While most of Hollywood has been noticing “superhero fatigue” red flags at the box-office, James Gunn is moving along with his rebooted DCEU. Wise decision? I’m sure David Zaslav must be a tad nervous about this extravagantly pricey endeavour.
The latest addition to Gunn’s DC universe will be “Wonder Woman 3” with Gal Gadot returning to the role she popularized for the 21st century. If you remember, the last instalment, “Wonder Woman 1984,” tanked critically and commercially, but that was during the pandemic.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Gadot is saying that, as she understands it, she will be developing Wonder Woman 3 together with Gunn and Safran:
I love portraying Wonder Woman. It's so close to and dear to my heart. From what I heard from James and from Peter is that we're gonna develop a Wonder Woman 3 together.
Director Patty Jenkins is not set to return at the helm of “Wonder Woman 3.” She had a bit of a falling out with Gunn a few months ago. I assume whoever takes over her spot will be a female filmmaker. Maybe Elizabeth Banks?
Back in May, Warner boss Zaslav praised Gunn’s vision by saying that he was “on a mission from God” to reboot the DCEU. Total hyperbole that rivals Gunn/Zaslav’s claims that “The Flash” was one of the greatest superhero movies of all time.
The job comes with a lot of pressure and Gunn/Safran are trying to give Zaslav his own MCU, but the timing might be a bit off given that Marvel movies have not exactly been doing well at the box-office and a shapeshifting moment in currently occurring in regards to what now makes money at the box-office.
The future of blockbusters looks fairly set with an incalculable amount of Nintendo and Mattel spin-offs ready to be unleashed at the movies. Audiences are starting to sour on superheroes, but Zaslav and Gunn didn’t seem to get the memo.
In case you’re at all interested, the five upcoming DC movies announced by Gunn are “Superman Legacy,” “The Authority,” “The Brave and the Bold,” “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” and “Swamp Thing.”
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.