Just last week, Warner Bros. threw the hammer down and announced release dates for nine untitled DC Comics adaptations all the way through 2020. The slew of release dates was part of WB’s plan to go head-to-head with Marvel Studios in putting together its own comic book movie universe, and all signs point to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as the entry point for many of the characters that will subsequently land standalone movies. Gal Gadot is already set to appear as Wonder Woman in BvS and one of the nine untitled films is no doubt a Wonder Woman movie, but today news comes about a standalone film for a different DC superhero: Aquaman. Warner Bros. is aggressively putting together an Aquaman movie by hiring two writers to work on two separate screenplays for the film in the hopes of putting together the best possible version. More after the jump.
Per THR, Warner Bros. has hired Will Beall (Gangster Squad) and Kurt Johnstad (300: Rise of an Empire) to pen two separate scripts for Aquaman. This has become a common practice at major studios, as the aim is to put together the best version of a movie by commissioning two different scripts at the same time. With the added pressure of having a release date window closing in by the day, WB wants to ensure that Aquaman is ready to roll sooner rather than later.
Beall has experience with DC properties as he was hired to write the Justice League script before the film became part of the current DC movie universe plan. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Argo scribe Chris Terrio is currently working on the Justice League script for Zack Snyder to direct, and now it appears that Aquaman will likely be one of the first films to follow Justice League right out of the gate. Snyder has a relationship with Johnstad as the two worked together on 300 and the sequel, and it appears that Snyder is quickly becoming the filmmaker that is spearheading this series of DC films—at least for now.
Jason Momoa is poised to appear as Aquaman in Batman v Superman, and while his casting has yet to be officially confirmed by the studio, the trades are now acknowledging him as the actor who will be filling the role. Snyder himself brought up Aquaman recently by calling into a Detroit radio show, where he defended the easy-target character and said he could “cut the flesh of Superman if they came in contact.” It will definitely be interesting to see what this new version of the character looks like within the context of the world set up in Man of Steel.
Now attention turns to figuring out which of the DC release dates belongs to Aquaman. The first untitled date is August 5, 2016, while two more are set for June 23, 2017 and November 17, 2017. Perhaps Aquaman will follow Batman v Superman in August 2016, with Justice League hitting in June 2017? With Snyder shooting BvS and Justice League back-to-back, it's also possible (though not likely) that Justice League may arrive as early as August 2016. Though with Batman v Superman arriving in March 2016, that'd be an incredibly tight squeeze.
What say you, readers? What do you want to see out of an Aquaman film? Which filmmaker would you like to see bring the movie to fruition? Sound off in the comments below.
