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.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via