When your movie breaks all expectations at the box office opening weekend, studios are often liable to let you head up a sequel. That’s the case with Patty Jenkins. As we are seeing her comic book adaption Wonder Woman pull just over $100 million in domestic ticket sales this past weekend comes word that the director is already signed for a sequel.
The news comes late in a profile piece on Jenkins published by the Hollywood Reporter this weekend. The trade noted that both Jenkins and star Gal Gadot are contractual obligated for a sequel. The Reporter underplays Gadot’s deal with Warners, as it actually called for her to appear in a total of five films – last year’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice in which she debuted as Wonder Woman, the current Wonder Woman, the inevitable sequel and two Justice League films, the first of which we’ll see in November.
The Hollywood Reporter also states that a sequel will take place in modern times as opposed to the first film’s World War One setting.
Having Jenkins already optioned for the followup allows the studio to fast track the sequel.Depending on where the director wants to take the sequel, work on a screenplay could start fairly quickly.
Which is a good thing considering that Warner Brothers’ plans for their DC Comics Extended Universe are in a bit of disarray. Both The Flash and The Batman have not been able to nail down a creative team, with both projects cycling through a number of creatives. Proposed movies featuring the characters of Cyborg and Green Lantern don’t appear to have even started looking for writers or directors. As of now, the studio has eight release dates announced for franchise installments between now and the end of 2020. Only two of them – November 17, 2017 for Justice League and December 21, 2018 for Aquaman – have actual film titles penciled in.
Currently the studio is pushing Justice League through post-production while Aquaman is shooting in Australia. They are also developing Batgirl with fan favorite Joss Whedon at the helm and a possible Nightwing movie. Where a Wonder Woman sequel fits into these plans at this point is anyone’s guess, probably including Warner Brothers executives.
