In a surprise to absolutely no one, Wonder Woman 2 is 100% happening, and Warner Bros. has now officially announced a release date. The film will hit theaters on December 13, 2019, which is a change of pace from the summer release of the first film. That puts it opening one week before the Masters of the Universe reboot and a little over a week before the highly anticipated musical adaptation Wicked, but as of now Wonder Woman 2 is the only superhero movie set for release in December of that year.
Warner Bros.' announcement for Wonder Woman 2 does not include a director, which means that negotiations with Patty Jenkins must still be ongoing. Jenkins is the reason why Wonder Woman works as well as it does. She brought all the disparate ideas together in one cohesive vision with a passion for the character and a distinctly female point of view, which made all the difference. That “No Man’s Land” sequence would have been entirely different had anyone else directed the movie (or maybe even non-existent), but in Jenkins’ hands it’s the thesis for Wonder Woman. So if Warner Bros. doesn't lock in Jenkins for this follow-up, that's going to be an issue...
Jenkins is reportedly already working on a treatment for Wonder Woman 2 with Geoff Johns and has expressed her desire to return, so this is likely just a result of contract negotiations. She was not under an option for a sequel, and given how successful and huge Wonder Woman has been, she comes to the negotiating table for Wonder Woman 2 with a lot of leverage. It's possible she may even be working on a contract that sees her consulting on other future DCEU films.
The film has not-so-quietly become the biggest success story of 2017. Its worldwide box office total is over $780 million, but in a unique case in today’s landscape, over half of that has come from the domestic box office. Indeed, Wonder Woman is now Warner Bros.’ third highest grossing film of all time domestically, behind just The Dark Knight ($533.3 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1 million), and it's the highest grossing superhero movie of 2017 as it surpassed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It’s been holding phenomenally week to week, as word-of-mouth caught on and folks are lining up to see this thing two, three, four times in the theater.
With that kind of success, Warner Bros. would be crazy not to make a sequel, and hopefully solidifying Jenkins as the director will be a signal that the studio is committed to the quality that Wonder Woman has brought to the DCEU.
