Aquaman 2 proves 2025 is going to be crucial to the future of Warner Bros. Discovery (mis)management of DC Comics. Why? Did you see what the tumultuous tandem offered fans in 2023?
Two words: Not. Much.
While you were sleeping through the Golden Globes, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom cast its fish nets into our wallets for a third week and hauled in another $10.5 million. That brings the James Wan ballyhooed sequel to a $336.4M global box office total. That did two other things:
- The international box office total made Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom the most profitable movie of 2023 for the DC/WB team
- Firmly placed the death knell between the shoulder blades of the DCEU
Aquaman 2 Continued the Downward Trend for DC
It’s an unrelenting kick in the nether regions to DC stans when you consider the kind of year Warner Bros. plated for the DCEU buffet. As soon as Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released, the DC Comics faithful knew it was going to be a long year.
Four releases in 2023. Four underwhelming monetary achievements (and three of them kinda deserved it).
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods — $134M worldwide gross ($57.6M domestic)
- The Flash — $271.3M worldwide gross ($163.2M domestic)
- Blue Beetle — $130.7M worldwide gross ($58.3M domestic)
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — $336.4M worldwide gross ($236.5M domestic)
That was 2023–four films, two sequels, one insubstantial year.
Together, those movies didn’t break $1B. In 2018, the predecessor of Aquaman 2 made $1.15B alone. WBD is literally banking on James Gunn and Peter Safran to breathe new life into DC’s intellectual properties with the grand debut of the DCU with Superman: Legacy.
Those high hopes for CBM supremacy are warranted considering Gunn’s pedigree with storytelling. After all, his culmination of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for Marvel was the only bright spot for all comic book movies in 2023.
But, if for some strange reason 2025 meets kryptonite for WBD, it could mark much more than the death of the Son of Krypton. It may be the end for the beloved blue label of comics in theaters. Onward and upward, DC.
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
