Forewarning, I have never read a comic book in my life, I do however enjoy comic book movies.
I was watching the Big Bang Theory the other day and Raj was dressed up as Aquaman and spent much of the time riffing on the character. This is not the first time I’ve seen the character made fun of on TV. To be honest, I think the character is rarely taken seriously outside of the comicbook community. So how then do you approach making an Aquaman movie?
Now DC seems to be lately making each of their movies upon different themes. I’ve seen Nolan’s Batman movies, particularly the Dark Knight, described as a crime saga. Green Lantern has been compared to Star Wars as a DC space opera. Marc Guggenheim has talked about the thriller/forensic aspect of the planned Flash movie. The Superman reboot will no doubt have a different approach; previous films have had a sort of worldly-epic tone. What different style best fits Aquaman?
I think the approach that will provide Aquaman with the best chances of financial and box office success is to target the movie at kids. Hear me out, I realise that it’s probably not a very popular suggestion. The key to this suggestion is that movies that include young people in their demographic are more often than not financially successful. Look at the top 10 earners for this year, most of these are targeted at children. This is likely due to the fact that when children go to see movies, there’s most of the time an adult with them, thus increasing sales.
It is also important to identify what Aquaman’s strong suits are. Other DC characters either have more interesting powers, villains or iconic moments to draw on. From what I’ve read, Aquaman not so much. I think there are two elements of Aquaman that should be played upon. First is the world from which he comes. Atlantis and the world under the sea could provide a sense of wonder, especially visually. Something akin to Avatar’s numerous shots of the fantastical world, would I think play well with a young audience. The other element is his origin story which I think is quite sympathetic and not a story that has been told often in the context of comic book movies. I really don’t think that a popularly known villain or exaggerated superpowers would be necessary to carry the movie, if the story properly plays up the themes of rejection and isolation that run through the modern age origin story.
Less of a superhero story and more of a character story, plotted properly with a sense of wonder would play well with kids and be taken far more seriously than an attempt at a more mature and serious take on the character. Just my opinion on how I think Aquaman should be brought to the silver screen.