According to Variety, Warner Bros. officially pulled the plug on two movies set in DC Extended Universe: Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of New Gods and the Aquaman spinoff The Trench.
We first wrote about the New Gods adaptation back in 2018. At the time, the studio contracted DuVernay – an acclaimed producer, screenwriter, and director of the historical drama Selma – to helm the adaptation of comic book New Gods. Created by Jack Kirby in 1971, it tells a story about the epic conflict between titular super-powered denizens of two planets – New Genesis and Apokolips. As for The Trench, this was a stand-alone horror movie about amphibious monsters from James Wan’s Aquaman.
There will be plenty of time to speculate about behind-the-scenes reasons why were these particular projects canceled. Yet, even so, one seems clear: the effect of the pandemic on the entertainment industry. Over the last year, worldwide lockdowns of cinemas hurt the income of major studios. At the same time, due to constant rescheduling of releases, studios have potential blockbusters already waiting on hard drives. There isn’t much incentive to invest in new expensive projects, at least until the current crop starts bringing in the cash. We might even get more news like these over the next several months.
