Fresh off the release of Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” Ava DuVernay has lined up her next directing project.
Deadline reports that DuVernay is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to direct DC’s “The New Gods.” The site notes that the studio is in search of a screenwriter to craft the film’s story alongside DuVernay.
With “A Wrinkle in Time,” DuVernay is the first woman of color to direct a live-action film with a budget over $100 million. She joins “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins—the third woman to helm a $100 million-plus live-action feature—in DC’s film universe. The project will be another $100 million-plus film for the “Selma” director.
Now, for the uninitiated, Jack Kirby’s comic book series (also known as the “Fourth World Saga”) centers on two warring planets: New Genesis, a lush utopia, and Apokolips, a charred hellscape, notable for its fire pits. The science fiction-fantasy series debuted in the early 1970s.
Audiences got a taste of Kirby’s Fourth World characters in Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”; Darkseid’s (the ruler of Apokolips) legion of Parademons and his Omega symbol appear in Bruce Wayne’s nightmarish vision of Earth. In last year’s “Justice League,” the Parademons returned alongside Kirby creations Steppenwolf and the Mother Boxes.
DuVernay was previously in talks to direct Marvel’s “Black Panther.” In 2015, during her keynote speech at the BlogHer conference, she talked about why she declined the film, saying:
“This is my art. This is what will live on after I’m gone. So it’s important to me that that be true to who I was in this moment. And if there’s too much compromise, it really wasn’t going to be an Ava DuVernay film.”
The Oscar nominee is currently working on a five-part miniseries about the Central Park Five for Netflix.
And if you’re a fan of Big Barda, one of the New Gods, don’t worry, DuVernay is a fan, too.
Follow Ava DuVernay on Twitter: @ava