Big news in the world of DC Films superhero universe and Warner Bros, but not exactly unexpected news given how many times leadership has changed over at DC Films. Warner Bros. has decided not to move forward and canned two superhero films they had been developing: Ava DuVernay’s version of “New Gods” and James Wan’s Aquaman spin-off film, meant to be a horror version of The Trench, aka the sea creature monsters featured in his first underseas superhero adventure film.
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THR reports and offers a statement from WB brass. “As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward,” Warner Bros. and DC said in a statement. “We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan, and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future.”
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The reasons why? THR says, DC Films, led by Walter Hamada, “did not have a natural spot for New Gods or The Trench over the next few years, execs believed it was best not to leave the filmmakers hanging in development without a clear end in sight.”
This shouldn’t be a surprise given how much DC Film has changed over the years, and these films are relics of another era and different leadership. DuVernays “New Gods” would have centered on God-like deities of Apokolips and would have tied into the Darkseid character that appears in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” but hasn’t actually been introduced in the DCEU canon (Snyder’s film is not considered canon). The Trench creatures were the centerpiece of Wan’s “Aquaman” film, and he had wanted to create a horrorverse for these characters.
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But WB has said they wish to release four new movies a year for the foreseeable future and two-or-three spin-offs on HBO Max. Given they haven’t even revealed what many of these projects are, there must be so much more to be announced if the studio has that many slots to fill but has decided there’s just no space for “New Gods” and “The Trench” in those spaces. DuVernay hinted at the news to come earlier today.