In case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a growing belief that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is going to put an unwanted-yet-fitting feather on the cap of the DCEU’s final – and worst – year ever by sinking to the depths at the box office.
On the surface, that shouldn’t really be the case when James Wan and Jason Momoa’s sequel is the follow-up to the highest-grossing DC Comics adaptation that’s ever been made, one that took everybody by surprise when it swam to over $1.1 billion.
And yet, having seen Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle all bomb within months of each other, never mind the fact none of the franchise’s installments have been able to crack $400 million globally since Aquaman released half a decade ago, the signs are ominous to put it lightly.
That’s without even mentioning the repeated bad buzz emanating from behind the scenes, either, or the ongoing backlash towards the mere presence of Amber Heard’s Mera. Everybody’s been wondering when the trailer was going to drop for the December release, and even though we’ve now got our answer that it’s Thursday, the doors were instantly opened to The Lost Kingdom taking a pasting for its CGI.
In the beleaguered superhero sandbox’s defense, Blue Beetle‘s visual effects were solid, but The Flash tells the other side of the story. Of course, you can always trot out the old “they’ll be much better by the time December rolls around” line in the hopes that things would improve, but it’s a damning insight into the current perception of the DCEU that Warner Bros. has finally given the people what they demanded by confirming a trailer debut, only to watch it instantly get pounded into the ground.