Sources say James Gunn and Peter Safran have nothing to do with the axing of the third installment of the female-led superhero movie though the duo are tasked with reshaping the DC landscape.
- Dec 9, 2022
AceShowbiz - Warner Bros. did not cancel "Wonder Woman 3" despite previous reports saying so. Following news that the studio decided not to move forward with the third installment of female-led superhero film under the direction of James Gunn and Peter Safran, sources have now shared a different account of what happened.
Multiple individuals tell TheWrap that Gunn and Safran had nothing to do with the cancellation of the project. While the duo are tasked with reshaping the DC landscape, one insider notes Warner Bros. Discovery has "ongoing enterprises" that "nobody was going to mess with." This includes Matt Reeves writing the sequel to "The Batman", J.J. Abrams' black-led "Superman" from Ta-Nehisi Coates, Todd Phillips' "Joker 2", and Patty Jenkins doing "Wonder Woman 3".
As for "Wonder Woman 3", Jenkins reportedly turned in her treatment for the threequel to the studio last week. Warner Bros. Film Group Co-Chairpersons and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy thought the treatment did not fit in the direction of the franchise. Gunn and Safran, although they had nothing to do with the decision, also agreed with De Luca and Abdy that the treatment didn't work.
According to the insider, Jenkins was adamant and let De Luca and Abdy "know that they were wrong, that they didn't understand her, didn't understand the character, didn't understand character arcs and didn't understand what Jenkins was trying to do." The filmmaker allegedly even sent an email to De Luca that ended with a link to the Wikipedia definition of "character arc."
The studio gave Jenkins a chance to pitch a different direction for Wonder Woman, but she stood firm to her vision and responded that if they didn't want to do her treatment, she wasn't going to do a different one and would instead just move on to her next film.
Jenkins reportedly didn't even want to hear what Gunn and Safran had to say, even though they had nothing to do with decision to not move forward with her version of "Wonder Woman 3". "She just doesn't want to allow them to have a seat at the table to have an opinion on something new that she might come up with," the insider shares.
As claimed by the outlet, the studio hasn't killed the "Wonder Woman" franchise altogether and Gal Gadot is still attached to the role at this point. It's unknown how the actress would feel about continuing as the Amazonian warrior without Jenkins, but the studio hopes she stays on.
Gunn himself has taken to Twitter to respond to The Hollywood Reporter's claims about his and Safran's plans for DC Studios. "some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, & some of it we haven't decided yet whether it's true or not," he began the Thursday, December 8 thread. "Although this first month at DC has been fruitful, building the next ten years of story takes time & we're still just beginning."
"Peter & I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told & in the audience itself & there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming," he explained.
"But, in the end, the drawbacks of that transitional period were dwarfed by the creative possibilities & the opportunity to build upon what has worked in DC so far & to help rectify what has not," the "Suicide Squad" helmer continued, before noting, "We know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY & in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives."
"As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait. We are giving these characters & the stories the time & attention they deserve & we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask & answer," Gunn concluded.
