DCEU’s Jon Berg and Geoff Johns are opening up about the success ofWonder Womanas well as sequel plans. DC and Warner Bros. neededWonder Womanto be a hit, but even they seem surprised at the critical and fan reaction to the movie. ThePatty JenkinsdirectedWonder Womanhas been breaking records while also being celebrated by some as the best DCEU movie thus far, which has lead to the inevitable talk of a sequel. Berg and John spoke toVarietyabout a sequel and the movie’s success as well as thefuture of the DCEU.
When asked whyWonder Womanis such a big success, Berg has a simple, short answer. He explains.
“It’s a fun movie. It’spositive and optimistic. The early films may have been too dark in parts.”
Johns had a little bit more to say about the success of the latest DCEU movie and a response to the lack of optimism in the other movies. He says this.
“Wonder Womancelebrated exactly who the character is, but looking at it, it’s not like we should change everything to be about hope and optimism. There’s nothing to change. That’s what these characters are.”
While the producer and the president both agree that the movie was acelebration of the Wonder Woman character, it seems that they have a slight disagreement over the lack of optimism in the previous DCEU movies. Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were also asked about the possibility ofWonder Woman 2. Read what Johns had to say below.
“Patty (Jenkins) and I arewriting the treatmentright now. The goal is to make another greatWonder Womanfilm. I had a blast making it with Patty the first time. We’ve got a cool idea for the second one.”
While DC has a way of jumping the gun on their announcements and kind of tossing them out there, it seems that Jenkins will for sure be on board to direct the sequel and make a lot more money than she did last time. Berg also spoke aboutWonder Woman’s role in the upcomingJustice Leagueand whether it would change after the success of the movie. He says this.
“Her role won’t change, but she was already playing a big role. People really responded to Gal (Gadot) inSuperman v. Batman. We knew we had something special.”
Geoff Johns and Jon Berg also talked about the some of the weaker aspects ofSuicide SquadandSuperman v. Batman. Read what Berg had to say below.
“OnSuicide Squad, the movie did incredibly well commercially. It didn’t work narratively. You had some great casting and some great characterizations, but where the story fell down was on narrative, on plot. We could do better.Batman v. Supermanwas tonally dark. People didn’t respond to that.”
Again, Berg stresses how dark the movies were. Many would argue that it was most definitely not the “darkness” that dragged the movies down, but the writing and lack of plot. Fans are hoping that they heed their own words moving forward to makeJustice Leagueand future DCEU movies as great asWonder Woman. Most fans think that the dark is good, optimism is good, but tapping into the true blood of these characters is going to be the key to moving forward.
Wonder Womanis still holding her own in movie theaters three weeks after her debut. It will be interesting to see where Batgirl, Harley Quinn, and Wonder Woman go after all of this, but it seems that Johns and Berg know what they have in their hands. As Johns says “no one is going to beat Wonder Woman and Batgirl and Harley Quinn.” There’s a lot to look forward to in the DCEU these days and that should make fans happy.
