We live in an age where everyone involved in one of these giant superhero movies franchises is basically made to commit as much of their lives as humanly possible to it. Sequels are, if not outright expected, certainly hoped for by studios. And yet, for some reason, it appears that Warner Bros. didn’t have director Patty Jenkins sign a contract that included an option for a Wonder Woman sequel.
Image: Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot at the Wonder Woman premiere (Getty / Frazer Harrison)
Over at the Hollywood Reporter, Borys Kit explains that while Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot obviously has a multi-picture deal — she’s already done Batman v. Superman, Wonder Woman and Justice League, after all — director Patty Jenkins doesn’t. Kit says that the reasons for this may include single picture deals being WB’s default, WB being unprepared for how well Wonder Woman is doing commercially and critically, Jenkins being a relative unknown, and WB just being more tentative about sequels in general.
This is pretty interesting when you consider that there are only three directors who have released DCEU movies: Zack Snyder, David Ayer and Patty Jenkins. Zack Snyder is on his third movie in this universe, while David Ayer got signed to direct Gotham City Sirens after making the mess that was Suicide Squad. In their cases, their movies opened really well, so that could explain why WB had them back.
But Jenkins’s success with Wonder Woman — critically and commercially — makes her locking her down for the sequel a surer bet than Ayer or even Snyder. And the director should have more leverage than either of them, given the pretty widespread notion that her movie has “saved” the DCEU — which, you’ll remember, DC was hoping Suicide Squad would do. And she’s already been talking a great deal about what she wants to do with the Wonder Woman sequel and how excited she is to do one.
Sources speaking to the Hollywood Reporter say WB decided to wait and see how opening weekend went before deciding to negotiate with Jenkins, and that the studio intends to begin talks soon. I hope they realise they have to keep her and also I hope Jenkins forces them to back a dump truck full of money up to her front door. She deserves it.