DC has access to a lot of characters and properties, but when it came time to pick one he'd like to make, director James Wan's choice was clear. The horror director picked underdog Aquaman, which is due to release next week. Wan was given the choice of adapting The Flash or Aquaman, and the director went with the latter because he was underrepresented and had a lot of potential for world-building.
I felt the Flash had been done before. It had been on TV twice at that point. The one that had not been done was Aquaman. I realized, wow, his character resides in this crazy, big world, and I could do something very interesting with it. I look up to people like Spielberg, Cameron, Lucas, John Carpenter. I'm a fan of genre filmmaking, naturally. So I thought I could make Aquaman a genre film, meaning a horror monster movie. DC basically said, yes, you can make Aquaman versus sea monsters, if that's what you want.
Way back before Warner Bros. had multiple DC projects in the works like New Gods, Plastic Man, Supergirl, and Suicide Squad 2, the studio was keeping it relatively minimal. It was primarily focusing on films for Justice League members like The Batman and Wonder Woman.
After James Wan made his smash-hit The Conjuring for Warner Bros., the director went to studio chairman and chief executive Kevin Tsujihara and expressed a desire to make a superhero movie. At the time, the projects not yet claimed were The Flash and Aquaman.
The Flash was already pretty well known, having had a short-lived TV show in the '90s, and a long-running one currently airing on The CW. James Wan told the New York Times that he was attracted to Aquaman because it hadn't been done before. Additionally, the undersea world of Aquaman was like a playground to Wan, and he felt he could really do a lot with Atlantis and create something fun and unique.
Judging from the released footage, James Wan definitely had a blast with Aquaman. Any movie that is allowed to have giant crabs, mer-people riding sea-dragons, and a giant sea monster voiced by Julie Andrews is worth checking out. Plus, given the delays that The Flash has been experiencing for the last few years, Wan probably made the right choice with Aquaman.
Aquaman is all set to release in theaters on December 21. We don't have to wait much longer, so bone up on your Aquaman knowledge with our What We Know So Far guide. For everything else DC has got in the pipeline, here's our list of upcoming DC movie releases. For all other movie news and updates, keep it right here at CinemaBlend.
