I think it’s safe to assume that director James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is going to be another disaster for Warner Bros. and DC. There’s always the chance that it could surprise us and exceed expectations, but it doesn’t sound like a movie that the studio is confident in, especially after Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle all kinda bombed at the box office.
The movie has also recently been met with some controversy surrounding the production, which included allegations that Jason Momoa showed up on set drunk and that Amber Heard was almost fired because she didn’t have good chemistry with the actor.
Variety also reveals that the movie is still testing in the 60s despite all the reshoots and multiple attempts to make it a watchable movie. One insider says: “The movie is like this echo of regimes. It’s the last remnant of the Snyderverse, and no one really wants to take ownership of it.”
It was previously reported: “Test screenings for this film have not been good,” while also claiming to hear “something that almost never happened in test screenings happened with this movie.” It’s believed, that something that almost never happens involves people walking out of the movie.
The studio is trying to do some damage control as one source says that the sequel was finished on time, under budget, and with only a week’s worth of reshoots but based on this and multiple other reports, I doubt that’s true.
As for what we can expect from the film at the box office, according to Exhibitor Relations box office analyst Jeff Bock says: “Everybody’s down on DC, but there is a chance, especially with the limited competition during the holiday season, that Aquaman could still play like gangbusters because of lack of product. Sometimes the right film at the right time is all you need.”
The first Aquaman movie made over a billion dollars at the box office and is the highest-grossing DC movie so far. While there is a chance that the sequel could do ok at the box office, I seriously doubt it will even get close to that billion-dollar mark.