It should surprise absolutely no one, but Sci Fi Wire reports that the long-stalled Wonder Woman movie has been placed on the back burner while Warner Bros. focuses on Justice League of America.
So says producer Joel Silver, who was questioned at a press conference for Fred Claus: “They’re going to make the Justice League movie, and we’re kind of pausing on Wonder Woman now. Let them go ahead and do that picture [first].”
George Miller is directing JLA, which reportedly is being viewed as a launching pad for other superhero films, including Wonder Woman. On Sunday, David Dobkin revealed he’s directing The Flash, and on Monday WB announced Greg Berlanti will helm Green Lantern.
Wonder Woman has been in development hell since Silver seized control of the movie in 2001. A series of screenwriters took turns at the script over the next few years until March 2005, when Joss Whedon was brought onboard to write and direct.
However, by February 2007, Whedon, too, was out, due to creative differences with Silver and Warner Bros. Even before his departure was made public, the studio bought a script from a pair of newcomers, supposedly as a preemptive measure to protect itself from a plagiarism lawsuit. But considering that their story took place during World War II, and Whedon’s was set in the present, that seems unlikely.
No matter, I suppose. That treatment won’t see the light of day, either.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Setting Wonderwoman during World War 2 would be the GREATEST THING EVER
October 30th, 2007 at 6:32 am
As mentioned above, this comes as a surprise to no one. I guess it is better to actually get every one on the same page rather than have a mess of compromises and re-writes make it to the silver screen. I still just cannot get excited about the Justice League film, not without Bale and Routh signing on.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Actually, I can dig the lack of Bale/Routh in a JLA movie. Really it’s no different then having different artists drawing Superman and Batman in various books the comics.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:43 am
I don’t know that Bale & Routh could make me excited about the Justice League film.
Where’s that article about the WB exec supposedly saying no more movies with female leads…?
October 30th, 2007 at 8:01 am
The degree of ineptitude demonstrated in the handling of this project is pretty incredible.
And, surprise surprise, GL and Flash have directors/writers attached, and WW doesn’t.
C’mon, guys, Perez already did the hard work and wrote her origin story; all you have to do is film it.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:01 am
WB: any chance you want to do the opposite and but the justice league movie on hold?
October 30th, 2007 at 9:19 am
It is interesting to me that this is stalled for the JLA movie while GL and Flash have gotten more attention this week after the recent casting calls for the JLA. I was wondering how DC would deal with a horde of iconic super hero movies at once. One, maybe two a summer seems like enough for the mainstream public.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:35 am
They wanna do it, but they’re scared shitless of messing it up. First they have to get someone good to play Diana. Then they need a great script. It’s funny how Flash and Green Lantern are moving forward, but Wonder Woman is so slowed down…
October 30th, 2007 at 9:37 am
I would love to see a Woner Woman movie written by Alan Heinberg. They should use Adam Hughes and Terry Dodson for the conception art
October 30th, 2007 at 9:39 am
“would love to see a Woner Woman movie written by Alan Heinberg. They should use Adam Hughes and Terry Dodson for the conception art”
The intermission before the third act would be killer.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Ultimately the Justice League movie is just more toyetic. I think we’re seeing a shift back to studio control over superhero movies rather than the director and creator control we’ve enjoyed for so long.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Warner Bros hates women.
Warner Bros superhate superwomen.
Before a Marvel Peter Petruski film that one of Wonder Woman…
I think that it´s better. With the bad films that Warner make with the women…
Catwoman… Hehehe
The Reaping… Bwahahahahaha..
Yes, Maybe that the people don´t like the women as first character… as Bionic Woman, Alien…
Warner is very funny.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I have no faith in a Wonder Woman movie ever being made. The script that WB bought would make a great movie if the right director was attached and took the material seriously. I read the script and it’s fantastic: very tight with fleshed out characters.
However, Perez has done all the necessary work if WB truly wanted to make a GREAT film. Read the first trade of his relaunch, and there you have it.
Allan Heinberg write a Wonder Woman film? No, thanks. His run was about style over substance. There was no substance anywhere in his run and he didn’t “get” who THIS Diana was/is. Luckily The Dodsons were his artists or people would truly see what a disaster his relaunch was.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Warner Bros. puts the movie on hold because they think female lead movies don’t do money?
Kill Bill, Underworld, Alien… anyone?
