Considering all the controversies that has colluded the DCEU, this news certainly shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Batgirl cancellation along with Ezra Miller going around committing felonies and multiple other cancellation after the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger. At San Diego Comic Con’22, Warner Bros. didn’t have a huge show like Marvel. They simply released a trailer for Shazam! sequel. However, fans took it positively as Shazam 2 was the first film to come out in DCEU’s schedule after Black Adam. However, today we’ve gotten an update that tells us that all the upcoming DCEU films except Black Adam are being severely delayed. Sequels to both Shazam 2 and Aquaman 2 have been delayed to next year. This means we’re only getting one DCEU film this year.
Why are Aquaman 2 and Shazam 2 Delayed?
Shazam!: Fury of the Gods was earlier scheduled to release on 21st December 2022 while Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom was slated for a March release date. However, the Shazam! sequel has been delayed to March next year, more precisely on 17th March 2022 while Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom has been moved up to late 2023. It is more than a year away from us. The Aquaman sequel will release on 25th December 2022. Now, one might wonder why would Warner Bros. do that.
Some might think this move is a result of the film not being ready however, that is not the case. In fact, it seems like Warner Bros. has not made a harsh call this time. This is a strategized move done to avoid a clash with Avatar: Way of the Water. The James Cameron juggernaut is so massive in scale and given the success of the first film all the distributors are giving all the IMAX screens to the Avatar sequel. So, in an extremely smart way Warner Bros. has avoided clashing with the sequel by delaying Shazam 2 to March and consequently delaying Aquaman 2 to December.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods Director gave an explanation on Twitter about the film’s delayed release date:
And hey, it’s still three months earlier than our first release date.
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) August 24, 2022
To console fans, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom director James Wan shared few images on his Instagram profile which look like storyboards of some scenes from the film. The shared images maybe considered spoilers but since the director himself has shared them, I think it is fine.
Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman in the lead role, Patrick Wilson as Orm, Amber Heard as Mera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, and Randall Park as Stephen Shin. Pilou Asbaek who also starred in Game of Thrones has joined the cast in an unknown role. Other new cast additions to the film are Jani Zhao will play new character Stingray, Indya Moore will play Karshon, and V.
Shazam!: Fury of the Gods stars Zachary Levi in the lead as Shazam!, Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez. New cast members also include Rachel Zegler in a currently-unknown role, Helen Mirren as Hespera, and Lucy Liu as Kalypso.
Shazam!: Fury of the Gods will now release on 17th March 2023 while Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom’s new release date is 25th December 2023.
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