Doctor Sleep Director Mike Flanagan Met With Warner Bros. About a DC Superhero Movie

Director Mike Flanagan has made a name for himself in the horror genre, with cult-hit films like Oculus and Gerald's Game, not to mention the breakout hit Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House. Well, Flanagan is currently taking on his biggest blockbuster horror film yet with Stephen King's Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. However, while doing press for Doctor Sleep Flanagan revealed that he's also been courted to a superhero film in the DC Movie Universe. No word on what project DC / Warner Bros was discussing with Flanagan, as he ultimately moved on to do Doctor Sleep for the studio.

Of course, now that the interview is out there (see video below), and we're discussing, what kind of DC movie would Mike Flanagan be good for?

DC has been making a noted effort to tap talent from the horror genre and bring them over to the superhero movie genre. James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious, Saw) rode the Aquaman wave to a billion dollar success story, while some of Mike Flanagan's horror contemporaries like David F. Sandberg (Lights Out), made Shazam! into a moderately successful franchise-starter. IT director Andy Muschietti (another contemporary) is now attached to The Flash, so clearly Warner Bros. is (or at least was) working from some kind of clear gameplan.

As for Flanagan: he's proven to have real skill at mixing psychological horror and family drama. DC fans can probably think of any number of ways to apply that particular directorial vision, starting with a film like the long-delayed Justice League Dark film. That movie would see a collection of supernatural misfits and anti-heroes (John Constantine, Deadman, Zatana...) have to band together to stop a dark demonic threat from taking over Earth. If Flanagan wanted to get more intimate into psychological character work, DC has great dual personality heroes of supernatural nature, like The Spectre or The Demon to work with. With Flanagan about to get a mainstream horror breakout with Doctor Sleep, it seems like it would be a waste for Warner Bros. to let him drift too far from its other big lucrative franchise (superheroes), without applying the talent - even if it's not in the exact place we think it should be.

Doctor Sleep hits theaters on November 8th.