AQUAMAN 2 Director James Wan Compares DCU Reboot To "Living In A House That's Getting Renovated"

AQUAMAN 2 Director James Wan Compares DCU Reboot To "Living In A House That's Getting Renovated"

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be the final DC Extended Universe movie released before DC Studios' planned reboot, and filmmaker James Wan has now weighed in on James Gunn's DCU plans. Check it out!

By JoshWilding - Sep 17, 2023 01:09 PM EST
Source: Screen Rant

After a series of critical and commercial flops, Warner Bros. Discovery will soon reboot the DC Extended Universe as the DCU with a slate of movies and TV shows from DC Studios which has been dubbed "Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters." 

James Gunn and Peter Safran are set to oversee this relaunch, though some of the decisions they've made have already come under fire. That's included casting, with most of the Justice League set to be replaced. In the case of Aquaman actor Jason Momoa, it's widely believed he'll ditch Arthur Curry to play Lobo instead. 

That likely means the franchise will end with this December's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a surprise considering the fact the 2018 movie made over $1.1 billion. Then again, we're hearing this sequel is a disaster after abysmal test screenings and what sounds like endless reshoots! 

During a recent interview with Screen Rant, filmmaker James Wan was asked for his thoughts on the reboot and, while he neither praised nor criticised DC Studios' approach to resetting this shard world, it sounds like the changes have presented some challenges!

"I'm aware of everything that's happening around me. I mean, I use the analogy that I'm living in a house that's getting renovated," he says. "It's hard to not be aware of the renovation that's happening around me."

"But the beauty about Aquaman is that we've always designed these two films to be within their own world. The advantage of not being hooked into this bigger universe is whatever happens over there doesn't really affect my movie. This film doesn't hook into anything. It lives in its own world."

"That's what we found worked really well for us on the first film, and we're doing exactly the same," Wan concluded. "There's noise going around, but I'm just in my cocoon, in my underwater kingdom."

Among the challenges Wan has faced courtesy of changing regimes is having to reshoot and then remove a Batman-focused post-credits scene and likely any other references that would tie this follow-up to the wider DCEU. 

If Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom exceeds expectations when all is said and done, this iteration of the King of Atlantis may surface in the DCU as well; unfortunately, it currently looks unlikely. 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be released on December 20.

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valmic
valmic - 9/17/2023, 1:36 PM
Doubt we’ll see anymore Aquaman for a while. Hopefully the movies good and the DCEU goes out with something worth watching.
dragon316
dragon316 - 9/17/2023, 2:25 PM
@micvalpro - looks better than antman and marvels hard to say until it’s release
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 9/18/2023, 11:28 AM
@micvalpro - He was in peacemaker and peacemaker is getting a S2 so I wouldn't rule it out....seems like mamoa is staying as aquaman until further notice or until this film flops. Going from the trailer it seems appealing enough to not flop though.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/17/2023, 1:38 PM
I think James Wan wants to say something but the political reality is preventing him from doing so. I give it a year or two before he trashes the studio in public and tells everyone how he really feels.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 9/18/2023, 11:47 AM
@Forthas - He and Patty Jenkins always had the same stance on their DC films though. Which is they were always made to be standalone from universe canon. They were given free reign to do whatever they wanted including rewriting the character's personality and characterization from BVS and JL so I doubt they have anything to complain about except for budget, time, and maybe creative differences.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/18/2023, 12:01 PM
@mastakilla39 - I don't know??? It sounds like he is having creative differences and that has led to the reshoots. I am sure the Amber Heard situation is not helping things.
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 9/17/2023, 1:39 PM
And you're moving out.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 9/17/2023, 3:05 PM
@THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - More like you're living in a house that's condemed and about to be demolished. 🤣
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 9/17/2023, 1:52 PM
A house that's been renovated ..

Then mortgaged beyond its value so that it's in negative equity.
defenderofthefaith
defenderofthefaith - 9/17/2023, 1:54 PM
The house was not renovated. The house was torn down and a new one was built.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 9/17/2023, 1:54 PM
Looks like it could be a fun watch, which this DC universe needs more of, but it's hard to care knowing moving forward this movie will probably be lost among Gunn's plans.This Aquaman just feels like a test run for Lobo.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 9/17/2023, 1:56 PM
Good luck to anyone who directs the next Aquaman movie or has to bring Atlantis to life.
Order66
Order66 - 9/17/2023, 1:58 PM
No. Keep this in the DCEU. Reboot everything. Clean freakin slate.
StSteven
StSteven - 9/17/2023, 2:22 PM
@Order66 - No no no. That won't confuse anyone. What we need is called a "semi-boot" (TM). See, that's where you CLAIM it's a reboot/fresh-start, but then you carry some characters/actors over in the same roles, but then cast some of their costars in completely different roles AND then claim that certain characters from the "pre-boot" (TM) will be the first characters in the reboot BUT that another movie will be the first movie in the reboot even though you'll have an animated movie in your reboot come out before that. Then just in we still have anyone following along, we're going to recast one actor as practically the same character as before, but flying around on a space motorcycle with white face paint (allegedly). And we'll top it all off with a shit ton of rumors, reports, and interviews claiming who is and isn.t going to be carried over from the pre-boot to the re-boot and there you go. That a should work out just fine.
Deadinside
Deadinside - 9/19/2023, 9:55 AM
@StSteven - 😳 Holy crudbuttons, I understood that...!☮😜
StSteven
StSteven - 9/19/2023, 1:14 PM
@Deadinside - Well then clearly I didn't make it convoluted enough (probably because I hadn't started drinking yet - I'll take another stab after I've had a beer or 6 later this evening (or this afternoon depending on how much work I get done 😉)).
HAILHYDRA
HAILHYDRA - 9/17/2023, 2:25 PM
More accurately, he’s renting an apartment that is being renovated and he could be evicted at any time.
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 9/17/2023, 2:28 PM
More accurate discrimination is they're building an apartment in Chernobyl 🤡😬😳😑
grif
grif - 9/17/2023, 2:38 PM
that means you have to move out james
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 9/17/2023, 2:57 PM
Just wondering if the rumors are true that a baby dies in the movie and people walked out of the screening cause of it.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 9/17/2023, 3:03 PM
Tearing down a house but only leaving the foundation also counts as renovation, so they could still just scrap everything (except the DC comics mythology as the foundation).

Anyway, I liked the previous Aquaman movie because it was in it's own world. Good to know that also applies to the second one.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 9/17/2023, 3:04 PM

I will be glad when AuquaBro & the rest of the dead DCFU are stuffed in the Green Lantern closet and forgotten.

Tpo81
Tpo81 - 9/17/2023, 7:27 PM
More like you're living in a house that's on fire

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