Aquaman’s Wan tries to calm waters

It’s okay to not like my film, but there’s no need to attack me personally, or tag me on hates. Peace. James Wan (left)

Some film-makers can get surly or defensive when discussing their work on social media. James Wan simply asks for your decency. Wan is the director of Aquaman, the latest DCEU release that opened this month to middling reviews but a monstrous box office. The undersea adventure, starring Jason Momoa in the title role, won the domestic US weekend again in its second week of release with a US$51.6 million ($76.9m) take, according to estimates — and has grossed more than US$750m worldwide.

So although Aquaman could soon become the DC universe’s highestgrossing movie, some fans apparently still feel the need to go after any detractors.

“It has come to my attention that some folks are getting harassed by some fans for not liking AQM,” Wan tweeted on Monday. “Please don’t do that.”

That is “not the kind of support I want,” added Wan, whose biggest hit was Furious 7 (US$1.52 billion worldwide gross). “Be respectful.”

And though tolerant of detractors, he dislikes vitriol.

“It’s okay to not like my film,” he tweeted to his more than 225,000 followers, “but there’s no need to attack me personally, or tag me on hates. Peace.” Wan is taking a measured approach to responding to the kind of blowback that trails so many franchise films.

The actor Ahmed Best tweeted this past northern summer that because of the harsh criticism he began getting two decades ago for playing Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels, he contemplated suicide. Other Star Wars actors, such as Kelly Marie Tran (who also goes by Loan Tran) and Daisy Ridley, swore off social media after backlash.

Tran was bullied online after portraying Rose Tico — the first leading Star Wars role played by a woman of colour — in The Last Jedi; in August, she wrote she was reclaiming her narrative.

Also last year, Last Jedi writerdirector Rian Johnson deleted 20,000 tweets, saying he didn’t want to keep it posted if “trolls scrutinising it for ammunition is the new normal”.