How does DC keep screwing up this badly? Aquaman 2 is proving to be yet another massive box office failure for DC, and it’s really not a surprise given how dreadfully James Gunn has run this franchise thus far.
If you want a crash course into how to drive an iconic franchise into the ground, just watch the last 10 years’ worth of DC movies and behind-the-scenes decisions.
Despite having all the brand recognition, star power, controversy, and past success going for it, Aquaman 2, or Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, has underperformed even its worst expectations as it is shaping up to be one of the all-time worst performing DC movies at the box office. And, I hate to play the blame game, but this is really the fault of James Gunn and his new cohort.
Aquaman 2 sucks. It just sucks!
There’s really no other way of saying how bad this movie is other than saying that this film looked as if it had three directors, four writers, and about 45 different scripts and reshoots parsed through its Frankenstein corpse before it was resurrected and brought to a theater near you. That’s how WILDLY different the tone, structure, and feel of practically every scene had to one another. But that’s not what this article is about.
Oh, no, that would be a blessing for DC if this article was just about how poor the film was. Unfortunately, I’m actually writing about how DREADFUL the film has performed at the box office as in the movie’s opening week out in theaters, which has fallen during the Christmas break no less, Aquaman 2 has earned…just $27 from the domestic box office. Yeah, just $27M.
Not only is Aquaman 2 one of the worst opening-weekend performing domestic DCEU films ever, but the film is also struggling to beat out movies like Wonka ($18M this past weekend) and The Hunger Games: The Ballard of Songbirds & Snakes ($29M during the Thanksgiving break) for the domestic box office crown during the Holiday seasons.
Remember, this is a DC film about one of the most legendary characters in comics (Aquaman) AND is a sequel to a film that brought in over a $1B at the box office back in 2018.
You know, Aquaman 1. The only DCEU film to bring in $1B or more…which is really sad given the level of films, such as Batman vs. Superman, The Justice League, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, Black Adam, and Man of Steel, that have come out with the DCEU label.
Nevertheless, this film has already failed to beat out The Flash ($55M domestic box office opening) and only defeated Blue Beetle ($25M domestic box office openings), one of the nichest of niche superhero stories ever, by two million, while it finished a minor $80M+ BEHIND Aquaman 1 during the exact same opening weekend back in 2018. So, you might now be wondering why this has happened, right?
(Warner Bros. Discovery/DC-Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom-Trailer)
How could a DC film starring Jason Momoa, centered around one of the cornerstone Justice League heroes, and be a sequel to a $1B film earn less than half than what The Flash, which is a film that starred a fucking creep, made? It’s simple: James Gunn.
Well, it’s not JUST James Gunn, but rather everyone else he has employed under him as the head of DC studios and the buffoon running Warner Bros. Discovery. But, to make things simple, I’ll anoint James Gunn the figurehead of my criticisms as he is the face of the new DC universe. A DC universe that has gotten off the ground by burning away the DCEU…yet still use DCEU movies to start its opening act.
Yeah, I don’t know who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to start a brand-new DC universe by not only keeping some of the faces (Jason Momoa, Margot Robbie, potentially Gal Gadot, potentially Ezra Miller, Viola Davis, John Cena, Xolo Maridueña, Sean Gunn, Steve Agee, etc.), but also using the last slated DCEU films to unofficially serve as prologue films for your new DC universe.
I get that Warner Bros. and James Gunn probably didn’t want to scrap films like The Flash, Aquaman 2, and Blue Beetle and lose billions of dollars on their production for nothing, but this is the alternative situation. You’ve just left these films and their characters to the box office wolves and have killed ANY AND ALL hype surrounding the new DC universe due to the horrific performance of these films at the box office.
I don’t know anyone who is excited to see the new Superman movie or anyone who cares about the upcoming Batman film reintroducing Robin, who has been cast aside since the 1990’s, back to the Batman film lore through Damian Wayne. That’s what poor films and bad box office performances does to a franchise.
It kills all the hype and goodwill a studio and franchise has built up with their fanbase, and James Gunn and Warner Bros. did this mess to themselves by pushing through the last DCEU movies.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Trailer (youtube.com))
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Trailer (youtube.com))
