Another one bites the dust: Warner Bros. axes ‘Wonder Woman 3’ starring Gal Gadot
Wonder Woman is the new Batgirl.
Director Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 3” starring Gal Gadot is not moving forward at Warner Bros., according to a Wednesday report from the Hollywood Reporter. The third installment in the superhero saga is the latest DC project to be scrapped following the recent Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which has resulted in mass layoffs and a controversial creative overhaul.
Representatives for Warner Bros. did not immediately respond Thursday to The Times’ request for comment.
The DC film about the superhero sidekick fell short of what the company wanted for its key comic book franchise and no longer fit with the studio’s film strategy, sources said.
According to anonymous sources cited by THR, Jenkins recently submitted her plans for the sequel to DC Studios, now helmed by filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran. In October, Warner Bros. Discovery President David Zaslav hired the duo to spearhead a new, more unified strategy across film, television and animation.
Gunn and Safran were reportedly among the execs who broke the news to Jenkins by telling the filmmaker that her vision for “Wonder Woman 3” did not line up with their plans for the future of DC.
Gunn partially disputed the THR report Thursday on social media, tweeting, “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.”
“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,” Gunn continued in a thread.
“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” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” director added that it won’t be possible to “make every single person happy” but promised to always act “in service of the STORY & in service of the DC CHARACTERS.”
“As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait,” he tweeted. “We are giving these characters & the stories the time & attention they deserve & we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask & answer.”
Jenkins’ last Wonder Woman film, “Wonder Woman 1984,” did well at the pandemic box office in December 2020 but was panned by critics. In 2017, the flagship “Wonder Woman” received rave reviews, made history as the first major superhero film directed by a woman (Jenkins) and scored the biggest domestic opening for a title directed by a woman.
Warner Bros. announced that it would fast-track development of ‘Wonder Woman 3’ after the newly released ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ did better than expected at the box office.
“Wonder Woman” also helped launch the career of Gadot, who starred as the Amazonian warrior goddess in both of Jenkins’ comic-book adaptations. According to THR, Gadot was set to earn $20 million for “Wonder Woman 3,” while Jenkins was slated to make $12 million, not including back-end bonuses.
Representatives for Jenkins and Gadot did not immediately respond Thursday to The Times’ requests for comment.
The “Wonder Woman” news comes several months after Warner Bros. Discovery made the widely criticized decision to shelve DC’s “Batgirl,” which had already been shot and cost $90 million to make. The company has also purged a number of other live-action and animated titles tied to its streaming service, HBO Max.
Amazon Prime Video begins offering HBO Max to its subscribers for $14.99 a month as Warner Bros. Discovery looks to boost revenue and subscribers.
On Monday, Gadot celebrated the anniversary of her casting as Wonder Woman on Twitter and Instagram, saying she couldn’t “wait to share her next chapter” with fans.
“I’ve been so grateful for the opportunity to play such an incredible, iconic character and more than anything I’m grateful for YOU. The fans. The most amazing, warm, loving fans in the world,” she wrote. “I’m still pinching myself to see if I will wake up.”
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