Something fishy is going on at Warner Bros., and we couldn’t be happier about it. Furious 7 director James Wan has officially signed on to direct Aquaman, the first-ever live-action movie based on the DC Comics superhero who made his first appearance way back in 1941’s More Fun Comics #73. Aquaman will be played by Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), and is already set to make his first feature film appearance in next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
James Wan’s name has been rumored for this project for months, and the enormous worldwide success of Furious 7 – which was plagued with production problems after the untimely death of series star Paul Walker – probably put the filmmaker, formerly best known for horror hits like Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring, at the top of Hollywood’s list for every major blockbuster production.
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Like all of their upcoming superhero movies, Aquaman is expected to be a major priority for Warner Bros., who will have to work overtime to correct the character’s somewhat tarnished reputation with casual consumers, for whom the hero has been a punchline ever since the Super Friends cartoon series. The popular conception is that Aquaman is an also-ran superhero whose only real ability is to speak to fish, but his abilities also include enormous durability and superhuman strength. Aquaman has been an important superhero in DC Comics for decades, spanning multiple acclaimed runs on his solo series and helping to found the Justice League of America.
Although Aquaman has never appeared in a theatrical motion picture before, he did make a live-action appearance on the long-running TV series Smallville, and was the subject of a TV pilot called Mercy Reef that never made it to series.
James Wan’s Aquaman is currently scheduled for release on July 27, 2018.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
