Warner Bros. was surprised by the success of 'Wonder Woman' — and it'll have to pay for it

pulse

June 9, 2017 5:27 PM

Director Patty Jenkins now has a lot of leverage in negotiating a deal to direct a "Wonder Woman" sequel.

It turns out Warner Bros. made a major error while making "Wonder Woman," and the studio is likely to pay for it.

Though Warner Bros. is overjoyed by the box-office success and acclaim of its latest DC Comics Extended Universe release, according to reports, it didn't sign on the movie's director, Patty Jenkins, for a sequel. Now the studio is under fire from fans who want to see Jenkins return to continue telling the adventures of Diana Prince (played by Gal Gadot).

It looks as if the studio undershooting how well "Wonder Woman" would perform, along with its making plans to develop "Justice League Dark" and a Batgirl movie, led to its lack of attention to a "Wonder Woman" sequel.

One sign of the studio's surprise at the overwhelmingly positive reaction to "Wonder Woman" was its decision to move up the review embargo. For most movies, especially blockbusters, studios give critics a date and time when they can go live with reviews. After early press screenings of the movie, Warner Bros. shifted that date to a few days earlier, making it clear it was confident in how the movie would be received.

"Wonder Woman" has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and had the biggest US box-office opening ever for a female director.

Warner Bros. would have better footing in its sequel negotiations had it locked down Jenkins before the release of "Wonder Woman," but now the leverage is clearly on Jenkins' side.

And Jenkins is certainly up for another movie. She told Business Insider during a Facebook Live interview: "I would love to, and we're all definitely excited about it."

Warner Bros. did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment.

Watch our entire interview with Jenkins:

pulse