With ‘Aquaman’ reigning as the highest-grossing movie ever starring a DC Comics superhero, Warner Brothers hopes that fans are thirsty for more, as they make plans to further explore the Aqua-Verse. Last month, a spinoff focusing on the carnivorous Trench was announced, followed with the scheduling of a straight-up sequel to ‘Aquaman’ which will wash up in December of 2022, a whopping four years after the first. Producer Peter Safran addressed ‘The Trench’ and the seemingly huge gap between proper ‘Aquaman’ flicks.
Considering that both Safran, director James Wan, and head of DC Films Walter Hamada have been the major forces behind the hit horror franchise ‘The Conjuring’, the idea of a ‘Trench’ spinoff seems more obvious. After all, in addition to the regular ‘Conjuring’ flicks, the films have branched off and added installments dedicated to evil doll ‘Annabelle’ and ‘The Nun’. Safran compares the approach to ‘Aquaman’ to those, expressing that there is plenty of room in this universe for more tales that don’t necessarily center on Arthur Curry.
“We always, even from the early concept art days, loved the idea of a Trench movie. 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.
“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.”
‘The Trench’ will have a relatively modest budget (reportedly, around $50 million) and Safran iterated that neither Aquaman nor Mera would appear in it. This should be an interesting experiment, as this is the first time a major studio has attempted a small-scale picture set within a superhero universe, but not specifically focused on those superheroes. But while this may be a fun detour, fans will still be looking forward to ‘Aquaman 2’.
“[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.”
Safran states that Wan has fabricated an entire mythology around Aquaman and Atlantis, which could spawn numerous cinematic exploits. One thing Safran isn’t too keen on is another ‘Justice League’ movie that would drag Aquaman back into a team-up with Wonder Woman, and whatever superheroes wind up still floating around WB’s DC film universe. ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins echos that sentiment, saying “I sort of hope that we don’t do a Justice League movie for a little while because I’m excited to see all of their movies. I want to see Aquaman 2, I want to see Flash.”
Safran explained his stance, saying:
“I think that when you’re making really strong stand-alone movies, there’s really no need to bring them together. You want to give these characters room to breathe and live, and tell their stories. 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.”
‘The Trench’ has not yet been scheduled, but it is expected to arrive before ‘Aquaman 2’ which is scheduled to be released on December 16, 2022.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
