The Trench - Horror Spin-off

[Lencho01]

'Aquaman' Spinoff 'The Trench' in the Works (Exclusive)

February 08, 2019 1:40pm PT by Borys Kit

'Aquaman' Spinoff 'The Trench' in the Works (Exclusive)
Better bring a life vest.

With Aquaman being a billion-dollar hit, it’s no surprise that Warner Bros. wants more waterworks from its DC Comics hero.

But while any discussions of a direct sequel have not engaged on any sort of serious level by the studio, director James Wan or star Jason Momoa, with all the players seemingly intent on taking a breather and their time, there is talk of a spinoff.

Warners has hired newbie scribes Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald to pen a horror-tinged script centered on the Trench, the deadly amphibious creatures seen attacking the hero and his love, Mera, in Aquaman.

Wan and Peter Safran will produce the project, titled The Trench, which would be much more modestly budgeted than the normal DC superhero tentpole.

The Trench creatures are rather recent arrivals to the Aquaman lore, having been introduced in the comics only in 2011 when DC did a revamp of its entire publishing line. They are revealed to be part of the kingdom of Atlantis but when it sunk, inhabitants who were cut off from other survivors and evolved into ravenous monsters.

Details of the take are being kept submerged but it will be set in the kingdom of the Trench and will not feature the main cast of Aquaman.

Gardner and Fitzgerald were assistants at Bad Robot, JJ Abrams’ production shingle, during the filmmaker’s Super 8 period. They previously wrote a submarine thriller titled The Volos.

The duo is repped by WME.

 

[terry78]

The ****.

 

[samsnee]

Makes sense from a horror perspective since that’s Wan’s background. Just have it be about a boat of humans who get stuck down there similar to the Cave.

 

[Harry Dresden]

DC Fans: We want a JLD horror film!

DC: here’s a random movie about the Trench

 

[Sawyer]

DC Fans: We want a JLD horror film!

DC: here’s a random movie about the Trench

You know when you can get your JLD movie? When someone comes along with a plan to make it for as little as this will likely cost. Until then...

 

[Sawyer]

Seriously, this is the no-brainer to end all no-brainers. Look at how much the Conjuring spinoffs have raked in compared to how much they cost. Wan knows what's what. This is the way to whet the audience's appetite for more of this world without immediately jumping back in for another sequel.

 

[-Arya-]

Ultimately I’m not too interested but I have to admit this is a bold move to make a movie based off of one small portion of the Aquaman mythos.

 

[SomeOldGuy]

You could have some deliciously Lovecraftian fun with this.

 

[Heretic]

I haven't seen Aquaman yet (waiting for Netflix)...but are these characters created for the film? It'd be kind of bold of DC to start making movies about characters that first appeared in a movie instead of the comics.

"Sorry Flash, our schedule is booked up by random trench monsters."

 

[terry78]

The Trench are from the New 52.

 

[Heretic]

The Trench are from the New 52.

Thank you. I gave up reading DC comics many years ago.

 

[Sawyer]

"Sorry Flash, our schedule is booked up by random trench monsters."

More like "Sorry Flash, your actor is wrapped up in Harry Potter prequels no one really seems to want that much" tbh.

 

[terry78]

Remember when Ezra Miller was like the it boy there for a minute?

 

[2kt09]

Remember when Ezra Miller was like the it boy there for a minute?

shortest minute of any. He was in Perks, went back to a couple indies and then shot up to two franchises with not much else between or since

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Heretic]

More like "Sorry Flash, your actor is wrapped up in Harry Potter prequels no one really seems to want that much" tbh.

I'm not believing the idea that Ezra Miller is just so busy...on a franchise that just had its next movie delayed...that he can't get any time to do what would be the biggest role of his career (as title star in a superhero franchise)...but thankfully, he found time to film Dali Land.

 

[Yowza]

Discounting the fact there seems to be a swirl of new rumors that keep popping up regularly as far as WB comic related projects are concerned, the shift from speculation about Aquaman 2 to now the Trench movie has me thinking there's a thread of insight that can be had when looking at the following news tidbits sequenced one after another over the past year:

Mid-June Around San-Diego Comic Con the new Aquaman logo was revealed. A number of articles popped up comparing the new logo to the old one as seen in this image:

Mid-June: After all the creative changes going on behind the scenes right before and after Justice League, there was speculation about the logo change that was revealed at comic con prompting the following article about Mr. Wan issuing the logo change himself not through WB company directive:

'Aquaman' Director Gave Order For Brighter, Less Dark Logo
'Aquaman' Director Gave Order For Brighter, Less Dark Logo
Aquaman is going to be a big departure from most of the DC movies that have come before, and that is perfectly represented in James Wan's new Aquaman logo.

