'Aquaman,' 'Shazam' sequels postponed to later 2023 dates
MANILA, Philippines — Internal shake-ups and production issues within Warner Bros. Discovery have caused the entertainment company to delay their upcoming movies "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" to later dates in 2023.
The "Aquaman" sequel again starring Jason Momoa as the titular character will move from March 17, 2023 to December 25, 2023 and become a Christmas release.
The first "Aquaman" movie was also a Christmas week release when it came out in 2018, going on to collect $1.148 billion (P64.3 billion) at the global box office.
With "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's" movement, "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" will take March 17 release date instead of coming out on December 21 this year.
In doing so, the "Shazam!" sequel will avoid competing with "Avatar: The Way of Water," expected to draw audiences by the millions, and be the sole blockbuster in their new release week.
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For comparison, "The Batman" starring Robert Pattinson had no huge competition when it came out in March 2022 just as theaters were widely opening for the public, and went it on to rake in nearly $771 million (P43 billion) at the box office.
These postponements come amid corporate changes in Warner Bros. upper management, which included the cancellation of "Batgirl" despite already having spent $90 million (P5 billion) in production.
"Batgirl" was only going to be a streaming release for Warner Bros., leading to speculations the studio would return to focus on theatrical releases rather than their streaming platform HBO Max (HBO Go here in the Philippines).
One reason given for "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's" delay is needing more time for visual effects in post-production, though issues have circled around the film with Amber Heard still returning for her role as Meera despite the aftermath of her publicized defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp.
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