Either they are sexist idiots nor they can’t admit that their movies suck not because of female leads but because of shitty scripts and bad directors they hired.
Too bad that DC movies can’t be make by other studios. Warner sucks!
October 30th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I’m not surprised that action films with women as stars don’t seem to work. It all comes down to the script and direction.
I still have not seen Catwoman, because as I understand it, the movie has absolutely nothing to do with Selina Kyle, or Michelle Pfieffer’s version of Catwoman in Batman Returns. Why would I want to see a version of Catwoman that isn’t Selina Kyle? That’s like making a Batman film without Bruce Wayne as Batman. An Elseworlds Catwoman?
I’ve see a ton of well-made dramas with strong women as stars, most of them set in a classroom or about a mother protecting her child or children.
I guess it requires and extra braincell to figure out how to create a strong female action hero on film.
Seems to be hard to find a good woman when you need one…
October 30th, 2007 at 10:32 am
I think Elektra and Catwoman have soured studios on super heroines. Along with the failure of female action films like Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet.
They should realize that crappy movies are what turn people away.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Too bad Elektra, Catwoman, Aeon Flux, and Ultraviolet all sucked.
Kill Bill anyone? The trick to movies is to have them not suck. It doesn’t matter if the lead is a guy or a chick. Maybe it does a little, but it’s not the main factor in those 4 movies.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Staggering to me that Marvel is churning out some pretty remarkable and enteraining movies and Warner Bro’s are scratching their heads and wondering what they should do.
Staggering. I can’t wait to see how the GL movie will be mauled.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Love these DC movie announcements. These are some great announcements. Can’t wait until next summer for another awesome round of announcements. They be even better than these announcements.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Not surprising at all considering they can’t even get the comic right. I just think they don’t know what to do with her. WW2? Period films don’t do that well nowadays. Modern? How do we make her modern without it becoming Matrix? Do we use the murderer version from the comics? Perez’s version?
My thought honestly is just to make it WW2, hire Richard Donner to direct, get Rian Johnson (Brick) to take a pass at the script, or any of the Buffy or Heroes writers seem like good choices. Morena Baccarin as Diana/WW and there ya go. What’s so hard about this?
October 30th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I realize that Time Warner owns both DC and WB, but DC should not be held hostage to WB’s ineptitude.
Dc should be allowed to sign deals with other movie studios and production houses to get their comic book franchises translated into the silver screen. WB might not be happy about this, but DC has a right to make as much money as it can by fully developing its franchises.
Marvel is a lot more nimble at making movies from their comic book stable of franchises because they aren’t tied down to one movie studio. Also their main focus is comic books and adaptations. WB’s main focus isn’t brining DC’s characters into the silver screen and it clearly shows.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Oh Warner Bros, You silly gits.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
And the ineptitude wheel goes round and round. . .
October 30th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I’m not shocked by this news either. Does anyone remember WB’s treatment of The Birds of Prey?
I’d love to see a team effort of Simone, Whedon and Vaughn for a WW movie. Heck throw in Brubaker too. I think Cooke would do an excellent job on the story boards for the execs to “visualize” what would happen too.
*Sighs* BUT that’ll probably never happen.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
This movie is cursed I tell you! CURSED!
October 30th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I love how few fanboys, if *ANY*, would even consider the possibility that Whedon wrote a wretched script…
October 30th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
If I were Joel Silver, I’d reconsider and beg Joss Wheadon to come back, because this is ridiculous. They’re just asking for a mediocore, if terrrible, film to be made.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I’m not even sure Joel Silver has any substantial vision regarding WW. Have we ever heard any concrete ideas from him regarding it?
October 30th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I love how the JL movie is being held up as the reason to prevent the WW film from happening, but that didn’t stop the studio from annoucning the Flash and Green Lantern flicks. Not that I ever expect those films to be made either, but still.
While we’re at it, can we have George Miller, and anyone else involved with the JL movie, take a good long look at that picture of WW at the top of the article? That’s Wonder WOMAN. Tall, statuesque, imposing. Not some 5′5″ girl who’s barely 20 years old. PLEASE, if you must make this ill-advised JL movie, at least cast some actors who honestly look like adults! Otherwise, why not just make a Teen Titans movie instead? Personally, I like Catherine Zeta Jones for the part.
I disagree with those who say Marvel’s doing such great film work (the first two Spideys, the first two X-Men, and then..?), but they do seem to have a much better idea of what they’re doing than WB/DC does. Thank goodness Chris Nolan got a hold of the Batman franchise. I just hope JL doesn’t kill it.
