‘Furious 7’ Director James Wan Wanted for ‘Aquaman’

In 6 days of release, Furious 7 has grossed just under half a billion dollars worldwide.

James Wan directed Furious 7.

Therefore, a lot of Hollywood producers want James Wan to direct their movie.

Some of those producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter, include the folks at Warner Bros. in charge filling out DC’s cinematic universe and revving up the company’s big superheroes to compete with the gang over at Marvel. Among the many DC movies in development over at Warners is Aquaman, a reboot of the hugely successful James Cameron movie starring Vincent Chase and Mandy Moore. The film already has Jason Momoa attached to star as the King of the Seven Seas (and Tribal Tattoos), but it needs a director. Which brings us to THR’s big exclusive:

[Wan] is the frontrunner to direct Aquaman, Warner Bros.’ water-borne superhero movie centering on the classic DC Entertainment character, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Wan has no offer at this stage but he is the studio's choice and some preliminary talks have taken place.

This Aquaman gig could be a big one for the right director, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Water movies are often very difficult to shoot (like Waterworld) and have a bad reputation for going way over budget (like Waterworld). The DC connection will give it extra luster, but it’s still, y’know, an Aquaman movie. The whole reason Entourage did that as a storyline on the show was because the very idea of an Aquaman movie was kind of a joke.

Still, logistics alone could prevent Wan from making Aquaman. THR notes that Universal holds an option to bring him back for Furious 8, and Wan’s also got a Conjuring sequel gearing up to shoot this fall as well. Personally, I hope Wan gets the job for no other reason than I’d get to write an “Aq-Wan-Man” headline. And that would be a great day. Aquaman is currently scheduled for a 2018 release.