'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' Fishes Up A Max Streaming Date
The end of the DC Extended Universe is coming to Max very soon
Well, it happened again. A late stage DCEU film gets its Max streaming date just a week in advance, and this time it’s the last one. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the Jason Momoa-starring sequel to 2018’s Aquaman, will make waves over to Max next Tuesday, February 27.
Having opened on December 22, it will have taken 67 days to reach Max, which is the same week as the preceding DCEU film The Flash, which waited until the Friday for the full 70 days. The release date had been tinkered with a few times, lastly having been pushed from the Wednesday, December 20 (69 days) and also from Christmas Day (64 days). What Warner Bros. did ultimately release on Christmas Day, the better-received The Color Purple remake/readaptation, soundly beat Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to Max, having arrived this past Friday, February 16, after just 53 days and 11 days sooner than it, two weeks quicker. However, it was very visibly a busy month for Warner Bros., as one of their year’s biggest hits, Wonka, was released on December 15. It may end up held similarly to Barbie, though how closely it matches is anyone’s guess.
The film also stars Amber Heard as Queen Mera, Patrick Wilson as Orm, Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin and Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus. It follows the hero, now married to Mera and father to son Arthur Jr., he once again must face Black Manta, still driven by the need to avenge his father’s death, stopping at nothing to take Aquaman down,
ncient evil. This forces a teamup with his half-brother Orm, whom he had to depose as king of Atlantis in the previous film, to save Atlantis from being destroyed permanently.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom faltered greatly at the box office compared to the $1.1 billion-making predecessor, earning only $123 million domestically and $310 million internationally for a $433 million worldwide total. It being a lame duck in the leadup to the new DC Universe, a rather disconnected entry after shedding both versions of its Batman cameos, could probably be surmised considering The Flash changed its timeline but didn’t really properly reboot the universe and it also changed what kind of new world it would be, stamped with something that was never going to be picked up on. There’s also the shadow cast by Amber Heard, whether she had truly abused Depp or it was the other way around, the same audience portion certainly shunned the film. While some might subscribe to so-called “superhero fatigue”, it just isn’t true when there are more logical answers.
Source: Variety