Whereas the opening installment surprised everyone by becoming the highest-grossing DC Comics adaptation ever made, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finds itself in a completely different boat.
For months now, the sequel has been beset by rumor and speculation of multiple test screenings doing their damndest to try and hammer a subpar second installment into shape, all while yet another overhaul for the superhero shared universe looms overhead following the appointment of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs.
Jason Momoa is heavily touted to be bowing out as Arthur Curry following the release of The Lost Kingdom in December, but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Wan shrugged it off after admitting that the behind the scenes issues don’t bother him when it’s hardly the first time the DCU has been put through the creative wringer.
“I’ve had to make adjustments all along the way. The DCU has been through lots of different versions, and one of the things that was challenging about this film was keeping track of what’s going on. Fortunately, the Aquaman universe is pretty far removed from the rest of the world.
We’re going to many different underwater kingdoms that are not necessarily related to what’s happening with the other movies and characters, so we’re stand-alone in that respect. So I can just tell my story on its own without being affected too much, but at the same time, I have to be mindful of what’s been happening.”
There’s also the calls for a boycott based entirely on the presence of Amber Heard to consider, but we’ll see how – or even if – that affects the box office numbers once Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is finally on the way. It must be frustrating for anyone involved in the project to hear there’s bad buzz swirling in the background without being able to do anything about it, but the easiest way to solve that problem is for the movie to knock it out of the park.