‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ will no longer compete directly with another hit sequel in ‘Avatar 2’
Dwayne Johnson and Warner Bros. zapped fans on Wednesday when they announced DC would be pushing back its entire movie slate — including Johnson’s highly anticipated “Black Adam” and “DC League of Super-Pets.” But those delays could end up putting two other DC sequels, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” in a better position for box office success.
As with their Disney and Marvel studio counterparts, Warner Bros. and DC Films postponed most of their movies to placeholder release dates, with “Super-Pets” moving from May to the slot previously held by “Black Adam” on July 29. Meanwhile, “Black Adam” will open on October 21, “Aquaman 2” will land in March 2023, and “The Flash” will air in June 2023.
The only film moving forward is ‘Shazam 2′, which was previously scheduled for June 2023 but will now be Warner Bros.’ holiday offering, with a release this year on December 12.
Sources from Warner Bros. told TheWrap that the version change was due to post-production issues rather than a big box office strategy. Specifically, production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in a backlog for visual effects vendors, with DC Films unable to find an available VFX team for several of the studio’s projects. Posting delays have been made to accommodate vendor schedules.
But these changes have another benefit for the box office prospects of movies, especially ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’, as it will now no longer directly compete with another sequel with a massive production budget and billion dollar dreams. dollars: “Avatar 2 of the 20th century”. “, opening scheduled for December 16.
While “Aquaman 2” can still count on DC’s fan base for a strong turnout, it reportedly spent this holiday season competing for both casual moviegoers. and space in Imax (and other premium-format theaters) with James Cameron’s long-delayed sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time. While a lot could change by December, the global box office in the age of the pandemic has so far not seen multiple tentpoles reach $1 billion worldwide, as it did the case in past holiday seasons.
But now “Aquaman 2” has landed a spot in March where it stands as the only four-quadrant masthead – a film that appeals to the four main demographics of moviegoers, men and women under and over 25. . for this month are for a specific demo, including Disney’s family-leaning “Haunted Mansion” and Lionsgate’s more mature “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
This will mean ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ will be free to screen for several weeks on Imax and other premium screens, and won’t face the ‘Avatar’ level competition in overseas markets that could drive the sequel. to fall short of the 1.14 billion dollars brought in by the first “Aquaman”.
Meanwhile, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” will now be DC’s take on “Avatar 2,” prompting some good-natured banter from director David F. Sandberg about the new competition. “Poor James Cameron must be shaking in his boots right now,” he joked on Twitter.
But “Shazam 2” has a much lower bar to cross than “Aquaman 2.” It is likely to have a lower production expense. The first “Shazam” had a budget of $100 million, compared to “Aquaman’s” $160 million, but managed to gross $366 million worldwide.
“Not only is assessing the competitive landscape high on the list of priorities, but also assessing the profitability factor when weighing the dates of their bigger budget DC movies like ‘Aquaman 2’ versus a movie like ‘Shazam 2,’ which is also just as big, but presumably at a lower production budget level,” said Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore. term of the market and how best to maximize their films’ chances of success is, and should be, every studio’s top priority.”
Plus, “Shazam 2” may offer vacation moviegoers something different than “Avatar 2” or even “Super Mario Bros.” from Universal/Illumination, which is also slated to hit theaters in December. While one is a blockbuster blockbuster and the other is an animated family movie, “Shazam 2,” if its predecessor is any indication, will straddle the line between those two paths.
“Shazam” stood out from the wide array of superhero movies and TV shows by presenting a story from a child’s point of view, with adoptive teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) figuring out how to handle his superpowered new alter ego Shazam (Zachary Levi) with the help of his superhero-loving roommate Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer).
Playing further into comic book movie escapism, “Shazam!” is building strong word-of-mouth among kids and teens which should spark more interest in the sequel while they’re out of school this winter, especially as Gen Z kids have probably less nostalgia for “Avatar,” a movie many of them were too young to see when it came out 13 years ago.
Prior to this week, DC Films was eyeing a 2022 where it had a shot at beating Marvel as it had five movies planned while Disney only booked three MCU movies — sequels to ‘Doctor Strange’ (May 6), ‘Thor’ (July 8) and “Black Panther” (November 11). While this head-to-head calendar battle is now on hiatus due to the lingering ramifications of the pandemic, Warner Bros. doubling down on the franchise’s blockbusters for its movie slate always seems to pay off, even if it takes a little longer to pay off.
