Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been moved to an earlier release date, and the movie’s date change is promising for its box office.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has a new release date, and the change is a very good sign for the movie’s box office. The film is a sequel to Jason Momoa’s first solo adventure as the king of Atlantis, 2018’s Aquaman, which exploded at the box office and far exceeded projections. Aquaman ended up its global box office run by bringing in a hefty sum of $1.15 billion, becoming the highest-grossing movie of the old DCEU by a comfortable margin. For comparison, the closest another DCEU movie has come to Aquaman was 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with $872.7 million.
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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is going to be the focus of great scrutiny, not only trying to live up to its predecessor’s gigantic box office, which would already be a daunting quest in itself, but also having to address a greater DC problem. The original Aquaman was the last commercial victory of the DCEU, with every movie from that universe since failing to reach even half of what Momoa’s solo adventure achieved at the box office. With the DCEU’s recent shortcomings at the box office, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will have to try to get lightning in a bottle twice, and its new release date might help.
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Aquaman 2’s Release Date Moves Forward 5 Days From Dec. 25
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s release date has shifted, yet again, from Christmas Day to five days earlier, now premiering on December 20. The move is not the first change to the Aquaman sequel’s intended release date, as the new adventure for the king of Atlantis has had to deal with a few delays in the past. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was originally set to premiere on December 16, 2022. However, the movie was delayed amid pandemic challenges. As the production of movies and series stopped around the world, the Aquaman sequel had to follow suit.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s Christmas 2022 release date then suffered a delay, with the movie being pushed back by three months, with its new release date being March 17, 2023. The move allowed the James Wan picture to get more time in post-production, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected visual effects teams heavily. The Aquaman sequel would see another delay, this time a massive one, being pushed back by nine months to a Christmas Day 2023 release before it was pushed forward by five days, now premiering on December 20, a day before Aquaman premiered.
How Aquaman 2’s New Release Date Gives It Better Box Office Potential
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom now opens just a day before the original one did, with 2018’s Aquaman making a splash on the big screen on December 21. The sequel is looking to recreate the success the original did with its new date, and if word-of-mouth is as good as it was for its predecessor, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might be looking at a hefty sum. The film’s new release date is great for its box office run, as the move forward by five days gives it an entire extra weekend at the box office before Christmas Day.
December, more specifically Christmas time, is great for a movie’s box office. The past couple of years’ biggest Christmas movie releases have capitalized on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s new release strategy by having a full weekend before Christmas Day. Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered on December 16, 2021, and achieved $1.916 billion globally, while Avatar: The Way of Water premiered on December 16, 2022, and has raked in even more, with $2.312 billion and counting.
Aquaman 2 Has Slim Box Office Competition
Aside from the movie’s positive box office projection by releasing a full weekend before Christmas Day, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will also have little competition when it launches. The Aquaman sequel will go up against the follow-up to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. While that is an iconic franchise, the original reboot movie only made $204.4 million globally, which is quite far behind the original Aquaman‘s $1.15 billion. Other December releases include the Timothée Chalamet vehicle Wonka, and Illumination’s next animated film after The Super Mario Bros. Movie — Migration. All in all, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has the potential to rule December and start a successful box office run.
