Warner Bros. has shifted Aquaman’s release date outside of the U.S. in an attempt to make sure it doesn’t face major competition at the international box office. With the U.K. release date previously moved from Dec. 21 to Dec. 14, Australia has now followed suit, as the studio begins mapping out how to maximize profits.
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This move will see it avoid Alita: Battle Angel and more so, the Bumblebee movie which seems set to attract a large portion of the teenage audience thanks to its coming-of-age vibe, as well as nostalgic Transformers fans who, perhaps, weren’t big fans of Michael Bay’s work on the franchise.
The new date in these foreign territories will see James Wan’s take on King Arthur Curry of Atlantis (Jason Momoa) contend with the Marvel/Sony animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Universal’s Mortal Engines; both movies that WB think it can devour as Wan details Aquaman’s battle for the throne with Mera (Amber Heard) at his side.
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It’s an understandable move given the disappointing return on investment Justice League garnered, which is in stark contrast to Marvel Studios, which has been objectively performing better this year thanks to Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. DC Films will want to see Aquaman do well to build hype for Shazam!, the Wonder Woman sequel and the plethora of other movies in development.
Arriving Dec. 21, director James Wan’s Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, Amber Heard as Mera, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm/Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Black Manta and Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, with Ludi Lin as Captain Murk and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry.
(via ComicBook)