The word on Aquaman 2 – aka Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – is not good: test screenings have reportedly been “terrible”, with people rumored to have walked out.
Jason Momoa made his first big-screen appearance as Arthur Curry in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, before making his proper debut in 2017’s Justice League. This paved the way for 2018’s Aquaman, which grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide.
A lot has changed since then. James Gunn and Peter Safran have taken over DC Studios, with The Flash set to reboot the universe as we know it. Other projects like The Batman Part 2 and Joker: Folie à Deux will remain under the “Elseworlds” banner.
So, that leaves Aquaman 2 in a sticky spot. Its production dates back to the old regime, and if recent rumors are to be believed, test screenings have not been going well.
Aquaman 2 test screenings
Despite previous reports of the early reception to Aquaman 2 being “mostly positive”, the tide appears to have turned for the upcoming DC movie.
ViewerAnon wrote: “I’ll be honest, we’re half a dozen test screenings in and it’s not looking great. I’ve consistently heard over the last half year or so that it’s boring, not as good as the first, and potentially one of the worst DCEU movies.
There’s a reason I’ve been avoiding any questions about AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM but since @ViewerAnon put it out there, It brings me no joy to back him up and tell you that test screenings for this film have not been good. Really hoping Wan fixes this movie before December.
— BSL (@bigscreenleaks) February 20, 2023
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“This is one of the bad things about being a scooper: I don’t want to shit on movies but at a certain point, when people know there have been a lot of test screenings our silence becomes pretty telling. I like Wan, I know he’s had a rough time on this one, I hope it works out.”
Big Screen Leaks corroborated the rumors, tweeting: “It brings me no joy to back him up and tell you that test screenings for this film have not been good. Really hoping Wan fixes this movie before December.”
I hear it’s terrible and that’s why Momoa is gonna be Lobo going forward. But they can’t say that yet because then it would be a lame duck… and DC is hoping to wring another billion out of the box office. First one was awful too, so not a huge surprise. https://t.co/VlbUoqILDm
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) February 20, 2023
Industry insider Jeff Sneider also wrote: “I hear it’s terrible and that’s why Momoa is gonna be Lobo going forward. But they can’t say that yet because then it would be a lame duck… and DC is hoping to wring another billion out of the box office. First one was awful too, so not a huge surprise.”
According to scooper CanWeGetSomeToast, people walked out of screenings. “Been hearing similarly bad things about #AquamanAndTheLostKingdom, and it’s a shame because I read the script for that over a year ago and it was actually pretty good,” they wrote.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is set for release on December 25. In the meantime, check out our other superhero hubs below:
Shazam 2 | The Batman Part II | Joker 2 | Harley Quinn Season 4 | The Flash Season 9 | Deadpool 3 | Fantastic Four | Avengers: The Kang Dynasty | Avengers: Secret Wars | Marvel Zombies | The Marvels | Agatha: Coven of Chaos | Venom 3 | Daredevil: Born Again | Blade MCU | Captain America 4 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse