James Wan

Would the horror genre work as the basis for a cinematic universe? It’s an interesting question. While horror films are certainly no strangers to sequels and prequels  —  there are eleven Friday the 13th movies, after all, and most of them are pretty much unrelated outside of their central villains  —  they are fairly reliant on individual characters to support the weight of new movies. There’s not enough depth to the Friday the 13th franchise to make a movie thatdoesn’t feature Jason Voorhees; for a horror film to truly inspire its own cinematic universe, you’d need a B-roll of characters who could each terrify audiences in their own right.

Are all Australian filmmakers and actors friends? On an episode of the WTF with Marc Maron back in 2013, Maron shared a theory with guest Nick Cave that everyone who comes from Australian and has achieved “a certain level of celebrity” must know each other. Cave almost immediately proved his point correct, confirming his friendship with Russell Crowe before discussing his script idea for a Gladiator sequel. Maron’s theory has stuck with me in the intervening years; doesn’t it seem like everyone in Hollywood from Australia seems to be personal friends with each other? It can’t be that small a country, right?

You’re going to have to hold your breath for a whole two extra months before Jason Momoa’s Aquaman makes his solo debut.

Things are heating up for the Justice League lately. We’ve got two new photos of the team in action (which mainly involves just standing around in costume), and now the Aquaman gang has gotten together for their first reading of the script. Director James Wan posted a photo on his Twitter account of him palling around with Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, and the hero himself, Jason Momoa.

The Mad Max: Fury Road stunt crew sure made a name for themselves during George Miller’s return to his post-apocalyptic road movie series. Miller made it a point to have as much real effects as he could in the movie, and his stunt team was the best of the best. They even figured out how to do stunts practically that Miller was planning on using CGI for. Now, the stunt team will ride shiny and chrome once again, but instead of Valhalla, they’re heading to Atlantis.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a director in possession of frequent collaborators, once hired to direct a superhero film, will probably feature his collaborators in said film. Rick Famuyiwa, back when he was set to helm the Flash movie, brought on Kiersey Clemons, whom he directed in Dope; Taika Waititi is bringing Sam Neill, who starred in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, into Thor: Ragnarok. Now, James Wan, who directed Patrick Wilson in both Conjuring movies, has cast him as Orm in Aquaman.

Listen. I know that the DC Cinematic Universe gets a lot of criticism for its dour visuals and themes, but let’s give credit where credit is due: Jason Momoa’s Aquaman is really shaping up like the sleeper hit of the whole endeavor. With a visual aesthetic stolen directly from an episode of Sons of Anarchy  —  and perhaps the most talented director of the Warner Bros. slate behind the camera  —  this is shaping up to be the best movie about people who talk to fish since Disney’s animated adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

The ages-old query of “So, who were your influences on the film?” still appears regularly in interviews following a big-name movie’s release. But in recent years, directors have started to name the films they drew from before the premiere as a way of drumming up anticipatory buzz. At the Star Wars Celebration in London earlier this year, Episode VIII director Rian Johnson name-checked Bridge on the River Kwai, Three Outlaw Samurai, Letter Never Sent, and 12 O’Clock High as points of reference for the next Star Wars picture. The initial public response went along the lines of “lol what the hell are you talking about,” but eventually cooled into “Alright, can’t front, that sounds pretty awesome.”

Just when you thought it was safe to buy dolls again…Nope. Here’s the first trailer for Annabelle 2, which, as the title suggests, is a sequel to last year’s relatively successful James Wan-produced spinoff of The Conjuring, featuring that damn creepy doll and her creepy antics. This time, she’s terrorizing a doll-maker, and that seems totally fair, to be honest, since he’s responsible for the creation of her kind and their endless suffering at the hands of ruthless children.

It’s been about a year since we first learned that James Wan is producing a new Mortal Kombat movie; since then, he’s kept himself pretty busy with a new Conjuring sequel and DC’s upcoming Aquaman movie. Although he’s a bit preoccupied at the moment, Wan is still committed to Mortal Kombat, but it might still be quite a while before we see Scorpion, Raiden, et al. back on the big screen.