Goldstein and Harold receiving story credits.
While this doesn't account for all 45 writers if the Deadline piece is indeed referring to The Flash, the DCEU film has certainly changed hands a lot since entering development nearly a decade ago, thus making it stand out among the other high-profile comic book films due for release in 2023.
Fellow upcoming DCEU film Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the sequel to 2018's Aquaman, is written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick from a story by himself and star Jason Momoa. Momoa pitched the story for the sequel while the first Aquaman was still in production, with Johnson-McGoldrick -- who co-wrote the first film -- signing on to write the script for Lost Kingdom not long after.
On the Marvel side of things, all three Marvel Cinematic Universe films slated for release in 2023 currently have one credited screenwriter each. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is written by Jeff Loveness, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is written (and directed) by James Gunn and The Marvels is written by Megan McDonnell.
Meanwhile, Sony's live-action Marvel spinoff film Kraven the Hunter currently has three credited screenwriters in the form of Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk. Finally, Sony's upcoming animated feature Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also has three writers in the form of the aforementioned Lord and Miller, as well as David Callaham.
The Flash races into theaters on June 23, 2023.
Source: Deadline