‘Wonder Woman 3’ Reportedly Not Moving Forward

 Just weeks after Warner Bros. announced a shift in leadership for its DC productions – with James Gunn and Peter Safran now heading up the newly formed DC Studios – THR now reports that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 is officially dead.

It’s no secret that Gunn and Safran are working to lay out a cohesive strategy for DC’s upcoming film slate, and it’s also no secret that Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 was widely perceived as a narrative misfire following the fantastic 2017 original film. So this news isn’t entirely surprising. But what now?

On Tuesday, Gadot shared an Instagram post on the anniversary of her original Wonder Woman Batman v. Superman casting announcement that she was excited to share the “next chapter” in the character’s story. The THR story coming on the heels of that post is either a bizarre coincidence or perhaps confirmation that Gadot’s Diana Prince will be part of DC’s new direction even if the franchise’s director and plans for the third installment will not.

For the full story, visit THR.com.

DC Unveils Ludicrously Ambitious Movie Schedule

Is DC Entertainment going into panic mode? Possibly. Warner Bros. has just revealed its slate of 10 massive superhero films it will be releasing through 2020, including two Justice League movies, a Suicide Squad adaptation, a Green Lantern reboot and solo outings for Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. The far-reaching cinematic universe for DC kicks off with Man of Steel sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which hits theaters in 2016.

Here's how it will all shake out:

2016 - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill)
2016 - Suicide Squad
2017 - Wonder Woman (starring Gal Gadot)
2017 - Justice League Part 1 
2018 - The Flash (starring Ezra Miller)
2018 - Aquaman (starring Jason Momoa)
2019 - Shazam (starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson)
2019 - Justice League Part 2
2020 -  Cyborg (starring Ray Fisher)
2020 - Green Lantern (probably not starring Ryan Reynolds)

I'll be shocked if even half of these get made, especially since so much of hinges on the success of Batman v Superman. For more on this story, head over to Deadline.com.

‘Justice League’ Slated for 2015

Aside from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, it doesn’t appear as though DC Entertainment has any clue how to properly translate its most iconic heroes to the big screen. However, according to a recent Variety report, the publisher and its parent company, Warner Bros., are readying the entire Justice League for a movie team-up in 2015.

No doubt spurred by the unrivaled success of Marvel’s The Avengers, Warner Bros. is hoping to team DC’s most celebrated heroes for an ensemble film in three years, but is it too little too late? After all, it’s not like last summer’s Green Lantern lit up the box office, and it’s yet to be seen whether Zack Snyder’s The Man of Steel will resurrect Superman’s appeal at the box office next summer. Will DC Entertainment be able to replicate the success of the House of Ideas? Let’s hope they surprise us.

For more on this story, click here.

NBC Deems New ‘Wonder Woman’ Less Than Wonderful

Don’t act surprised. David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman reboot for NBC will not be going forward, reports Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke. The pilot for the series, which was set to star Friday Night Lights’ Adrianne Palicki, was not picked up by the network.

Good riddance, I say. From the hideous costume to the “reimagined” role of Diana Prince as a corporate executive, this series had failure written all over it. The character deserves better than what Kelley had in store, and I sincerely hope this series’ demise inspires Warner Bros. to refocus their efforts on a proper feature film outing for the star-spangled Amazon. As far as I’m concerned, Warner Premier’s straight-to-video Wonder Woman animated feature serves as an excellent template for how the character should be treated in live-action. Filmmakers would be wise to look to that film for inspiration.

Warner Bros. to 'Reinvent' Batman Once Again

We’re still more than a year away from the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises—the film that completes his Batman trilogy—but Warner Bros. has already revealed that they are planning to “reinvent” the character in the fourth film.

Keep in mind, Wortmaniacs, that Warner Bros. last rebooted the character with 2005’s Batman Begins, a film that introduced moviegoers to a more realistic Gotham City after Joel Schumacher turned Tim Burton’s series into a campy, neon-lit, cringe-inducing sideshow.

“We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman…Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is,” Warner Bros. executive told the Los Angeles Times. Also on the slate is a Justice League film in 2013 in addition to Flash and Wonder Woman solo films.

I’m all for a big-screen Justice League film—especially if Warner Bros. follows Marvel Studios’ example in setting all of the other superhero films in the same universe—but it’s pretty clear that characters like Wonder Woman, Superman, Hawkman and Martian Manhunter wouldn’t make sense in the film world Nolan created. Is Warner Bros. reinventing Batman to somehow distance the character from the realism Nolan has worked so hard to retain through three movies? Is the studio deliberately taking the character back into Schumacher territory?

