The Wonder Twins have been deactivated.
The DC-based feature project, which was to have begun production in early July, has been shelved, according to multiple sources.
The project was being developed as a feature for HBO Max and had Riverdale star KJ Apa and 1883 actress Isabel May on board to star. Adam Sztykiel, who worked on the script for Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming Black Adam, wrote the Wonder Twins script and was due to direct.
Sources say the decision to shut the project down occurred several weeks ago. According to insiders, the leadership of Warner Bros. Discovery, the new company combining Discovery and Warner Bros. and now being led by CEO David Zaslav, is imposing a mandate that DC movies should now be made with a theatrical-first goal. Wonder Twins, the way it had been conceived, was “too niche,” said one source.
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At the same time, one source said the budget was too high for what is considered an HBO Max movie. Twins was looking at a $75 million budget, but according to sources, Zaslav wants to keep HBO Max original movies $35 million and under. He has concluded that higher-budgeted offerings do not add enough value, i.e., add a significant number of subscribers, and more modestly budgeted movies seem to do the job of retaining subs. Original theatrical movies, however, do a gangbusters job of attracting subscribers, The Batman being a huge hit for the service, according to several sources.
“A lot of things that were developed are going to go away,” said another insider, referring to the broader scrutiny that is coming to the slates of many Warners divisions, including film.
The Wonder Twins are a pair of alien siblings named Zan and Jayna. They imprinted on a generation of television viewers thanks to their introduction on Hanna-Barbera’s The All-New Super Friends Hour as young companions to adult heroes such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The duo then appeared in the Super Friends comic and, over time, became incorporated into the larger DC universe.
Geek site That Hashtag Show first reported the news of the project’s shutdown on May 1, and a Warner Bros. spokesperson denied the account at the time.
