AQUAMAN - a film by James Wan

[Immortal Weapon]

A Trench spin-off is in the works
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...-works-1184285

[Osiris-Rex]

Though The Avengers did make $45 million in Japan. But $20 million sounds about right.

Aquaman has now swam past Suicide Squad in domestic box office with $325,247,042 as of Thursday and only needs $5 million more to snorkel past Batman v Superman.
The estimate is Aquaman will make $3 million this weekend so probably by sometime next Friday.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres...=superhero.htm

[Midvillian1322]

A Trench spin-off is in the works
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...-works-1184285

I like that DC is branching out do a horror movie. Maybe this will lead to us finaly getting a R rated Justice league dark.

[daBronzeBomma]

A Trench spin-off is in the works
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...-works-1184285

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

[Immortal Weapon]

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

The guy who currently runs DC made his name developing horror films. The Trench got great horror potential.

[Jim Kelly]

Using super-heroes to set up other genres of story telling--like horror--is one way to go. But I hope that DC will regain faith in its other properties where it can do the other kinds of stories without tying them into any existing super-hero franchise. They were able to do this in the past with movies like A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and ROAD TO PERDITION.

[Colossus1980]

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

Reminds me of how the Sony Universe is operating. Trying to make all of Spider-Man's villains a franchise.

[Wandering_Wand]

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

Let's look at a few things to consider:

There is no official "DCEU." Warner Bros. has never committed to an actual name, it's all been fan/journalist driven. So, to suggest that everything must be "DCEU" and directly connected ala MCU isn't exactly accurate. Example, one item we've heard is that the "Joker" movie coming out in October is completely Elseworlds type stuff when compared to the current line up of movies. As in, from what we currently know and have been told, it will not be connected to any other DC movies.

Also, Warner Bros. said after the success of Aquaman they have learned that not everything needs to be connected and they've [thankfully] learned their lesson on trying to rush their universe to compete with the MCU (which was a stupid idea that was completely butchered by their own hands and a misguided five film Snyder arc - one that I would have loved to see, however). So, they will be toning down on trying to interconnect everything for future set ups and focus on simply telling good stories (thank goodness!).

The "DCEU" as we know it starts and consists of the following films:

Man of Steel
Batman v Superman
Suicide Squad
Wonder Woman
Justice League
Aquaman
Shazam (4/5/19)
Birds of Prey (2020)
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
The Batman (2021)


Further, the Trench was one of the most well received portions of the film, starting with the wide shot of Arthur and Mera diving down with the flare. Plus, the Trench does have a little bit of lore and some connective tissue. But, who knows how interconnected it'll be with Aquaman? This is all so preliminary and keep in mind the current brass driving DC films has an extremely rich and competent background in Horror (Walter Hamada - who's turning out to be a Kevin Feige Jr. in some senses, mostly in that they have a guy who knows what he's doing making the decisions).

Also, if they can make a horror film like The Trench on a budget (again, channeling Hamada, Wan, and Sandberg - Shazam! - who perfected low budget horror), why not? A $75 million horror film can make North of $350 million at the global box office and earn WB some quick cash, meanwhile slightly quasi-expanding out properties such as Aquaman.


All in all, I'm unsure what to think about this. I'm just saying, let's not write it off just yet. At the same time, maybe we should temper expectations. Keep in mind, this may be a trial balloon WB is floating out to gauge potential interest.

[Osiris-Rex]

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

Horror movies do almost as well as superhero movies. So having a horror movie that ties into a superhero movie is an easy call. WB would be fools to not consider this. Sounds like WB is learning the right lessons.
Go with what works and drop the things that don't work. I am boldly going to say the Joker movie will be a hit and if done right so will the Trench movie.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

And just when you think DCE has finally turned the corner, they go and show that once again, they are learning the wrong lessons.

The Trench as a hero-less spinoff movie a la JOKER?

GOH with that noise.

The Trench are not the Joker. They aren't even Venom.

They certainly do not deserve their own movie, IMGO.

Save all that for AQUAMAN 2.

Hope this dumb idea never gets greenlit.

I'm ok with this. I think the Trench are interesting, but I don't think they're right for the main antagonist in an Aquaman sequel. I want a human as the main villain, not a mass of lookalike/act-alike CGI creatures.

