James Gunn in Talks to Write and Direct 'Suicide Squad' Sequel
by EG
When Disney bowed to a right-wing campaign to get James Gunn fired from the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, the studio didn't get the positive headlines it was likely hoping for. Now it's getting potentially huge competition for its Marvel superhero movies, too, as the popular Gunn is in talks to make a big DC Comics movie for Warner Bros. Read on for details.
Via Variety.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn is in talks to write “Suicide Squad 2,” jumping ship from Marvel to DC.
Gunn’s deal was made “with an eye to direct” the Warner Bros. film and plans a completely new take.
Gunn directed the first two “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, but was fired from the franchise this summer due to the re-emergence of old, offensive tweets about pedophilia and rape.
The studio had been developing “Suicide Squad 2” with “The Accountant” director Gavin O’Connor, who came on board a year ago, but is no longer attached. O’Connor fell off after the Harley Quinn spinoff, “Birds of Prey,” ended up having a near-identical plot to what he had planned for the “Suicide Squad” sequel.
Sony announced Monday that it moved Gunn’s “BrightBurn” back from Nov. 30 to May 24, 2019 — the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Gunn produced the project with The H Collective. “BrightBurn” stars Elizabeth Banks, Jackson Dunn, David Denman, Meredith Hagner, and Matt Jones.
The first “Suicide Squad” was toplined by Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, and Cara Delevingne. Despite poor reviews, the movie earned nearly $750 million worldwide on a $175 million budget. The film, written and directed by David Ayer, followed imprisoned supervillains executing black ops missions to save the world in exchange for reduced sentences.
Gunn has apaologized for the Tweets, which were posted between 2008 and 2012. Several key “Guardians of the Galaxy” cast members including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Bradley Cooper have issued statements of support for Gunn but Disney executives stood firm on the dismissal.
Get the rest of the story at Variety.
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