?Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ is funnier than its hit predecessor

Director James Wan has always planned for the “Aquaman” sequel to have a bit more comedy.

In an interview with “Empire” magazine, Wan said, “From the start, I pitched that the first film would be a ‘Romancing the Stone’-type thing – an action-adventure romantic comedy,” he said, “while the second would be an outright buddy comedy.” Some inspirations he had were “Tango & Cash,” a 1989 buddy cop comedy starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, and 1997’s “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

In “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” sequel to the box office smash “Aquaman,” DC’s highest worldwide grossing film of all time, Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), having failed to defeat Aquaman (Jason Momoa) the first time and still driven by the need to avenge his father’s death, will stop at nothing to take Aquaman down once and for all. This time Black Manta is more formidable than ever before, wielding the power of the mythic Black Trident, which unleashes an ancient and malevolent force.

To defeat him, Aquaman will turn to his imprisoned brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), the former King of Atlantis, to forge an unlikely alliance. Together, they must set aside their differences in order to protect their kingdom and save Aquaman’s family, and the world, from irreversible destruction.

Fortunately for Wan, Jason Momoa, who famously turned Aquaman into one of the coolest superheroes, loved the idea of comedy in the sequel too. In a recent guest appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Momoa talked about his love for the character of Aquaman, and what makes the sequel different – including a writing credit for the actor.

“When I finished the first one, I was really pumped and I came back in and I wrote a treatment and I went in and I pitched it,” an excited Momoa proudly shared.

“And I just wanted to think of it, like, the idea, because now he’s a father, he’s married, he’s the king – he was a slacker in the first one – now he’s got all these, and you basically get to go on that journey with him… and it becomes this journey that they[he and his brother Orm] go on and there are differences in how they save the planet. But it’s really fun, like, I love ‘Tango & Cash’ and… it’s just a lot of comedy, which I never get to do, so it was really fun to put that in there.”

Also starring Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundren and Randall Park, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” opens exclusively in cinemas December 20.