James Gunn in Talks to Direct ‘The Suicide Squad’

DC Comics film will be director’s first since being fired from Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise

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James Gunn is in talks to direct “The Suicide Squad,” an individual with knowledge of the project tells TheWrap.

The DC Comics film will be the director’s first since being fired from Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise “The Suicide Squad,” the sequel to 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” will hit theaters on August 6, 2021, Warner Bros. announced Wednesday. Peter Safran and Charles Roven will produce.

As TheWrap first reported, Gunn wrote the script and will have a completely new take on the property, in which DC supervillains are recruited by the government to carry out secret missions too dirty for the likes of Superman and Batman.

The first “Suicide Squad,” which starred Will Smith and Margot Robbie, earned nearly $750 million worldwide on a $175 million budget before promotion and advertising. The film also launched Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Jared Leto’s take on The Joker.

Gunn was fired from Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise after online critics discovered years-old tweets in which he joked about rape and pedophilia. Gunn apologized and said he had grown as a person in the years since the jokes. Despite calls from many fans to reinstate him, Disney has made clear that he will not be back to direct the third “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Gunn is repped by UTA and Safran company.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.

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