2018’s Aquaman was swimming against the current. The DCEU was in bad shape after the botched theatrical cut of Justice League, marketing was very quiet in the run-up to release, and the idea of an Aquaman movie was still a running joke in Hollywood (“lol he talks to fish”). James Wan silenced all that with an incredible underwater adventure that received rave reviews and grossed over a billion dollars.
This means hopes are high for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and the debut trailer that just premiered at DC’s FanDome event indicates he’s onto another winner. Check it out:
Most of the 2018 movies’ cast are reprising their roles, with Jason Momoa joined by Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Amber Heard is also back as Mera and it seems that the rumors were true and that Atlantean princess will indeed have an expanded role going forwards.
This will infuriate the legions of angry Depp stans, who spent much of 2019 and 2020 vociferously trying to get Heard to be booted off the movie and the role recast. All their efforts were for naught, with producer Peter Safran saying that they don’t care what one small (but furious) group of people are saying on Twitter.
Even so, this trailer and the eventual movie may be met with some backlash. There’s an effort underway to boycott the movie, with many confident that it’s going to flop as a result.
Judging by what we see in this trailer I somehow doubt this will bear fruit. James Wan looks to be upping the ante in practically every way, meaning those campaigning against the project are likely to be swept away on a tide of hype. Let’s hope that by the time Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom premieres on December 16, 2022 we can focus on the movie rather than the drama surrounding its cast.
