Wonder Woman won’t be taking on Star Wars after all. While Warner Bros. initially announced the Wonder Woman 2 release date as December 13, 2019, but this past September Disney/Lucasfilm moved Star Wars: Episode IX from May to December 20, 2019 to give new director J.J. Abrams more time to take over from former director Colin Trevorrow. That initial release date would have made for an incredibly crowded corridor, so now Warner Bros. has moved Wonder Woman 2 up to November 1, 2019, where it faces far less competition.
Nothing else is dated for that early November weekend at the moment, but the following week sees Bond 25 hitting theaters (for now at least—it could move), while an untitled Fox/Marvel movie is dated for November 22, 2019 (which is likely Gambit). Frozen 2 hits theaters on November 27, 2019, so the whole month will be bookended by female-driven blockbusters. It’s a win for the whole family.
Patty Jenkins is returning to direct Wonder Woman 2 after prolonged contract negotiations, and she hashed out the story with DC co-chief Geoff Johns while The Expendables writer Dave Callaham recently signed on to co-write the script with Jenkins and Johns. And while a report surfaced over the weekend that Gal Gadot was refusing to star in Wonder Woman 2 unless WB cut ties with Brett Ratner, Deadline says the report was false. Gadot is, as expected, already locked in to return, but Deadline notes that Ratner’s RatPac-Dune isn’t committed to finance Wonder Woman 2. Though since RatPac-Dune co-financed the first Wonder Woman, it’s possible Gadot asked WB not to let their RatPac-Dune deal extend to Wonder Woman 2.
Filming on Wonder Woman 2 will likely begin sometime later next year, once Jenkins and Co. pin down the story. We still don’t know exactly when the sequel will be set, but speculation has swirled that it could be jumping forward in time from World War I to the 1980s to cover the Cold War era. Whatever the case, Wonder Woman is the crown jewel at DC right now, so lots of care will be taken to get this sequel right—which mostly involves giving Jenkins the creative freedom to do her thing. Cannot wait.