CRAZY IDEA: How about taking some of the better comic writers out there, and have THEM script (or perhaps co-script, with experienced screenwriters) these projects?
October 30th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Of course it’s possible that Whedon wrote a lousy script… I was never a Buffy fan, nor did I care much for Firefly (though I enjoy his Astonishing X-Men work). The aborted J.J. Abrams script for Superman is supposed to be truly awful (and I have NO faith in his “re-imagning” of Star Trek). No one’s infallible. But I bet Whedon had a better grasp of things than the people behind the (supposed) Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern movies do. Nothing about those projects sounds good.
October 30th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
“Not some 5′5″ girl who’s barely 20 years old. PLEASE, if you must make this ill-advised JL movie, at least cast some actors who honestly look like adults!”
No way can a 20 year old pull of playing Diana convincingly.
October 30th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I think well its good they want to do these movies, DC needs to realize they really need a good script for their properties to translate well to the big screen.
You have take the shine off a comic book character to make it work in a live action setting most times, and it seems not a lot of the script writers get that.
Not that that’s the case in every situation, but I think that axom holds true in most cases.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I love how insular this site can be about movies. What the tiny comic book community views as bad interpretation is not what the rest of the world’s opinion. If Wonder Woman is portrayed as black teenager with bad attitude towards men, so be it get over it because this isn’t catering solely to the comic book community.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The JLA movie sounds lame. A bunch of twentysomethings or younger are supposed to play Batman and Superman and Wonderwoman? Sounds more like Dawsons Creek to me. This isn’t the JLA I know just like Smallville is not the Superman I know and love. Its a stupid bastardization of Superman.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Of COURSE they’re holding off - isn’t this the company that said they weren’t going to make movies with female leads anymore?
October 30th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
“However, by February 2007, Whedon, too, was out, due to creative differences with Silver and Warner Bros.” equals “Whedon wanted to make Wonder Woman a lesbian, and Silver and Warner Bros. freaked and ran.”
October 30th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Whedon has said that the reason he had trouble with WB is because he couldn’t figure out what they wanted. He would hand in a treatment, they would say it wasn’t what they wanted, and when he asked what they did want they couldn’t tell him. They never gave him a clear picture of what they wanted, but they wouldn’t let him do what he wanted.
I don’t think WB even knows what they want from a Wonder Woman movie. I think they plan on letting writer after writer pitch something, hoping that they’ll stumble upon the thing they really want.
October 30th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
WB not knowing what they want? Letting writer after writer pitch? Never!
I mean, it’s not like they did with Superman or anything…
October 30th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Diana is an uphill battle. She’s an icon, she’s well-known by non-comics fans and there’s a lot of people (myself included) who will probably never be fully sold on a solo WW movie. When a movie is going to take $200 million to make, you really don’t want your target demo going, “Meh. This bores me,” before the first trailer even hits.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Lynda Carter was and will always be Wonder Woman. No movie “remaking” Wonder Woman should ever be attempted. The role was cast in the mid-seventies, it has been done, and for legions of fans, the live action version of Wonder Woman was completed almost 30 years ago. “Wonder Woman” was done perfectly, no woman will ever be Lynda Carter, and an attempt at recreating what is perfect will only fail. Lynda nailed that role shut, and no one will ever, ever measure up. The end.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Quoting:
>”I love how insular this site can be about >movies. What the tiny comic book community >views as bad interpretation is not what >the rest of the world’s opinion. If Wonder >Woman is portrayed as black teenager with >bad attitude towards men, so be it get >over it because this isn’t catering solely >to the comic book community.”
Personally, I love how some people make comments like this one. As if millions haven’t seen a WW in a comic at least once sometime in her long, fabled history. Or perhaps they know from the old Lynda Carter show, or Super Friends, or the recent JL/JLU cartoons. Or all of the above.
My point? The character’s an icon, just like Supes and Bats. There’s no one “right” way to do her, and I don’t think most comic fans feel that there is. But there are certain iconic aspects to the character that are time-honored and should be respected. Casting an imposing, statuesque woman who truly looks like a woman is one of those things.
