Marc Forster To Helm 'Wonder' Spinoff For Lionsgate

Without Julia Roberts or Owen Wilson, a Wonder spinoff may be doomed to the same commercial fate as US Marshals, Evan Almighty and The Bourne Legacy no matter how good it is

Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts in 'Wonder' (CREDIT: Lionsgate)

                      by Jack Linsdell 

Normally I'd be rolling my eyes when a studio announces a spinoff to a "one and done" hit movie. Even before the pandemic put further strain on theatrical moviegoing, the industry was struggling to get by on new to you original flicks and adult, counter-programmers as audiences only showed up for IP and marquee characters they had already invested into. That's why the likes of Marvel have been able to approximate the original genre flicks that once ruled Hollywood (the espionage thriller, the heist movie, the star-led comedy) but with huge blockbuster grosses. That's why Captain America: The Winter Soldier can pull a huge $714 million worldwide (on a $170 million budget) by being "Marvel does Jack Ryan" as the genuine article Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit earns just $135 million on a $60 million budget. And, that's also why Paul Rudd's Ant-Man can earn $519 million global (on a $130 million budget) the same year that Michael Mann's star-driven original Heist bombs with just $4.1 million worldwide. 

So, when original genre flicks, especially straight up dramas, do break big at the box office you can imagine why studios get excited. In 2017, Stephen Chobsky's exceptional family drama Wonder certainly did that. Providing top quality counter-programming for all the family alongside the big fall blockbuster Justice League, the Lionsgate flick certainly sold itself as the crowd-pleasing event of the season. Cue a whopping $134 million domestic cume and an insane $303 million worldwide gross on a mere $20 million budget. Wonder was, and is even more so now, an unmitigated and unreplicable success for original movies, making a net profit of $55 million for Lionsgate. Add in an Oscar nomination for Best Hair and Makeup and glowing reviews, and it's fair to say Lionsgate had to wonder what went so well (sorry about that one). 

So, the news of a spinoff to Wonder is not surprising. Apparently, titled White Bird: A Wonder Story (sound familiar at all?), the flick is told from the perspective of the grandmother of Julian Alban (a character from Wonder) as she tells her grandson the story of when she was hidden away by a boy and his family during the Nazi occupation of France in WWII. It's a tale about the kindness of strangers and looking beneath the exterior of a person so says Lionsgate, clearly making it a very (thematically) topical movie for the year we've had. The flick is to be penned by Mark Bomback (whose highly moving and tear-jerking The Art of Racing in the Rain was one of the best movies you didn't see last year) and directed by one of my favourite filmmakers Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, Quantum of Solace), whose proved himself to be as good making films for all the family (Finding Neverland, Christopher Robin) as hard-edged adult movies (Monster's Ball, World War Z). 

This project sounds exciting and is already shaping up to be an Oscar contender of immense quality. But, how will it fare commercially? Well...the only connection it has to Wonder is existing within the same universe as the 2017 drama. Without the three main stars (Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson) returning, or any of the supporting cast showing up either (Daveed Diggs, Mandy Patinkin, Noah Jupe), White Bird is essentially a "new to you" movie. If we think of spinoffs that focussed on one character from a hit movie, they don't tend to be terribly successful if only because they miss out the characters (and actors playing them) that made the original so successful. Regardless of quality, Stuart Baird's US Marshals couldn't emulate the success of The Fugitive and it's $386 million global cume without Harrison Ford, leaving the Tommy Lee Jones flick to earn $102 million worldwide on a $45 million budget. Despite Morgan Freeman and Steve Carrell reprising their roles from the 2003 hit comedy, the absence of lead star Jim Carrey made Evan Almighty bomb with only $173 million worldwide on a $175 million (!) budget, unable to replicate Bruce Almighty's $484 million global cume. Even Tony Gilroy's very good The Bourne Legacy couldn't reach the same heights without direct focus on Matt Damon's Jason Bourne. The point is that no matter how good a spinoff happens to be, audiences won't show up if you don't bring back the characters and actors playing those characters they loved the first time. 

Gareth Edward's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story broke big only because it was a direct prequel to the original Star Wars, to the point that the last shot of the 2016 flick led directly into the first shot of the 1997 original. The reason why spinoffs like Hobbs & Shaw break out is because they feature characters that were central to the original movie(s) success, namely Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. But, clearly Lionsgate is hoping that the connection audiences had to the thematic and moral content of Wonder will make them show up for White Bird more so than the return of any popular characters. That's quite a bold play, if only because marquee characters have become the new movie stars of this modern era in commercial filmmaking. However, although that decision may harm it's commercial prospects, it will make White Bird a refreshing original movie that won't be treading on any toes. To be honest the 2017 drama was so good that there really isn't any room to tell an extension of those character's stories to the same standard. 

Marc Forster's White Bird: A Wonder Story is perhaps the first spinoff I'm not rolling my eyes about. Sure, the intriguing premise, the thematic connection to the 2017 hit and the quality of those behind the camera makes it an exciting project. It reminds me a little of Jojo Rabbit (in terms of storyline) which was crowd-pleasing enough to become a rare, leggy Oscar contender with $90 million worldwide on a $14 million budget despite it's "hidden from the Nazis" premise. But, despite being one of the films I'm now most looking forward to over the next year or two, Lionsgate may have shot itself in the foot commercially speaking by not making a conventional spinoff. If US Marshals and Evan Almighty could not even earn half the worldwide grosses of their originals despite bringing back most of the lead characters (and stars), what hope does a completely new cast, loose Wonder spinoff have? Or, can Lionsgate make a new multi-verse franchise here with a series of loosely connected spinoffs that all have "a Wonder story" in the title? If that's the case, lets hope they get further with it than LucasFilm did.