Hollywood sticks to its big guns
Abrams returns to Star Wars, Jenkins gets sequel to Wonder Woman
There are two big developments in the world of Hollywood film directing: J.J. Abrams is returning to Star Wars, replacing Colin Trevorrow as writer and director of Episode IX. And Patty Jenkins will follow up her success at the helm of Wonder Woman by also directing its sequel — a deal set to make her the highest-paid female movie director in the world.
Disney announced Tuesday that Abrams would return. After several high-profile exits by previous Star Wars directors, Lucasfilm is turning to the filmmaker who helped resurrect the franchise in the first place.
Abrams will co-write the film with screenwriter Chris Terrio, who won an Oscar for adapting Argo, the Ben Affleck movie based on the story of the rescue of U.S. hostages in Iran in which Canada played a major role.
As the director of The Force Awakens, Episode VII, Abrams rebooted Star Wars to largely glowing reviews from fans and more than $2 billion at the box office. Abrams had said that would be his only film for the franchise, but he’s now been pulled back in.
Abrams also directed the successful reboot of the Star Trek film franchise in 2009, starring Chris Pine — who also co-stars in Wonder Woman.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said Abrams “delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for” on The Force Awakens and added “I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy.”
Star Wars: Episode IX is expected to hit theatres in May 2019.
And Jenkins has officially signed on to direct the sequel to Wonder Woman.
A Warner Bros. representative confirmed her return on Monday after Variety first reported the news.
Jenkins was widely expected to return for the sequel after Wonder Woman became both a critical success and a global hit at the box office, earning more than $816 million worldwide this summer. Negotiations took months to finalize a deal for Jenkins to return.
The Hollywood Reporter says her deal, reported to be in the range of $7 million to $9 million, makes Jenkins the highest-paid female filmmaker in history. Jenkins will direct, produce and co-write the sequel. The studio declined to comment on her pay.
Wonder Woman has an average score of 76 on Metacritic.com and a 92-per-cent “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com.
Star Gal Gadot will also reprise her role as the Amazonian warrior Diana Prince in the sequel, scheduled to hit theatres in December 2019.
Jenkins is said to be working on the sequel script with writerexecutive Geoff Johns.
She also reportedly has a six-part TV true-crime series in the works for U.S. channel TNT, with Pine headlining.