He was already known as the King of the Seven Seas and a founding member of the Justice League, but now we can give Arthur Curry, a.k.a. Aquaman, another honor: box office champion. In the month since it was released in theaters, Aquaman has collected over $1 billion worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2018. With a commercial performance like that, it was easy to assume that Warner Bros would want to jump on a sequel, and today brings word that Aquaman 2 is now in development. However, director James Wan’s directorial involvement hasn’t been nailed down just yet.
Just like how Warner Bros eventually brought back Patty Jenkins to direct and co-write Wonder Woman 1984 after being impressed with her work on Wonder Woman, Deadline reports that the studio is working to bring back James Wan to helm Aquaman 2. As things stand now, the plan being discussed is for Wan to oversee the development of the sequel, which includes selecting writers. Once he sees the finalized script, then he’ll decide on whether or not he wants to direct Aquaman 2.
Given that James Wan already had a good relationship with Warner Bros thanks to his work on the Conjuring franchise, not to mention that Aquaman is his second movie to make over $1 billion (the first being Furious 7 over at Universal), you can bet Warner Bros will do its best to entice Wan to come back. Plus, Wan is clearly invested in DC’s Atlantean mythology, so if the right story comes his way, he’d surely jump at the chance to expand this underwater realm. For now, though, Wan is taking a break following the gargantuan effort of putting Aquaman together, so it’s hard to say when we’ll find out what his status on Aquaman 2 is.
At the time of this writing, Aquaman has made $1.075 billion, $766 million of which has come from foreign markets. It’s now close to succeeding 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises as the highest-grossing DC Comics movie of all time. Warner Bros may not be as concerned anymore with focusing on the “shared universe” aspect of the DC Extended Universe, but as far as individual franchises go, you can bet the studio wants the solo adventures of heroes like Aquaman and Wonder Woman to keep going since they bring in the big bucks.
Warning: SPOILERS for Aquaman are ahead!
As has become the norm with superhero movies nowadays, Aquaman had an extra scene tacked on during its credits to set the stage for Aquaman 2. In the mid-credits scene, David Kane, a.k.a. Black Manta, was revealed to have survived his fight with Arthur Curry in Sicily, but only due to being rescued by Dr. Stephen Shin, a scientist obsessed with proving to the surface world that Atlanteans are real. Upon getting acquainted, Manta agreed to lead Shin to Atlantis in exchange for his help getting revenge on Arthur for the death of his father.
Aquaman is still playing in theaters, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the movie. Stay tuned for updates on how Aquaman 2 is progressing, and browse through our DC movies guide to learn what else is in the works for the DCEU.