Furthermore, where does this summer’s Green Lantern stand in all of this? It’s hard to imagine a cinematic Justice League without Hal Jordan among its ranks.

In any event, with Green Lantern making his big screen debut, Wonder Woman returning to TV in the near future and Superman soaring back into theaters next year, it seems as though Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are finally paying attention to the rich array of costumed characters at their disposal (that aren’t Batman). Could a Booster Gold movie trilogy be that far behind? Fingers crossed.

The Dark Knight Rises is slated for release on July 20, 2012.

'Entertainment Weekly' Unveils First Look at Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman

Zoinks. Earlier this week, Entertainment Weekly unveiled this first look at Adrianne Palicki in full Wonder Woman garb for NBC’s reboot of the 1970s series starring Lynda Carter.

According to the accompanying write-up on EW.com, this new look for DC’s iconic Amazon, the costume de-emphasizes the original character patriotism and ramps up “the comic’s Greek mythology.” If David E. Kelley’s pilot is picked up, this series will evidently “offer a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character.”

Wait, what? If anything, this PVC costume screams camp, as does the plot that positions Diana as an executive for a company called…wait for it…Themyscira Industries. Her adversary is played by Elizabeth Hurley, who heads a pharmaceutical company producing a drug that makes people stronger. Serious.

I get that the showrunners are trying to follow Jim Lee’s recent changes to Wonder Woman’s traditional swimsuit-inspired garb, but I don’t want to live in a world where Wonder Woman wears pants.

More like this, NBC:

Adrianne Palicki Is Wonder Woman

Warner Bros. has announced that Friday Night Lights’ Adiranne Palicki will play star-spangled Amazon Diana Prince in NBC’s forthcoming Wonder Woman series, the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex blog reports. The series is helmed by Boston Legal and Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley.

Personally, I have a hard time picturing a live-action Wonder Woman who isn’t Lynda Carter. Then again, Palicki has garnered a lot of acclaim for her performance on Friday Night Lights, so Warner Bros. is clearly taking this series somewhat seriously and will no doubt honor the character. Then again, the studio describes the show ‘s pilot as “a reinvention of the iconic DC Comics title in which Wonder Woman—a.k.a. Diana Prince—is a vigilante crime fighter in Los Angeles but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.”

Ugh, really?

Wonder Woman Returning to TV?

Alright, alright. The big nerd news this week is clearly the death of a member of Marvel’s first family in Fantastic Four #587—an issue that will surely disappoint overzealous comic book speculators for years to come—but I’m frankly more shocked by the fact that that Wonder Woman could be making her long-awaited return to television, according to TVLine’s Michael Ausiello.

Reportedly, McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator: Salvation) is being lassoed to direct a Wonder Woman pilot for NBC. Now, it’s pretty commonplace to bash McG, both for his ridiculous name and his style-over-substance directorial style, but I can’t knock him for executive producing some intriguing genre TV series, namely Chuck, Human Target and Nikita. Maybe he’s the ideal person to finally bring Diana back to the small screen. If he isn’t, at least us geeks will have something new to snark about. We love our snark.

The big question is, if this supposed pilot does materialize and become a series, who will don the star-spangled spandex and bullet-deflecting bracelets? Lynda Carter’s a tough act to follow.

For the full story, click here.

DC Just Got More Entertaining

Not to be outdone by last week’s news that Disney is acquiring Marvel Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. announced on September 9 the creation of DC Entertainment, which will improve promotion of the DC Comics brand and its characters through Warner Bros. films, television, video games and merchandising. Essentially, this newly formed subsidiary ensures that we’ll be seeing a lot more of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and other DC luminaries in the near future.

Diane Nelson will serve as president of DC Entertainment, segueing from her post as president of Warner Premiere, the production arm responsible for such stellar direct-to-DVD animated DC films as Justice League: New Frontier and Wonder Woman. Nelson, who oversees Warner Bros.’ wildly successful Harry Potter movie franchise, will report directly to Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov. Former DC Comics president and publisher Paul Levitz will serve as writer, contributing editor and overall consultant at DC Entertainment.

Like the Disney/Marvel deal before it, I view the creation of DC Entertainment as beneficial to the comic book industry as a whole. Aside from Batman, Warner Bros. hasn’t been able to fully capitalize on other DC properties as of late. The Superman movie series stalled after 2006’s Superman Returns, while a big-screen Wonder Woman adaptation has never managed to get off the ground. These are iconic characters that deserve the proper cinematic treatment, and there’s no reason why a modern Superman film couldn’t be just as good—or as well received—as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” Nelson said in a statement. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

Film projects in development at Warner Bros. Entertainment include Jonah Hex, starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich; The Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds; and Lobo, directed by Guy Ritchie.