DC Entertainment President and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns will be stepping down from those roles to launch Mad Ghost Productions. Along with launching Mad Ghost Production, Johns entered into an exclusive agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment to “create content across multiple divisions of the Studio, including films, television and comic books, based on current DC properties as well as new and reimagined IP.”
“Geoff is a super talented writer and truly embedded in the DC Universe and its characters,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “We’re thrilled that he’s returning to his passion and his roots as a writer and producer. And, it’s even better that he’s staying in our Warner Bros. family. We look forward to working with him on ‘Green Lantern’ and other projects going forward.”
Movies
Johns first project under this new deal will be Green Lantern Corps. It will be a film based off of his bestselling series that ran for nine years. Johns will write and produce the project.
Johns is still attached to DC’s upcoming slate of movies as well as he co-wrote and executive produced Aquaman. He’s also writing and serving as the executive producer on the Wonder Woman sequel with director Patty Jenkins. The upcoming Shazam! film is also based on his original graphic novel.
Television
Johns will also be spearheading DC’s television projects including the upcoming live-action Titans series with Akiva Goldsman and Greg Berlanti. Johns co-developed and will executive produce the series.
Johns will also work on the upcoming Doom Patrol series that will spin out of Titans. In fact, he wrote the “Doom Patrol” episode. He will be executive producing that series alongside Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Jeremy Carver.
Comic Books
Johns will be working under a brand new banner, The Killing Zone, for his comic books. These new projects will focus “on lesser known DC characters and titles.” He will be writing a Shazam! series which is schedule to come out sometime this Fall. He will also continuing working on Doomsday Clock. There is also a brand new project called Three Jokers which will be drawn by Jason Fabok.
Johns explained his decision to step down as DC Entertainment President and Chief Creative Officer:
“I took on a role at DCE because I love the characters and this universe more than anything. But, I want to spend my days writing and on set. I’m thrilled to get back to a more hands-on creative role. It’s a dream job on dream projects, reaching even deeper into DC’s vast pantheon of characters. I’m also excited to continue to work with the amazing team at DCE and my colleagues at Warner Bros.”
Jim Lee will take on the title and responsibilities of the Chief Creative Officer as well as continue to act as Publisher with Dan DiDio.
The two publishers were excited to see Johns return to story-telling:
“Geoff is one of DC Comics’ most prolific writers, and we can’t wait to see what he does next now that he will be dedicating 100 percent of his time to telling the best DC stories possible across all media. The new publishing projects we are working on together will be instant fan-favorites.”
What do you make of this move within DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.? Are you excited to see Johns get back to his passion with storytelling?