Patty Jenkins officially signs on to direct Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman sequel

Patty Jenkins, who directed this summer’s breakout hit Wonder Woman, has officially signed on to direct the sequel, according to Variety.

Signing Jenkins to oversee the sequel would seem to be a no-brainer, since Wonder Woman defied expectations and hauled in more than $816 million worldwide, making Jenkins the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie ever, and brought in the most money domestically ($410 million) of all the films in DC’s Extended Cinematic Universe, a quartet of movies that includes Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Man of Steel. But finalizing Jenkins as Wonder Woman 2’s director took a surprisingly long time given those numbers.

When movies do exceptionally well, like Wonder Woman did, studios will often rush a sequel announcement and stage a full promotional blitz. And that happened to an extent with the Wonder Woman sequel, with the announcement of a 2019 release date for the film and confirmation that Jenkins was involved with the sequel’s development, specifically the screenplay. But it wasn’t until today that Jenkins’s involvement as director was made official.

The announcement comes at the end of a summer filled with speculation that Jenkins was renegotiating her return with Warner Bros., an evidently long process that nonetheless seems to have resulted in a monumental deal for the director. According to the Hollywood Reporter’s sources — there hasn’t been an official confirmation yet — the “challenging” negotiations resulted in Jenkins becoming the highest-paid female director in film history:

Sources say Jenkins will receive directing and writing fees in the high seven figures (think somewhere in the $7 to $9 million range) on Wonder Woman 2 but, more significantly, will have a considerable backend. (At her peak, Nancy Meyers earned in the $5 million range, according to sources.) The deal is a superheroic leap for Jenkins, who was paid $1 million for directing the initial Wonder Woman but was looking to get something more on the level of Zack Snyder's pay after he directed Man of Steel

Gal Gadot, the star of the first film, is already signed on for Wonder Woman 2, whose release has been scheduled for December 13, 2019.

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