Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Release Date Moves Up
Aquaman is swimming back into theaters ahead of schedule. Warner Bros. on Wednesday shifted the release date of DC's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, moving the James Wan-directed sequel up from its previously announced December 25th date. Aquaman 2 will now surface in theaters nearly a week earlier on December 20th, moving from Christmas Day Monday to a mid-week Wednesday opening. Director Blitz Bazawule's musical remake of The Color Purple, previously scheduled for Dec. 20th, has been swapped for Aquaman's spot on Dec. 25th.
Warner Bros. previously dated Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom for December 16th, 2022, before pushing it back to March 17th, 2023. That date ultimately went to WB and New Line's DC sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods when Lost Kingdom moved to December 2023, arriving five years after the first Aquaman.
The sequel to 2018's Aquaman, The Lost Kingdom reunites Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry with Patrick Wilson as Orm/Ocean Master, Arthur's Atlantean half-brother and former king of Atlantis; Amber Heard as Xebel princess Mera; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the vengeful Black Manta; Dolph Lundgren as Mera's father, King Nereus; and Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman as Arthur's parents. Wan directs the sequel written by returning Aquaman writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick from a story by Wan, Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, and Momoa.
In The Lost Kingdom, an ancient power forces Arthur and Orm to forge an uneasy alliance to protect Atlantis — and the world — from irreversible devastation. The cast includes Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin, Jani Zhao as Stingray, Indya Moore as Karshon, Vincent Regan as the once-great king of Atlantis, and Pilou Asbaek in an undisclosed role.
"I have so much invested into it," Momoa said of the Aquaman sequel during last year's CinemaCon. "I love this character and what he represents. We wanted to visit all these new different kingdoms and meet all these interesting, new, different characters." According to Wan, the second film will take the undersea action to "the next level."
The original Aquaman was the DC Extended Universe's first film to cross $1 billion globally, finishing its run with $1.15 billion to top 2008's The Dark Knight and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises. Wan's Atomic Monster and Peter Safran (Aquaman, Shazam!, The Suicide Squad) are again producing the sequel for DC.
DC's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens only in theaters December 20th.