This time last year, no one would have predicted the runaway success of movies like Barbie and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Similarly, we're betting none of you expected to see such dismal box office hauls for The Flash and The Marvels.
Heading into the holiday season, there's no Spider-Man: No Way Home or Avatar: The Way of Water to save the day. Instead, we're getting movies like Wonka and Migration, along with the final DCEU movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Variety has spoken with a number of theater owners and they all have one thing in common: they're worried.
"You can’t look at the release schedule between now and the end of the year and find one movie that stands out like 'Avatar' as the big film," Phoenix Theatres owner Cory Jacobson tells the trade.
Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock adds, "The holiday season is on the shoulders of 'Aquaman,' and that’s not a good shoulder to put anything on."
The main concern is that if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom doesn't take off, theater owners will find themselves with a lot of empty screens. Jeff Logan, the owner of Logan Luxury Theatres, seems particularly disillusioned.
"Studios have IP, and they think it’s a golden ticket. But it’s oversaturated. We’ve seen it all before...multiple times," he states. "These things aren’t events anymore. They aren’t rare. It’s just this month’s superhero movie."
The first Aquaman movie overperformed, opening to a so-so $67 million before later grossing $335 million in North America and $1.15 billion worldwide. The hope now is that the sequel can replicate that runaway success, but after three DCEU flops in 2023, it doesn't seem likely.
Director James Wan and Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa - along with Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Nicole Kidman - return in the sequel to the highest-grossing DC film of all time: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Having failed to defeat Aquaman the first time, Black Manta, still driven by the need to avenge his father’s death, will stop at nothing to take Aquaman down once and for all. This time Black Manta is more formidable than ever before, wielding the power of the mythic Black Trident, which unleashes an ancient and malevolent force. To defeat him, Aquaman will turn to his imprisoned brother Orm, the former King of Atlantis, to forge an unlikely alliance. Together, they must set aside their differences in order to protect their kingdom and save Aquaman’s family, and the world, from irreversible destruction.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be released on December 22.