Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom starring Jason Momoa has been set for release in December.
The Warner Bros. and DC Studios superhero sequel has been set for release on December 20, two days before it opens in North America, according to mainland Chinese news sites on Tuesday.
The original Aquaman (2018), starring Jason Momoa in the title role, became a phenomenon in China, opening to $93 million and eventually totaling $291.8 million. The film still stands as the highest-grossing DC movie of all time, with $1.148 billion at the global box office.
However, US franchise films and superhero sequels in particular have been on the wane in China since the pandemic. Two weekends ago, Disney’s The Marvels opened in second place with just $11.5 million, an all-time low for an MCU opening weekend in China.
Earlier this year, DC’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash both underperformed, earning just $6 million and $25.9 million, respectively, in China fractions of what even the most disappointing U.S. superhero titles typically earned in the country several years ago.
It has been a long road to the multiplex for The Lost Kingdom. Like many films made in the COVID-19 era, the film’s release date was pushed multiple times. At one point, it was going to open in North America in December 2022. That changed to March 2023, before being pushed to Christmas 2023. The film also spanned three regimes at Warner Bros. and underwent a series of reshoots.
Wan’s box office record in China is phenomenal, though. His installments in The Fast and The Furious franchise are among the biggest U.S. box-office hits ever in the country. Furious 7 (2015) earned $390.9 million and The Fate of the Furious (2017) took in $$392.8 million.
The Lost Kingdom, which reunites Momoa’s hero with Patrick Wilson’s Orm Marius and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta, is the final film taking place in the DCEU that began a decade ago with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel (2013). After Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, executives James Gunn and Peter Safran will launch their own universe, beginning with Superman: Legacy, which is dated for July 2025.
