There had been rumblings that Warner Bros. was considering pushing the release of some of their upcoming projects to 2024, including The Color Purple, Dune: Part Two, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but it seems that the Aquaman sequel will be holding firm.
Given reports of multiple reshoots and lukewarm test screenings (not to mention the ongoing WGA and SAG strike), it would have been entirely understandable if Warner Bros. decided to push the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. However, Warner Bros. insiders told Variety that the Aquaman sequel “is expected to hold its December 20 release date.” Following the release of Blue Beetle in just two weeks, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be the last leftover of the old DCEU before the franchise re-launches with James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.
The first Aquaman movie earned $1.148 billion worldwide, likely to remain the most successful film in the DCEU. Warner Bros. clearly wants the sequel to do well, but the multiple reshoots have been concerning. Reports stated that test screenings for the film could have gone better, and several different edits were produced without effect. The shifting schedule of other DC movies didn’t help, as scenes with Micheal Keaton as Batman (and later Ben Affleck as Batman) were reportedly cut from the movie. The third (and hopefully final) round of reshoots took place under the eye of James Gunn and Peter Safran, and it’s said that the Aquaman sequel is finally on track.
Beyond a trailer screened at CinemaCon earlier this year, we haven’t seen much from the movie, but Jason Momoa has teased that the movie is “really a journey with the brothers. Patrick Wilson is phenomenal and there’s just a lot of themes that are going on in it. What I wanted to do was not have some alien force that’s trying to attack us. It’s not gonna be something that’s from an outer world. It’s all about what we’re doing to our planet, and we’re expediting what’s gonna happen when you melt the caps. It’s our future. You’re seeing it happen right now.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will hit theaters on December 20th.