If a new report is to be believed,Gal Gadotis putting her money where her mouth is. TheWonder Womanactress and the lead of Warner Bros.’ most successful current DC Comics franchise has been taking her duties as Wonder Woman seriously, speaking out about the importance of feminism, representation, and female role models as the World War I-set superhero film smashed box office records all summer. Warner Bros. announced a December 2019 release date forWonder Woman 2this fall, and directorPatty Jenkinsfinally closed her deal to return for the sequel aftersuccessfully lobbyingfor pay equal to what male colleagues would receive to return for a major superhero sequel. But now, theoretically at least,Wonder Woman 2could be in a bit of doubt.
PerPage Six, Gadot is refusing to return forWonder Woman 2unlessBrett Ratnerand his RatPac-Dune Entertainment production company are removed from the follow-up. This comes on the heels of a thorough report in theLos Angeles Timesregarding Ratner’s history of sexual harassment, with actressEllen Pagecoming forward with her own storyof Ratner’s harassment just a few days ago.
RatPac-Dune Entertainment has been key to a lot of Warner Bros.’ films, as Ratner’s company has helped co-financed a variety of WB movies fromDunkirktoThe LEGO MovietoBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceand, yes,Wonder Woman. In 2013, Warner Bros. signed a lucrative deal with RatPac in which Ratner’s company would pony up $450 million in financing for various WB projects. That’s a lot of cash, and while Warner Bros. made moves on November 1stto cut ties with Ratner—including removing his name from upcoming films and taking away his office on the lot—the deal with RatPac-Dune doesn’t expire until spring 2018. The studio reportedly won’t be renewing that deal, but if this PageSix report is true, Gadot is putting her foot down and forcing WB to either find a new investment partner forWonder Woman 2or shoulder the entire cost of the film themselves.
The validity of this report is unclear. Gadot was already contracted to return for aWonder Womansequel, so while she could certainly fight to get out of the contract if WB refused to remove Ratner entirely fromWonder Woman 2, it would be something of a legal battle. And PageSix isn’t the most accurate of sources for entertainment business news. But it all does make a lot of sense, so it’s certainly possible this report is true.
Just before the LA Times story on Ratner hit, Gadot pulled out of presenting Ratner with the Jewish National Fund’s highest humanitarian award. And Jenkins—who ended up presenting the award herself—has since voiced her displeasure with word of Ratner’s alleged behavior.
So yeah, this is an interesting turn of events. If the PageSix report is true, there’s no way Warner Bros. jeopardizes its only surefire DC franchise at the moment, so RatPac-Dune would likely be removed fromWonder Woman 2entirely. But that does pose something of a financing dilemma for the studio, and it’ll be interesting to see what moves they make in the months to come. The major RatPac-Dune deal came on the heels of Legendary—WB’s previous co-financing partner—moving over to Universal Pictures, so the studio is no doubt on the hunt for investment partners at the moment.
But more important than all of that is refusing to do business with horrible men. Here’s hoping this really is the beginning of a sea change in Hollywood.