Wan released the logo along with the news that Aquaman's first trailer will debut at San Diego Comic-Con, and it happens to be much brighter than previous logos. Instead of the harsher and more realistic tones of Justice League and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice the logo features several gorgeous blue hues throughout the text and the backdrop, and it seems the order for that came directly from Wan.

Twitter user @JAHuggins93 posted his reaction to the logo, saying "You can tell they got a direct order to make everything “less dark”. This logo is the opposite of all previous DCU posters." Wan wanted to make sure it was understood that the directive didn't come from the studio on that, replying "Yes. From me."

"Yes. From me."
— James Wan (@creepypuppet) June 16, 2018

With movies like Justice League and Suicide Squad, the studio seemed to be much more involved after test screenings and fan reactions. When there was such a great reaction to Suicide Squad's first trailer, a shift of tone was made in the full film, since it didn't feature as much of that as the trailer made it seem. The end result ended up getting mixed reviews anyway, and there are fans who would still like to see David Ayer's original vision.


Same goes for Justice League, but the development hell on that movie is too long for this article. Two directors, scope changes, and extensive reshoots are just a few things that movie had to deal with, and even after all that it still released to mixed reviews as well.

Hopefully none of those become issues for Aquaman, but from what we've seen so far it looks like Wan has things well in hand.

Aquaman stars Jason Momoa (Arthur Curry/Aquaman), Amber Heard (Mera), Nicole Kidman (Queen Atlanna), Patrick Wilson (Orm/Ocean Master), Willem Dafoe (Nuidis Vulko), Yahya abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta), Temuera Morrison (Thomas Curry), Randall Park (Stephen Shin), Michael Beach (Jesse Kane), Ludi Lin (Murk) and Dolph Lundgren (King Nereus), and is directed by James Wan.

Aquaman is scheduled to be released in movie theaters on December 21, 201, while Shazam! hits theaters on April 5, 2019. Wonder Woman 1984 is on deck next for a November 1, 2019 release. Other DC projects in development are Suicide Squad 2, Birds of Prey, Nightwing, Batgirl, Gotham City Sirens, a Joker Origin film, a standalone Joker movie, a standalone Harley film, Deathstroke, and The Batman.

My reading into above is he wanted to stay in good company standing and stay ahead of foreseeable creative mandates as opposed to getting behind and having them screw with the movie he was trying and trying to get through post-production with all the stuff going on staff wise at WB over the past few years. Anyway, moving onto next article...

Late December interview question after theatrical release regarding sequel:

https://heroichollywood.com/james-wan-aquaman-sequel/
James Wan Is Unsure He’ll Direct An ‘Aquaman’ Sequel
Despite the early oversea success of Aquaman, director James Wan seems unsure if he wants to direct a sequel.

During a recent interview, James Wan talked about the possibility of doing a direct followup to his latest film. In it, he stated that directing the film had satisfied a lot of his filmmaking needs. Not only is he unsure if he wants to do another Aquaman film but, for the first time in his career, he seems indecisive about what kind of film that he wants to do next:

"I mean, liking the people I work with goes a long way. That was the reason why I came back when I did Insidious 2. But it’s a weird one for me, because I actually don’t know what I want to do next for the first time in my career. I felt like Aquaman ticked a lot of boxes for me. I want to do another action movie after Furious 7, I wanted to do a world creation film, and I wanted to do a superhero movie, and Aquaman literally ticked all of those boxes for me. And so right now, I’m in that sort of place of like do I kind of go back and do a smaller movie maybe as my next one, something a bit more intimate. Or if I can do a personal movie, but maybe it’s on a bigger scale. I’m not sure at this point."

From the look of things, the director is caught in a state of limbo.

Over his career, James Wan has directed a variety of films. He first broke into the mainstream with the 2004 horror hit, Saw, and continued in the genre with other films like Insidious and The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. He also had a megahit in the form of Furious 7 before taking on the latest DC film. Hopefully whatever he decides on will tick off as many boxes as this one does.

What do you all make of James Wan’s comments? Would you like to see him direct another Aquaman film? Would he be better off going back to the Conjuring and/or Insidious universes?

Late January After Box Office Hit talks with WB hiring James Wan have continued but script approval from both parties seems to be a key talking point before James Wan will sign on. WB is letting him be involved in getting the writers as a first step but where things go from there we'll see as discussed in following article:

Aquaman: James Wan selecting writers for sequel, but will he direct?
Aquaman: James Wan selecting writers for sequel, but will he direct?
James Wan’s Aquaman washed ashore a boatload of money for DC’s Extended Universe, so a sequel was inevitable. Walter Hamada and Warner Bros want the billion-dollar director back.

