There were rumors last month that Warner Bros. was gearing up for Aquaman 2. Now, the sequel to the billion-dollar hit has been greenlit, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick has been tapped to write the next chapter, according to THR. James Wan, who helmed the first movie, is in talks to come back as producer, though it’s unclear whether he will return as director.
Aquaman’s December opening weekend brought in $67.8 million, and has gone on to bring in $1.12 billion worldwide. The film is Warner Bros.’ first DC release to surpass the $1 billion mark, after 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
This long of a wait for this successful of a movie to announce a sequel is rare in Hollywood. (Especially in the summemr tentpole world, where studios are known to start working on sequels before a franchise debuts.) But Wan wasn’t rushed into getting back to Aquaman, and the studio didn’t want to demand too much.
Last week, it was revealed that Warner Bros. has hired screenwriters Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald to work on a script for The Trench, a spinoff film on the frightening sea creatures that Aquaman and Mera had to fight in the first movie, per THR. The creatures first appeared in the Aquaman No. 1 comic in 2011, and could breathe life into DC’s less-explored horror subgenre.
Wan also has a fondness for monsters, having turned the 2013 film The Conjuring into a $1.57 billion dollar cinematic universe, and could easily do the same with an Aquaman universe onscreen. On Monday, he responded to the sequel news on Twitter by saying, "Aquaman was always about building a bigger, unique world within itself. There are many adventures within the Seven Seas."
Wan tweeted about the possibility of us seeing TheTrench as well, saying over the weekend that he "secretly hoped to explore this world further/more" while making Aquaman:
The Trench could be a good lead-in for the next installation of Aquaman, as Wan sorts out his deal for the sequel.
