The tides are turning over at Warner Bros. and DC Comics’ film wing. The Hollywood Reporter made waves earlier today when they reported that screenwriters Will Beall (Gangster Squad, Castle) and Kurt Johnstad (300, 300: Rise of an Empire) have been tapped to pen the Aquaman screenplay. Here’s the catch: they’re each writing separate scripts. SEPARATE SCRIPTS. That’s right — two writers enter, one script leaves. Here’s hoping that the result will be more like this:

And less like this:

The idea behind it, evidently, is that hiring two separate writers will yield the best version possible. Will they take one page from each one, alternating in sequence, until they’ve created a screenwriting scampi? This news comes on the heels of Warner Bros. announcing a tidal wave of release dates, nine in all. While we don’t know which date Aquaman will occupy, we do know the first untitled DC film is set to release on August 5, 2016, followed by two more in 2017 (June 23 and November 17, to be precise). In the meantime, the project will continue to tread water while development proceeds swimmingly.

It’s no surprise that Aquaman is getting his own solo film. Despite the massive amounts of grief he gets from nearly every corner of pop culture (from Entourage to Robot Chicken and back again), Aquaman has been a comic book staple since his creation in 1941, and a member of the Justice League since its inception in 1960. While Zack Snyder calling into a Detroit radio show to defend Aquaman is a little silly, there are some really killer Aquaman stories out there waiting to be told (e.g. anything Peter David or Geoff Johns wrote). A grizzled Atlantean king with a trident and a score to settle? And Jason Momoa, who is widely presumed to be playing Arthur Curry, looking like an undersea Khal Drogo? Tell me you wouldn’t go see that. Oh buoy, I’m getting all clammy just thinking about it.

Although this story sounds fishy, we promise it’s not a red herring. I’m not quite sure what Warner Bros. is angling for by having two writers working on the project independently. Maybe they want to cast as wide a net as possible so as to make sure their script will reel in audiences and make a splash at the box office. One thing is for certain: I am all out of terrible fish puns. Just kidding. I always have moray. Have you haddock with me yet? I’ll sea myself out.

[HT: The Hollywood Reporter]