DC Cancels Spin-off Movie of Jason Momoa's Aquaman, New Gods Superhero Film

DC Films and Warner Bros. are well-known for planning out dozens of movies for the future of the DC Extended Universe, whether they come to fruition or not. Thankfully, some of these results are coming to light with the confirmed films currently in promotional runs and beginning filming in the near future.

While the core solo heroes in and around the Justice League have plans mostly set in stone, some further reaching stories are still on the rocks for a production green light. Projects like Michael B. Jordan’s Static Shock are getting their team of professionals together, but Warner Bros. has others that simply have a pitch and nothing more.

Unfortunately, news has just come concerning two of those entries that are no longer in development.

TWO DC MOVIES SCRAPPED

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that plans have been scrapped for director Ava Duvernay’s New Gods and director James Wan’s The Trench, a planned spin-off film of the 2018 Jason Momoa-starring Aquaman. Neither will move forward with Warner Bros and DC Films.

The two companies shared a joint statement on the decision:

"As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including New Gods and The Trench will not be moving forward. We thank our partners Ava DuVernay, Tom King, James Wan and Peter Safran for their time and collaboration during this process and look forward to our continued partnership with them on other DC stories. The projects will remain in their skillful hands if they were to move forward in the future."

Ava Duvernay shared her reaction to the news on social media, saying that researching Jack Kirby's New Gods work was "the adventure of a lifetime:"

Deadline added to the news, saying that The Trench was halted due to Wan’s packed schedule preparing for production on the Jason Momoa-led Aquaman 2, which is currently set to release in December 2022.

New Gods seemed to exceed the "parameters" of a typical standalone feature. It's unclear exactly what this means, but it's possible that DC would want this project to get majorly revamped before greenlighting it for production.

A REVAMP FOR FUTURE RELEASE?

Even though these two films were still quite far from going into production, it’s disappointing knowing the stories aren’t coming to the DCEU for the foreseeable future.

New Gods had been in development since 2018, helping bring iconic characters created by Jack Kirby to life. Duvernay had spoken many times of her excitement for the project, although she remains connected to DC’s Naomi series and would hopefully helm another film in the future.

As for The Trench, James Wan was set to develop a horror-centric spinoff to Aquaman, but it was always unclear where it would have fit into the DC timeline and narrative. Wan is still set to direct Jason Momoa's upcoming Aquaman 2, and he seems to be a big player in the future of the DCEU as well.

Hopefully, these two projects will have the opportunity to release in the future in some form.