The journey to get the Aquaman sequel has been long and tedious; now we have a real look at how gruelling it’s been to get the final DCEU film released.
In a new story from The Hollywood Reporter, details about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have emerged, most notably the three rounds of reshoots and the non-stop audience testing.
Per THR, one insider notes the film’s “story clarity has been an ongoing concern.” Even though DC had different heads of the studio, that issue has plagued the film since the start. The film was first greenlit under Toby Emmerich and his lieutenant, DC Films head Walter Hamada, and principal photography wrapped in January 2022. From there, the summer saw the film enter post-production and begin its first audience test screenings.
THR notes that “sometime between summer 2022 to early 2023, The Lost Kingdom underwent reshoots and held several uninspiring test screenings.” That’s when the new Warners film bosses, Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, got involved, and Abdy oversaw one of the film’s edits. That tested even worse than the previous versions did. That spurred another set of reshoots.
Then we have the Batman-shaped elephant in the room. Originally, Hamada wanted Michael Keaton’s version of the character in the film, having him serve as a Nick Fury character for the JL. Then THR notes, “Two months after Abdy and De Luca took over Warners, Ben Affleck joined a round of reshoots as Bruce Wayne to replace a scene Keaton shot.”
Things have changed around since then, with the latest cut of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom having neither version of Batman, with THR stating that “new DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran do not want to promise a movie universe that will not come to fruition.”
SEE ALSO: Jason Momoa wrote 50-page Aquaman 2 treatment but Warner Bros. didn’t use it
When the film was originally greenlit, it was given an insane budget of $205 million. With every frame of the film requiring VFX and the third round of reshoots, we could be looking at one of DC Studios’ priciest films ever. At the time of writing, the Joss Whedon cut of Justice League is the most expensive, with a reported budget of around $300 million.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be the final movie of the DC Extended Universe, which began in 2013 with Zack Snyder and the film Man of Steel. After this release, they’ll be around a year break before we see another DC film, James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.
“When an ancient power is unleashed, Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reunites Jason Momoa with director James Wan and co-stars Amber Heard (Mera), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta), Patrick Wilson (Orm), Temuera Morrison (Tom Curry), Randall Park (Stephen Shin) and Dolph Lundgren (King Nereus), while Ben Affleck returns as Bruce Wayne. New additions to the cast include Indya Moore (Queen & Slim) as Karshon, Vincent Regan (300) as King Atlan, Jani Zhao (South) as Stingray, and Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones) in an as-yet-unrevealed role.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is set for release on Christmas Day 2023.
