Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Skipping Red Carpet Premiere

Aquaman 2 surfaces in theaters on Friday.

By Cameron Bonomolo

There will be no splashy red carpet premiere for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Instead, studio Warner Bros. rolled out the blue carpet for star Jason Momoa and director James Wan, who attended photo calls and smaller-scaled fan events in London, Beijing, and Los Angeles. According to The Hollywood Reporter senior film writer Borys Kit, Warners hosted Monday's small "fan screening" at The Grove LA in lieu of a traditional red carpet premiere. The Aquaman sequel, which also stars Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, and Nicole Kidman, opens in theaters on Friday.

"And thus the DCEU ends, not with a bang but a whimper," Kit wrote on X. "No red carpet premiere, no afterparty, just a small (but neat) pre-reception, a 'fan screening,' and only Jason Momoa and James Wan at the Grove to close out a veritable era."

The new DC Studios, co-headed by James Gunn and Aquaman producer Peter Safran, will reboot the so-called DC Extended Universe after The Lost Kingdom wraps up a continuity that began with 2013's Man of Steel.

"I don't necessarily want it to be the end... [but] I don't think it's really, like, a choice," Momoa told Entertainment Tonight, adding that Gunn and Safran want "to start their own new thing up" with the new DC Universe.

"The truth of it is, I mean, if the audience loves it, then there's a possibility," Momoa said of potentially reprising his Aquaman role. "But right now, I'm like, 'It's not looking too good.' I love this character and [I would want to] play it for a long time. I kind of see where I would want it to go. And even in the next 10 years or so, like there's a lot of cool things they can do. And I do enjoy the role and the world. So, I mean, it just comes down to if people love it."

But in what may be a foreboding sign for the Aquaman sequel, fan reactions and critic reviews are embargoed until the morning of Thursday, December 21 — after the film surfaces in Chinese theaters and just hours before the first showings in the United States.

There have been reports that Aquaman 2 underwent extensive reshoots and rounds of low-scoring test screenings, but Wan disputed claims of an "unprecedented" amount of reshoots.

"We probably did seven or eight days [of reshoots], which is nothing for a movie of this size. It was just spread out because it's so hard to get your actors back once you've finished the initial shoot," Wan told Empire Magazine, adding: "This narrative has emerged that is not the reality. The noise is fun to write about, and it gets clicks, but people don't know the truth."

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is in theaters Friday.

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