Before the meteoric success of Diana Prince’s origin story, writer-director Patty Jenkins hadn’t stepped behind the lens since 2003’s indie gem Monster, so it’s small wonder (heh) why Warner’s decision to put her in charge of Wonder Woman raised so many eyebrows in 2015.
Two years later, and with WW‘s box office total now simmering north of $800 million worldwide, Jenkins is one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the business. That heightened demand was made readily apparent in the weeks leading up to San Diego Comic-Con, when it was reported that Patty Jenkins was in the process of negotiating a higher salary before signing on to helm the untitled Wonder Woman sequel. A late 2019 release date is in place for Diana’s next solo outing, while Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s Justice League is also cramming up the pipeline.
But what about the possibility of one day stepping outside the DC Extended Universe to take on a challenge in the vein of, say, Star Wars? That’s a question Screen Rant presented to Patty Jenkins at a recent press event, where the director was promoting the forthcoming home video release of Wonder Woman. In short: Jenkins would consider plotting course for that galaxy far, far away, but only if the project caught her eye.
Indeed, as Jenkins alludes to below, that’s an attitude that has shaped her approach to most filmmaking gigs, and Star Wars is no exception.
It would depend on a project, y’know. I only want to make movies I understand and feel like I could do a good job at. There’s no world that I – I’m not that kind of filmmaker, I think it’s film by film [for me].
Similar to the DCEU, which has now expanded to include two new Joker-related projects – one set within Warner’s shared universe; the other a standalone project – Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise continues to grow and evolve with each passing day, and we learned recently that an Obi-Wan anthology pic had taken the formative steps into development. Still no word on an official release window for that project, but we’ll keep you posted nonetheless.
Next up for Jenkins is the as-yet-untitled Wonder Woman sequel. It’ll purportedly take place in the past (the Cold War, perhaps?) and has a release date of December 13th, 2019. On the Star Wars front, Lucasfilm’s rejuvenated franchise continues with the launch of The Last Jedi on December 15th of this year. And it looks like the First Order will be packing serious heat.
