Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. News

Aquaman movie snags Furious Seven director

By

aquaman
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The film that will bring DC Comics’ king of the seas to the big screen has found its director, and he’s no stranger to superhero-sized action.

Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that Furious Seven and The Conjuring filmmaker James Wan will direct the upcoming solo film featuring Aquaman, due to hit theaters in 2018. The film will feature Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa as Aquaman, who’s expected to make his debut as the character in next year’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Recommended Videos

“We’ve been so lucky to have worked with James, first on New Line’s The Conjuring and now on their upcoming The Conjuring 2,” said Greg Silverman, WB’s President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production, in a statement accompanying the announcement. “And [we] are thrilled to have him on board as we continue to expand our DC slate. The Aquaman film will be a major tentpole picture for us and James’ span of work has proven him able to take on any manner of project, bringing his incredible creative talent and unique voice to the material.”

Related

Wan initially made a name for himself in Hollywood with a string of successful horror movies, including the original Saw in 2004, as well as 2010’s Insidious and the aforementioned 2013 film The Conjuring. However, it was this year’s action-fueled Furious Seven — which has earned more than $1.5 billion worldwide and currently ranks as the fourth highest-grossing film of all time — that likely vaulted him to the top of the studio’s list of potential directors.

Hitting theaters at the mid-point between Justice League: Part One in 2017 and Justice League: Part Two in 2019, Aquaman is based on a script currently being penned by 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire writer, Kurt Johnstad. Wan will supervise the script’s development in addition to directing the film.

“James is not only a great storyteller but can make action truly explode on the big screen,” said producer Charles Roven. “And Jason has a dynamic presence that commands your attention. Together, they will bring an undeniable vitality and energy to this character as he headlines his first feature film.”

A founding member of the Justice League in the DC Comics universe, Aquaman was created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger and made his debut in a 1941 issue of More Fun Comics. Although his background story has changed over the years, his history typically pegs him as the heir to the throne of Atlantis and the child of a human father and Atlantean mother. This shared DNA allows him to live both underwater and on dry land, and gives him superhuman strength out of the water (due to the undersea pressure his body is able to handle). He’s also able to telepathically communicate — and in many cases, command — aquatic creatures.

Thus far, Aquaman’s live-action, on-screen appearances have been limited to a role in the Smallville television series and the never-aired pilot for a solo series titled Mercy Reef.

Aquaman hits theaters July 27, 2018.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
35 years ago, Hollywood’s biggest director made his most underrated blockbuster
A man checks machinery in The Abyss.

Very few filmmakers have found as much consistent blockbuster success in Hollywood as James Cameron. The writer-director has been a marquee name for the past 40 years, and he's directed some of the biggest and most beloved genre films of all time. He's become so highly regarded that he can return from a 13-year break with a sequel that most casual moviegoers had forgotten was even in development and still be enough of a draw to make sure it rakes in some of the most impressive box office numbers in Hollywood history. On top of all of his commercial successes, the general critical appreciation for Cameron has only continued to grow at a steady rate in recent years.

Despite his popularity, though, even Cameron has at least one underrated title in his filmography. In his case, that honor belongs to 1989's The Abyss. Released in between 1986's Aliens and 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss is an underwater sci-fi thriller that has consistently flown under the radar for the past 35 years. While it has its fair share of fans, the movie has never received as much attention as all of Cameron's other efforts (barring, say, 1982's Piranha II: The Spawning). That isn't, however, a reflection of The Abyss' quality. On the contrary, it ranks high as one of the most technically astonishing and movingly earnest films that Cameron has ever made.
Close encounters under the sea

Read more
30 years ago, this action movie changed Hollywood forever. But was it for better or worse?
A man points a gun in True Lies.

No one blinks anymore when a movie costs $100 million. That’s what most Hollywood movies cost today, isn’t it? It’s what Apple spent, for example, on this past weekend’s Fly Me to the Moon, the kind of frothy, human-scaled, adult-oriented comedy that’s often cited as counterprogramming to the expensive blockbusters the studios otherwise bankroll. Meanwhile, last year’s The Creator was celebrated for achieving its eye-popping special-effects spectacle for the low, low price of… $80 million. Executives now cross the nine-figures line like it’s nothing.

There was a time, of course, when $100 million still meant something — when it was not just a high price tag for a movie, but the highest. Thirty years ago, the summer action-comedy True Lies exploded into theaters, ushering the film industry into a new era of budgetary extravagance. The Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle marked the first time a studio coughed up $100 million before marketing. It was, in cost (if not scale or performance), the biggest movie ever made up to that point.

Read more
5 action movie characters I’d hire to be my bodyguard
Keanu Reeves in John Wick Chapter 2.

Most of us will never be targeted by international assassins. And that's great, because who wants to be marked for death? It doesn't sound like much fun. The same goes for kidnapping plots, robberies, and other outlandishly dangerous situations you'd see in a standard action flick. As far as we're concerned, let the movies be the movies. We've got enough problems to deal with in reality.

However, in the unlikely event that your life was in danger and you could only call upon an action movie character for help, who would you reach out to? There's no shortage of options. But for me, there are five easy choices to make when it's my life on the line. That's why the following tough guys are the five action movie characters that I’d hire to be my bodyguard.
John McClane

Read more