This has been a tough year for DC superhero films, with Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash tanking hard at the box office, while Blue Beetle looks like any success it might have will be minor. But it was always expected that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the anticipated sequel to the highest-grossing DCEU movie ever, would end any slump. Well…that might not be the case as the production has been sinking further than the kingdom of Atlantis.
In a new THR report, we learn that Aquaman 2 has undergone a third round of reshoots as production has been troubled, to say the least. Warner Bros. has not been happy with things over the last 18 months, as early test screenings were met by less-than-enthusiastic responses. The reactions led to the first two reshoots in 2022, while a third was just completed and that is definitely out of the ordinary.
So what’s the problem? Well, Batman. You’ll recall that Michael Keaton’s Batman was to have a role in the film, and initially it was expected that Keaton would be sticking around for a while as THE Batman of the DCEU. Those plans eventually changed, and it began to look as if Keaton would only be around for The Flash as a fun callback to fans of the early Tim Burton Batman movies. So in a second round of reshoots, Ben Affleck came in to shoot scenes as Batman.
Things changed yet again when James Gunn came in as the new co-chief of DC Studios, with the decision made to axe the Batman cameo from Aquaman 2 completely. Not only that, but Gunn is said to have taken a more hands-on role in this latest round of reshoots. That’s probably not too big of a shock given his overall role, and it suggests he has some investment in the movie doing well, perhaps to easily justify Jason Momoa sticking around as Aquaman. As of now, it’s unclear if he’ll be one of the few actors to carry over into the new DCU when Gunn launches it with Superman: Legacy.
All of this comes at a time of extreme cost-cutting measures at Warner Bros. Discovery, too. Reshoots are expensive, and undoubtedly the film has ballooned well past its $205M budget. That is definitely not a good look at the worst possible time.
So what now? Well, if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom makes a billion dollars as the last one did then it’ll be a nice farewell to the old Snyderverse. And if it bombs as DC movie have been doing, it’ll be even more justification for Gunn to leave as much of the past behind as possible. We’ll find out on December 20th.