I think most people will agree that the better superhero movies tend to be the ones that stick more closely to the source material. That’s not to say that some liberties can’t or shouldn’t be taken (the Ra’s Al-Guhl in Batman Begins isn’t the same as the Ra’s of the comics; Spider-Man 2 deviated from the comics in a number of ways). It just means that a fundamental respect for the character, and its origins or surroundings, is the best approach. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
October 30th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
… “Wonder Woman” was done perfectly, no woman will ever be Lynda Carter, and an attempt at recreating what is perfect will only fail. …
Lynda Carter is double-checking the locks on all of her doors about now.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
“Lynda Carter was and will always be Wonder Woman. No movie “remaking” Wonder Woman should ever be attempted. The role was cast in the mid-seventies, it has been done, and for legions of fans, the live action version of Wonder Woman was completed almost 30 years ago. “Wonder Woman” was done perfectly, no woman will ever be Lynda Carter, and an attempt at recreating what is perfect will only fail. Lynda nailed that role shut, and no one will ever, ever measure up. The end.”
Yes, and Adam West was the only real Batman. Nobody will ever do a Batman as well as he did.
Come on, that was 30 years ago. The character has changed, the generations have changed. There are people alive today who don’t know the name Lynda Carter. They deserve a good story too.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
The original “Wonder Woman” television series was a very campy show, regardless how one may feel about Lynda Carter’s portrayal. It was a 70s show. A “Wonder Woman” movie should be truer to the comic book character. You can be serious and still have humor in the script, just don’t go for the easy way by camping it up.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Lynda Carter was a decent actress on a horribly campy TV show that is best left as a piece of camp nostalgia. It’s certainly the last place anyone should look to for inspiration for Diana today (not that that’s stopping DC and Heinberg).
October 30th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Satellite pick up images of a new land mass, a small archipielago of islands, appearing in the Bermuda Triangle. Cut to Wahington DC. Follow an intelligence employee bringing a freshly created filed report to the Oval Office. He hands it to the President of the United States. PotUS turns to his left and receives the file, Then turns to his right as if speaking to someone else in the room and says, “I believe you now.” Pan camera 90% to the right, to show tall female figure in robes, stepping forward. “And there is more to share, between this world of man and the world of Amazonia.”
Tall female figure opens her eyes, blinding the lens with their brilliance,
fade into movie title. Wonder Woman.
Movies are pushing the boundaries of storytelling and all we hear is “we don’t know what to make the WW movie about”. How about the arrival of WW into the 21st Century!!!
October 31st, 2007 at 1:14 am
It’s certainly the last place anyone should look to for inspiration for Diana today
I don’t know. I recently watched the first series, and was quite literally astonished at how honest, earnest and infectiously decent Diana/Wonder Woman was. Charming the world into becoming a better place through sheer force of heart.
Sure, much of it was repetitive shlock, and it occasionally overstated the naivete, but compared to the Justice League Wonder Woman, it was Citizen Kate (”Great! … Hera!”).
Wonder Woman should be a love story. Not a romance, but a story about someone who embodies Love and Truth and Goodness.
It am only rocket science on Bizarro Planet.
Also: Lucy Montgomery for Wonder Woman (where’s Rich? Back me up, man!).
//\Oo/\\
October 31st, 2007 at 11:48 am
Uh… you realize you have it backwards, right? Whedon’s script was about WWII and WB wanted him to do it in the present day — he wouldn’t budge.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:55 am
I don’t have it backward.
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:13 am
I hope they cast Katharine McPhee! Shed be perdect!
I hated the casting from before…..
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:17 am
People say and Lynda Carter herself said on an interview on American Idol that they resemble a lot.
November 6th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
there’s has to be a way to buy the rights to the WW movie from WB. She is one of the originals and we shouldn’t have to wait this long. Joss should be the writer, hands down. It’s time to get this started. And no JL movie with 20s d list actors.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
My vote for WW still goes to Gina Torres.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
i think it’s a shame and i ridiculous mistake put such a DAMN good movie on hold, because of writer’s fits and disagreements among collagues, come together and this movie for woman and guys like me who are big fans of the t.v.series and lynda carter herself. i feel stronger feel that there’s nobody to date that can imbody the presence of ‘WONDER WOMAN’ like lynda carter did( it’s only my opinion and that of mant others) ass the all time 1 one fan of the t.v. series;…i propose a challenge! can anyone wporking on this movie tell me(which i already know) what 2 times that WONDER WOMAN’s magic lasso lied? then we’ll talk1 signed loyal and true red,white,and blue fan.