To say it has been a rocky road for Warner Bros. and DC Comics on the big screen would be an understatement. "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Suicide Squad", while financially successful, were both met with divisive responses from the general audience and mixed to negative reviews from critics. Warner, in response, shuffled around the higher ups guiding the DC Extended Universe films, trying to gain back some good ground with fans.

This may have taken another hit, though, as "The Flash" standalone film is going back to the drawing board.

Flash hits the brakes

Despite a previously announced release date of March 16, 2018, "The Flash" film, as it stands, is getting a page one rewrite, with Warner Bros. bringing on Joby Harold to pen a new script for the Ezra Miller led superhero film. Harold's credits include Guy Ritchie's upcoming "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword", the first draft of "Edge of Tomorrow" that got Tom Cruise to sign onto the film, along with in-development Robin Hood and Twilight Zone films for Lionsgate and Warner, respectively.

This would make Harold the third writer/team to work on a script for this film, with the original treatment done by Phil Lord and Chris Miller before they signed to write and direct the stand-alone Han Solo film for Disney. They then tapped Seth Grahame-Smith, best known for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Dark Shadows" to write and direct the film before his departure. The project also saw the attachment and subsequent departure of Rick Famuyiwa, best known for his coming-of-age dramedy "Dope" following reports of "creative differences".

Warner and DC stumbling?

This is just another story in a string of news that has come out of Warner Bros. and DC since the release of "Suicide Squad" in August, with Warner allowing set visit reports to be put into circulation more than a year out for "Justice League", which doesn't usually happen until much closer to release.

This was followed up by strings of rumors and reports about Ben Affleck's standalone "Batman film", from Affleck's role as director brought into question to the shape of the script itself. The most recent to come out of the camp was the proposed idea of a "Green Lantern Corps." film that would be Lethal Weapon in space, along with the announcement that "Shazam" and "Black Adam" would get their own films. This has called into question the direction of the shared universe that Warner and DC want to be successful in all aspects, not just financially. While this has left fans worried, a delay and page one rewrite for the Scarlet Speedster could be the best thing for him.