Reverse Angle:
The waiting game for “Aquaman” movie.
Marathon swims
“Aquaman’s” long swim to the big screen just got longer.
The oft-delayed, oft-rejiggered solo movie set to star Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo on “Game of Thrones”) as the King of Atlantis has been pushed back from October 2018 to Christmas 2018.
Among the film’s sea changes have been two totally different scripts being simultaneously written and multiple directors (including indie auteur Jeff Nichols of “Loving” fame) being considered. Then both scripts were sunk for a new one by David Leslie Johnson; then apparently one by Will Beall (one of the original dueling scripters) was chosen after all, and James Wan (“Saw,” “Furious 7”) came on board to direct.
By the way, that Christmas was supposed to be the release date for “Avatar 2,” but James Cameron recently announced that was “not happening.” Cameron still apparently intends to make a host of movies to tell a sprawling, epic tale: “We’re not making ‘Avatar 2.’ We’re making ‘Avatar 2,’ ‘3,’ ‘4’ and ‘5,’ ” he told the Toronto Star in March.
Not everyone loves Aquaman. Here’s proof: http://tinyurl.com/ m697fum
Trivia question
OK, pop-culture heads: How are James Cameron and “Aquaman” fictionally related?
‘Aquaman’ replacement a head-scratcher
So “Aquaman” got moved off its October 2018 slot. What moved in? Why, “Venom,” of course. Venom, for the uninitiated, is one of the most beloved villains/ antiheroes in the Spider-Man comics. It is the alien symbiote that manifests as a black Spidey suit (with nasty, big, pointy teeth!), granting its user lots of power and a Mr. Hyde bad-guy syndrome. Though in some stories, it’s the good guy. It was one of the many villains in the disastrous “Spider-Man 3.”
But … a Venom solo movie? Without Marvel Studios involved? And potentially without Spider-Man involved? And suddenly on the slate just a year and a half away?
Let’s hope this doesn’t signify a resurgence of Sony’s previous plan for a separate, non-Marvel Studios Spideyverse meant to include a “Sinister Six” franchise.
That ‘Girl’ again
No, David Fincher won’t be directing Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in adaptations of the other two Steig Larsson novels in the “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy (the “Millennium” series). In fact, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” are being skipped entirely, despite being the late Larsson’s last two known works.
Rather, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” written by Swedish crime journalist David Lagercrantz, will be the source of the next film. There will be a new cast, with Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe” and “Evil Dead”) directing. The new Lisbeth Salander hasn’t been announced, but Alvarez has cast Jane Levy as the leads in both of those hits.
Matrix re … programmed?
There will be a new “Matrix” movie. The new film is billed by writer Zak Penn (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) as neither a reboot nor a remake. Rather, it’s apparently another story in the Matrixverse, an expansion à la the Marvel Cinematic Universe or “Star Wars: Rogue One.” Michael B. Jordan is rumored to be in talks to star.
According to the Hollywood Reporter writers who broke the story, some at Warners “see a need to redevelop it in an environment where studios are desperately looking for ways to monetize their libraries and branded IP is hard to come by.”
That’s about as succinct and revealing a description of the decision-making process as those outside Hollywood are going to get. Penn’s tweets: https://tinyurl.com/m4scanc https://tinyurl.com/ldc7flm https://tinyurl.com/jvgkm2y https://tinyurl.com/mt5aujs For more thoughts on spoons (and bananas, thanks to Don Hertzfeld): https://tinyurl.com/ pfmhwbc
Trivia answer
On HBO’s “Entourage,” Cameron played himself as the director of a massively successful “Aquaman” big-screen version starring the show’s character Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier).
This is the snippet the show used to imply the blockbuster Cameron “Aquaman” feature: http://tinyurl.com/qxm5djy