"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" grossed over $424 million worldwide in its first weekend in theaters, guaranteeing that despite the mixed critical reviews, the franchise will move forward with the upcoming "Justice League" films, which director Zack Snyder recently compared to "Seven Samurai."
Speaking to Yahoo Movies, Snyder stated that the first film, "Justice League: Part One," would have the same general story beat as Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic film. For those who haven't seen "Samurai Seven," it involves farmers from a village going to the city to hire seven skilled samurai to save their village from bandits.
"I'm getting ready to start 'Justice League' on the 11th of April, so in like two weeks we start shooting," the director explained, "and it's an intense, awesome, and gigantic undertaking because Bruce Wayne is having to go out and sort of 'Seven Samurai' the Justice League together, which is fun."
[Spoiler Warning; major details about 'Batman v Superman' below]
Snyder reiterated this when speaking to Entertainment Weekly as the film ties into the decision to kill Superman (Henry Cavill) by the end of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." According to Snyder, by taking out Superman, it would give Batman (Ben Affleck) a more interesting arc in forming the Justice League.
The original "Seven Samurai" was split into two main arcs -- the first tackling how the seven samurai were gathered and the second focusing on how they and the villagers fought the bandits. It is likely that the "Justice League" film will follow this same format, with the first half focusing on gathering the core members and the second half pitting them against a powerful villain such as Darkseid.
However, it is also speculated that while Batman is forming the Justice League alongside Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), it is likely that a separate plot line involving the resurrection of Superman will take place simultaneously.
"Justice League: Part One" will hit theaters on Nov. 17, 2017 while "Part Two" will premiere on June 14, 2019.
