Considering the fact 2018's Aquaman made over $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom should be a guaranteed hit. Instead, the long-delayed movie has been besieged by negative headlines over the past year or so.
Rumour has it early test screenings were a disaster, while it was later reported that the sequel has undergone at least three rounds of reshoots.
Warner Bros. executives reportedly got hands-on with the Aquaman follow-up at one point, though the latest round of additional photography is thought to have addressed at least some of the movie's issues. Are we looking at a disaster as big as The Flash? Right now, it certainly feels that way.
With the movie just over three months away from splashing down into theaters, we've yet to see a single trailer or poster. In fact, one reliable social media scooper claims Warner Bros. Discovery "aren’t putting a marketing budget behind it at all" because "they know it’s bad [and] they know it’ll lose money."
Anyone hoping the DCEU would end on a high with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be disappointed by this news, though it tracks after what's proven to be an awful 12 months for the franchise. Bouncing back from this won't be easy, even with James Gunn calling the shots at the newly formed DC Studios.
For what it's worth, we've heard that promotion will kick off in early October with product reveals and a trailer later debuting at New York Comic-Con. To say it could be too little too late by then feels like an understatement, unfortunately.
It seems the current plan is to push the movie as hard as possible over a two-month period, perhaps to save money or in an effort to increase excitement as close to its arrival in theaters as possible. We'd bet on the former.
In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, when an ancient power is unleashed, Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.
The movie stars Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), Patrick Wilson (Orm), Amber Heard (Mera), Yahya Adbdul-Mateen II (Black Manta), and Dolph Lundgren (King Nereus), along with newcomers in the form of Pilou Asbæk, Vincent Regan, and Indya Moore.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives in theaters on December 20.