Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Expected to Hold Christmas Release Date

Last month, the actor's guild SAG-AFTRA went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down with no deal in place. Between the SAG strike and the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, most film and television productions have halted and some major movie release dates have been pushed back. Many moviegoers are wondering what else might get postponed now that actors cannot promote their films. One upcoming film that has been in question is Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It's unclear how the DC film will fair at the box office after The Flash became one of the biggest bombs in comic book movie history. However, a new report from Variety says the Aquaman sequel is expected to keep its Christmas release date. 

Variety previously reported that Warner Bros. was considering pushing back films such as Dune: Part Two and The Color Purple, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was also mentioned. However, a new article about the upcoming DC movie, Blue Beetle, is singing a different tune. "Warner Bros. insiders tell Variety the Jason Momoa film is expected to hold its Dec. 25 release date," Variety writes. 

The first Aquaman grossed $1.150 billion worldwide, but its huge success might not help the follow-up. Before the pandemic, the Fast Saga was also a billion-dollar franchise, but the latest installment was a letdown at the box office. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom also has the disadvantage of being a part of an ending saga. Now that James Gunn and Peter Safran have taken over as co-CEOs of DC Studios, the upcoming sequel could be the final movie of the Snyderverse era that started with Man of Steel back in 2013. With this era of the franchise winding down with no clear ending, folks could be waiting to see what the Gunn and Safran's revamp has in store.

Will Blue Beetle Be Part of the New DC Universe?

Blue Beetle is hitting theaters this month and will see Xolo Maridueña taking on the role of Jaime Reyes, the comics hero who becomes fused to an alien scarab and gains superpowers. 

"I mean the first DCU character for sure is Blue Beetle and the first DCU movie is Superman," Gunn recently explained. 

However, during a press conference, Gunn confirmed Blue Beetle was "totally disconnected" from any other DC-related property.

"I think that we've gotten lucky with the next four movies, frankly, because we have [Shazam! Fury of the Gods], which leads into Flash, which resets everything, which then goes into Blue Beetle, which is totally disconnected. He can totally be a part of the DCU, goes into [Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom], which leads into Superman, our first big project," Gunn said at the time. "But the one thing that we can promise is that everything from Superman forward, or from our first project forward, will be canon and will be connected. We're using some actors from the past. We're not using other actors from the past, but everything from that moment forward will be connected and consistent."

Blue Beetle is scheduled to be released on August 18th, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is expected to arrive on December 20th.