‘Aquaman’ Sequel And Spinoff, ‘The Trench,’ Get Green Light From Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. definitely lucked out when it decided to make a film based on the DC Comics character Aquaman. The movie, starring Jason Momoa as the half-Atlantean/half-human superhero, has grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide and has become the highest-grossing DC movie of all time.
Variety has now reported that Warner Bros. has lined up a team to start working on the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who co-wrote the first flick with Will Beall, has been hired to pen the second film in the Aquaman franchise. Additionally, James Wan, who directed the first film, and one of the original producers, Peter Safran, will produce the sequel. There’s no word yet on if Wan will also be directing Aquaman 2.
There is also an Aquaman spinoff in the works, The Trench, that will also be produced by Wan and Safran, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The horror movie, to be written by Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald, will focus on the “menacing, sharp-toothed sea creatures that Aquaman and Mera fought on their way down the center of the Earth.”
However, the Hollywood Reporter is quick to note that Warner Bros. “tends to have movie development news break about films that don’t necessarily come to fruition — or at least not in the near-term.” The publication listed Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Deadshot, Deathstroke, and Supergirl as characters that are supposedly getting their own feature films, but whose projects have not moved forward at the studio.
Wan did explain to fans that there has always been talk behind the scenes to expand the Aquaman universe but added in a clause stating that it could go either way.
“Aquaman was always about building a bigger, unique world within itself. There are many adventures within the Seven Seas. (Now, I’m not saying that this is actually happening),” Wan wrote on Twitter on February 11.
Meanwhile, for those who can’t get enough of the original Aquaman film, it will be released digitally via Amazon, FandangoNow, iTunes, PlayStation, and other platforms on March 5, and the 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD Special Edition comes out on March 26. In addition to the full-length film, the physical copies of Aquaman, available now to pre-order on Amazon, will contain 13 bonus features, including “Going Deep Into the World of Aquaman,” “Becoming Aquaman,” “Atlantis Warfare,” “Heroines of Atlantis,” “Kingdoms of the Seven Seas,” and an exclusive sneak peek of the next DC Comics movie to hit the silver screen, Shazam!
Starring Zachary Levi as the title character, Shazam! is scheduled to open on April 5. It is slated to be followed by Joker (October 4), Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (February 7, 2020), and Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5, 2020).