Given that Warners has all these successful low budget horror directors in house, I have confidence that a good standalone Trench movie can be made. I agree that its interesting to see DC Films branch out from just straight superheroes. It's something that Marvel is NOT doing and can really expand the definition of what a comic book movie is -- something that will help comics continue to thrive at the box office as source material for movies and television.

I'd like to see DC start a "House" sub-universe, either in film or on TV, featuring their various Horror Houses: House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Secrets of Haunted House, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, Sinister House of Secret Love, Ghost Castle, and Doorway to Nightmare. Throw in Night Force, Unexpected, and Witching Hour. I think a TV series would be better as it could be an anthology type series with a different host and house each episode.

[Wildling]

I thought the crystal continent filled with dinosaurs and ancient secrets was enough for at least half a sequel, but a movie about The Trench also makes sense. We've always had sea horror stories, from Moby Dick to Lovecraft's works to Jaws to The Meg and everything in between, and horror voices like Wan are not to be dismissed.

[daBronzeBomma]

So, just to mark it, AQUAMAN 2 is officially moving forward

James Wan will executive-produce the sequel, but hasn't signed on to direct it ... yet.

And this is in addition to THE TRENCH lower-budget film which will take place in the same universe, but with none of the original cast.

This could be the start of an "Aquaman Cinematic Universe" ... which are words I never thought would seriously be uttered / typed before.


Hopefully, THE TRENCH (which will learn hard into the horror genre) might also feature some movie version of Aqualads, Aquagirls, Lagoon Boys, and/or Aqualasses, that can be then reintroduced in AQUAMAN 2 to join the main cast.

But that's just me spitballing here.

[Calighoula]

So, just to mark it, AQUAMAN 2 is officially moving forward

James Wan will executive-produce the sequel, but hasn't signed on to direct it ... yet.

And this is in addition to THE TRENCH lower-budget film which will take place in the same universe, but with none of the original cast.

This could be the start of an "Aquaman Cinematic Universe" ... which are words I never thought would seriously be uttered / typed before.


Hopefully, THE TRENCH (which will learn hard into the horror genre) might also feature some movie version of Aqualads, Aquagirls, Lagoon Boys, and/or Aqualasses, that can be then reintroduced in AQUAMAN 2 to join the main cast.

But that's just me spitballing here.

That's exactly what it is.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

So, just to mark it, AQUAMAN 2 is officially moving forward

James Wan will executive-produce the sequel, but hasn't signed on to direct it ... yet.

And this is in addition to THE TRENCH lower-budget film which will take place in the same universe, but with none of the original cast.

This could be the start of an "Aquaman Cinematic Universe" ... which are words I never thought would seriously be uttered / typed before.


Hopefully, THE TRENCH (which will learn hard into the horror genre) might also feature some movie version of Aqualads, Aquagirls, Lagoon Boys, and/or Aqualasses, that can be then reintroduced in AQUAMAN 2 to join the main cast.

But that's just me spitballing here.

An Aquaman cinematic universe might be the way DC Films is going in terms of spinning off lower budget movies to enlarge a franchise.

Another way DC Films seems to be going is in creating what I'll call "Franchise Universes."

Matt Reeves' Batman plus Joker and Birds of Prey/Harley Quinn/Gotham City Sirens are creating a Batman Franchise Universe -- even if none of them actually take place in the same storytelling universe.

This is a good idea for DC who tends to have a long history with spinoff characters who have been able to support their own long running comics series and have established their own separate fanbases.

The more DC Films does things that the Marvel Cinematic Universe can't do as readily, the easier it will be for DC Films to differentiate itself from the MCU and not be seen as just constantly trying to play catchup to Marvel.

[daBronzeBomma]

Question: which Aquaverse character would be best equipped to be the protagonist in the TRENCH movie? I know no stars from AQUAMAN would be in it to keep costs down, but what about other members of the Aquaverse?

Could a pre-Arthur Garth, Tula, Kalderahn, Lorena, Dolphin, or Lagoon Boy anchor a TRENCH movie as the proverbial "good guy"?

Because if THE TRENCH features a bunch of rando civilians that have no bearing on AQUAMAN 2, then that will be a huge opportunity missed.