Is Warner Bros. About to Make Amber Heard the Highest Paid Actress in Hollywood?
When James Wan dropped the official name for the upcoming Aquaman sequel, it was quickly overshadowed by renewed calls for the dismissal of star Amber Heard by those still not happy with her personal domestic abuse allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp. With an online petition of over 1.85 million signatures demanding Heard be axed from the sequel, you would think that Warner Bros. may be swayed by public opinion - after all, it worked, supposedly, when it came to forcing the company to release Zack Snyder's Justice League. But if a new whisper in the industry is to be believed, then not only do Warner Bros not care, but they are about to do something that will infuriate Heard's haters even more. According to news reported by Hollywood info-grabber, Daniel Richtman, Heard is not only going to appear in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, but is also on the verge of signing a deal with Warner Bros. that will make her one of the highest paid female actors in the industry. The deal will reportedly be a huge step forward for Heard, whose future career has looked uncertain in recent months, and would no doubt be a huge blow to those calling for her to be dropped from future projects. The petition to get Heard fired from Aquaman 2, was instigated months ago by Jeanne Larson, who alleged in the justification included in the petition that Heard is a "known and proven domestic abuser" who is "also known for lying" about the situation between herself and the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Larson is a devoted supporter of Depp's side of the case, and uses quotes and various other pieces of information from Depp's libel case that he brought against the UK newspaper The Sun, which is part of Rupert Murdoch's empire. Although it was ruled back in November, that the claim against Depp as a "wife-beater" was "substantially true", which makes the basis of the petition more a case of personal preference than outright fact based document. It is not hard to see why it has been relatively ignored by Warner Bros. so far considering what it is asking of them. With the constant noise on social media, Warner Bros. have clearly no intention of dropping Heard from her prominent role in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, which given the success of the first movie they would not be quick to make any changes to the cast that were not done without a lot of consideration that they seem to have done and decided to continue on with as it is. With news that they are now apparently doubling down on Heard by giving her a financially huge package, it sounds as if they are just hoping that the fans of Depp campaigning against her, get bored and run out of steam sometime soon. Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom has seen no official plot details revealed, but Jason Momoa will return as the titular aquatic hero, with Amber Heard reprising her role as Mera. Also back are Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgen. The movie is scheduled to arrive in cinemas in December 2022, but which time Warner Bros. will be hoping that the petitions and talks of boycotting the Aquaman sequel are just a thing of the past. This news originated at giantfreakinrobot.com.