Warner Bros. Delays ‘Jungle Book: Origins’, Bumps Up ‘Wonder Woman,’ Sets New DC Films Dates
All eyes are onWarner Bros.right now and not necessarily for the reasons they want.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicehas made a ton of cash, but that69% drop between the first and second weekendshas everyone (including people who normally don’t pay attention to box office news) talking. The still new DC movie universe isn’t on fire yet, but it’s definitely singed. The studio is well-aware that they’re in a precarious position and need to carefully consider what they do next.
And something is definitely going on behind the scenes. Warner Bros. has announced a slew of changes to their schedule, including new release dates forWonder Woman,Jungle Book: Origins, and two untitled DC superhero movies.
The most immediate news here is thatWonder Woman’s release date has been brought forward a few weeks. Patty Jenkins' movie, which finds Gal Gadot’s Amazon warrior going on an adventure in Europe during World War I, was originally set to bow on August 18, 2025. Now, it will open onJune 2, 2017. If you look at the schedule, this feels like a wise move, as the previous release date putWonder Womanin direct competition withTransformers 5. The only real competitor on June 2 isBad Boys 3, a movie that doesn’t even have a finished script and probably won’t hit that release date at this point.
Warner Bros. also announced that two untitled DC films will open onOctober 5, 2018, andNovember 1, 2019, but your guess is as good as ours when it comes to details. If I had to put money down, I’d wager on one of them beingBen Affleck’s soloBatmanmovieand the other being a sequel toSuicide Squad,which is currently undergoing major reshootsafter the internet fell in love with the trailer.
Meanwhile,Jungle Book: Originshas been pushed from August 25, 2025 toOctober 19, 2018. This isn’t the first time this film has been pushed back an entire year. About a year and a half ago, director Andy Serkis' motion capture adaption of Rudyard Kipling’s beloved storieswas delayed from 2016 to 2017. Serkis himself commented this latest change:
“I’ve got to say that personally I’m absolutely thrilled that Warner Brothers have changed the delivery date of our movie. The ambition for this project is huge. What we are attempting is an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance in morphing the phenomenal performances of our cast into the facial expressions of our animals.”
What he doesn’t say is that Disney is releasing their ownJungle Bookmovie in a little over a week and it’s garnering incredible early reviews and that Warner Bros. possibly just wants to put a little more distance between these projects.
