It’s going to be some time before we see Aquaman 2, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be dropping in on the Atlanteans before then.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Aquaman producer Peter Safran commented on the plans surrounding The Trench film that was announced earlier this year. “We always, even from the early concept art days, loved the idea of a Trench movie,” said Safran. “Then, when audiences embraced it in the movie itself the way they did, particularly that ant farm shot where the camera follows the Trench [creatures] following Arthur and Mera down into the deep, we just knew that we had something very special there and we knew what that movie should be. And consequently, I suspect that that’s one that will come out significantly before Aquaman 2.”
Safran also confirmed that the film will take place after the events of Aquaman, and we will not be seeing Arthur or Mera in the film, but for good reasons. “We’ve definitely taken a page from our Conjuring playbook, which is: You’ve got the mothership, which is Aquaman, but there are so many great stories to tell within that universe of itself, that Atlantean universe,” explained Safran. Seeing as he and Wan have grown that series to five films that have grossed $1.569B globally off of combined budgets of $103.5M, it seems to be a formula that works.
To the future of the DCEU
As to the four-year gap between Aquaman films, Safran explained that it has to do with how he works with his creative partners James Wan and Walter Hamada. “[Hamada], myself and James Wan always shared the same philosophy, which is: You want to do it right, you don’t want to do it fast. You just want to do it right.”
The sad news, however, is that Safran definitely follows the recent statements that a new Justice League movie just isn’t in the plans right now. “DC’s got a nice slate of movies that are coming out. I think that when you’re making really strong stand-alone movies, there’s really no need to bring them together,” he said.
“You want to give these characters room to breathe and live, and tell their stories.” Safran went on to add, “Wonder Woman has shown what a great stand-alone property that is. And in Aquaman, we feel the same way. We think that there’s a great sequel and beyond to tell. We introduce seven kingdoms of Atlantis, right? James Wan knows the architecture, the armory, the military, the look, the feel, the general vibe of each of these kingdoms, and I’m sure that there will be an opportunity to explore them in some way later on.”
It looks as though, for now, we’re just going to have to live with the idea of siloed off DC films. Hopefully a new run at Justice League can be discussed down the road, but it certainly appears 2023 would be the absolute earliest we would see that based on the current schedule.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
