Robert Pattinson’s Batman on Deck, ‘Aquaman 2’s’ $205 Million Budget: The Tricky Road Ahead for DC - Variety

At the Marvel Studios sheet for San Diego Comic-Con successful July, it was wide James Gunn was feeling nostalgic. When the filmmaker took the signifier successful beforehand of immoderate 6,500 cheering fans to present the archetypal look of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” helium said to the assemblage — and to Marvel main Kevin Feige, lasting conscionable a fewer feet distant — that he’d realized it’d been 10 years since helium pitched his thought for the archetypal “Guardians” movie to Feige.  

“It’s been a bully 10 years, James,” Feige said. 

This week, Gunn is mounting disconnected connected what could beryllium different 10-year adventure, this clip arsenic the co-CEO and co-chairman of DC Studios. Along with co-chief Peter Safran, Gunn is acceptable to contiguous to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav what helium and Safran anticipation volition beryllium the adjacent decennary of DC storytelling, threading unneurotic a bid of films, TV shows and games into 1 cohesive storytelling universe. 

Gunn and Safran are keeping those plans intimately guarded, but they inactive managed to marque waves aft quality broke connected Dec. 7 that Warner Bros. was not moving forward with manager Patty Jenkins’ plans for a sequel to “Wonder Woman 1984.” How this happened depends connected who you speech to: Insiders astatine the workplace accidental it’s up to Jenkins, suggesting the filmmaker did not privation to instrumentality notes connected however to acceptable a Gal Gadot-led “Wonder Woman” movie into immoderate Gunn and Safran are planning. But precocious connected Tuesday, Jenkins posted a connection to Twitter saying she was “open to considering thing asked of me” for a 3rd “Wonder Woman” movie and that she “never walked away” from the project. 

“It was my knowing determination was thing I could bash to determination thing guardant astatine this time,” Jenkins said. “DC is evidently buried successful changes they are having to make, truthful I recognize these decisions are hard close now.” 

Indeed, earlier Jenkins’ connection this week, Gunn posted his ain a lengthy connection to Twitter connected Dec. 8 addressing conscionable however challenging those changes are.  

“Peter and I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, some successful the stories being told and successful the assemblage itself and determination would beryllium an unavoidable transitional play arsenic we moved into telling a cohesive communicative crossed film, TV, animation and gaming,” Gunn wrote. “But, successful the end, the drawbacks of that transitional play were dwarfed by the originative possibilities and the accidental to physique upon what has worked successful DC truthful acold and to assistance rectify what has not.” 

That modulation play is nary tiny thing. Warner Bros. has 4 DC properties connected its movie slate for 2023: “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” successful March, “The Flash” successful June, “Blue Beetle” successful August and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” successful December. Safran is simply a shaper connected each film, different than “The Flash,” but these titles were conceived, developed and greenlit nether the erstwhile enactment astatine the workplace and astatine DC Films.  

So present Gunn and Safran indispensable thread a near-impossible needle: They person to determine however — oregon whether — to integrate these projects into their caller DC universe, portion besides deciding erstwhile and however to archer the nationalist astir what’s successful store for the caller DC universe. If they denote their plans excessively early, immoderate of the bequest titles that are the past hurrah for that iteration of the franchise could beryllium seen arsenic aged quality earlier they adjacent premiere. But controlling the travel of quality astir DC has been a vexing situation fixed the voracious appetite for immoderate morsel of accusation — oregon thing resembling a morsel of information, adjacent if there’s nary information to it — astir what’s adjacent for DC. 

That’s however speculation implicit Henry Cavill’s aboriginal arsenic Superman oregon whether Jason Momoa volition proceed playing Aquaman wind-up feeding headlines for days, egged connected by the seemingly immortal devotion of manager Zack Snyder’s highly online fanbase, who inactive clasp retired anticipation that his conception of the DC Universe could unrecorded on. But astatine slightest 1 halfway constituent of the alleged Snyderverse is apt over: A well-placed root says Gunn and Safran are exploring the anticipation of incorporating filmmaker Matt Reeves’ iteration of Batman with histrion Robert Pattinson into their wider universe. 

Meanwhile, Gunn and Safran inactive request to shepherd those bequest titles — arsenic good arsenic Season 2 of Gunn’s HBO Max bid “Peacemaker” — to audiences amid wide belt-tightening crossed Warner Bros. Discovery. Two sources archer Variety that, earlier Gunn and Safran took the reins astatine DC, Warner Bros. co-chief Pam Abdy had to archer “Aquaman 2” manager James Wan to trim his reshoot fund for the maritime sequel, which has already expanded to $205 cardinal implicit production. Any further tweaks to immoderate of the 2023 movies arsenic to afloat incorporated them into the caller DC could easy outgo millions more. 

Whatever Gunn and Safran’s plans for DC’s aboriginal are, it volition beryllium astatine slightest until 2024, if not longer, earlier audiences would get to spot them connected the large screen. Gunn understood that erstwhile helium tweeted astatine fans past week. 

“We cognize we are not going to marque each azygous idiosyncratic blessed each measurement of the way, but we tin committedness everything we bash is done successful the work of the STORY and successful the work of the DC CHARACTERS we cognize you cherish and we person cherished our full lives,” helium wrote. “As for much answers astir the aboriginal of the DCU, I volition sadly person to inquire you to wait. We are giving these characters and the stories the clip and attraction they deserve, and we ourselves inactive person a batch much questions to inquire and answer.”