Aquaman went from geek to sheek in terms of perception when compared to his Justice League counterparts. James Wan lead a team that made Arthur Curry cool and likely the number one grossing DC film of all time.

So, it only makes sense that Warner Bros. wants him back. According to Deadline, Wan is seeking seaworthy script for the Aquaman sequel.

“The plan in discussion is for [James] Wan to oversee the development of a second film, including the selection of writers, and then make a decision on whether to direct it, when he sees the script.”
It appears that James Wan has the billion dollar eye. He’s the first director to rake in at least $1 billion two different studios. Furious 7 was his first for Universal with Aquaman being his second. The two movies proved how versatile Wan was.

Wan went from horror movie extraordinaire with movies like Saw and the Conjuring action prodigy with Furious 7. What he did with Aquaman turned a joke hero into a badass. Aquaman was a visual spectacle, a unique underwater epic fantasy thrill ride.

While not the critically acclaimed film some hoped for, Aquaman changed the narrative of a “dying” DCEU. It didn’t happen overnight, in fact, principal photography alone too Wan 172 days to complete. The work he put in naturally took its tool, and fulfilled his wish list, as reported by ComicBook.com but, he isn’t sure what he wants to do.

“I wanted to do a world creation film, and I wanted to do a superhero movie, and Aquaman literally ticked all of those boxes for me. And so right now, I’m in that sort of place of like do I kind of go back and do a smaller movie maybe as my next one, something a bit more intimate.”

An Aquaman sequel is hardly intimate but is inevitable. Like Zack Snyder before him, Wan left a lot of meat on the bone for the next person up. The underlining story between Aquaman and Black Manta sets up perfectly for a sequel, and more.

None of this happens without Wan’s vision. Which makes sense for Walter Hamada and Warner Bros. looking to bring Wan back. They were able to convince Patty Jenkins to return for Wonder Woman 84, maybe they’ll work their magic again.

Still, if they don’t get him as director. At least he’ll have his hand in the water as executive producer. After all, he is the brains behind the team of writers for Aquaman sequel.

Early February: WB announces the development of a Trench movie... Hmm... Were there aspects to the Aquaman movie that were changed behind the scenes or perhaps additional ideas he had while making it? Or instead, perhaps there was a tonal shade while making Aquaman he had to peel back from that'll be re-integrated here to some extent is another question I suppose?

As WB wants him back and Aquaman made a boatload of money, taking a page from how he developed films from other key movie franchises he's been apart of seems to be getting applied here as a stepping stone towards fulfilling another part of his vision perhaps is 1 way of understanding why a Trench movie is being developed...

 

[Yowza]

I think interesting perspective can be read from this.

 

[psylockolussus]

Oh c'mon WB.

 

[Micromind]

Since the movie will be under New Line studios, Safran and Wan will produce it just like they have various horror movies, they will keep it low budget, only difference here is that this will be tied to comic book universe rather than their own Conjuring horror-verse.

Could be a good place to introduce some Aquaman characters like Orin's bother, Extriax (ruler of Thule), Dead King, Scavenger (Peter Mortimer) and Trench King.

If they want to keep it realistic (due to budget constraints) they can just have human characters like Dr. Shin, Scavenger and Erica Watson (Amnesty Bay Police Department.).

 

[harlequinade]

Announcing this before the sequel?

The idea is fun, though

 

[SomeOldGuy]

Here’s the write up Scott promised last night.

'Aquaman' Spin-Off Takes A Page From The 'Conjuring' Universe Playbook

 

[Blitzkrieg]

It makes a lot of commercial sense to move ahead with this project. Wan has made his name and built his considerable repertoire with low budget horror movies. He has successfully spearheaded a horror franchise for New Line where a scary scene or two has spawned an entire movie on it's own and he seems to be doing exactly that with this movie. This is a very low risk and high reward type project that fits Wan's sensibilities.

Also, I don't think this hinders possible development of one of the bigger players in DC Verse since this is confirmed to a be New Line production.

 

[Yowza]

This is part of WB's negotiations with James Wan. Whether it actually happens we'll see.

I think a thread of understanding can be had when looking at various news articles that have come out over the past year first and foremost in terms of how to receive this news until more updates are given.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

True. This may very well be a part of the negotiating tactics between Wan and Warner Bros.

Wan is probably going to give this one to one of his horror prodigies while he secures a bumper deal to return for the Aquaman sequel.