The superhero movie genre was revived in the 2010s thanks to Marvel Studios. The bid-budget movies having multiple A-list stars were hit with young teens as well as the older comic book generation. Its rival studio, the DCEU or the DC Extended Universe hasn’t had the best of luck with regard to its superhero movies even after investing millions of dollars and including the top actors in its ensemble cast. If compared to its competitor Marvel, the movies have always received a bad rep for being the direct copies of Marvel products. Most of its movies like ‘Justice League‘, ‘Batman V Superman‘, and more have been criticized for their scripts, production design, and for being a snoozefest. Some movies like ‘Aquaman‘, ‘Wonder Woman’, and ‘Shazam!’ are actually liked by the fans.
With the beginning of its new era, the DCEU movies were attempting to challenge this notion. Films like ‘Aquaman 2‘ and ‘Flash’ were touted to become the ‘next big thing’ in Hollywood. Even fans of DCEU were expecting the movies to begin a new chapter for the studio. That is until the first reviews for ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘ started rolling out. The initial reviews from test screenings are bad and predict the movie to be a huge disappointment. What do the reviews say? Let’s find out.
Related: Is Jason Momoa Exiting DC’s ‘Aquaman’ Franchise?
Bad Initial Reviews Roll In For ‘Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom’
The movie ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘ is the sequel to the movie ‘Aquaman‘. The first installment was very well received by the audience. Almost all the characters from the movie return for the sequel including Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul Mateen-II, Nicole Kidman, and Amber Heard. The movie is directed by James Wan.
The problems for the sequel started emerging when many industry insiders reported that the movie is receiving bad reviews. Insiders even reported that people were walking out of the screening after being disappointed by the movie. Insider ViewerAnon expressed that the movie was “boring, not as good as the first, and potentially one of the worst DCEU movies.”
Even insider Jeff Sneider reported that the screenings for Aquaman 2 so far had gone ‘terrible’. Insider Big Screen Leaks also agreed with ViewerAnon and Sneider and said, “It brings me no joy to back them up and tell you that test screenings for this film have not been good. Really hoping Wan fixes this movie before December.”
ViewerAnon also said, “I’ll be honest, we’re half a dozen test screenings in and it’s not looking great.” Although he was hopeful that the director is able to fix all the problems with the movie before its release. The insiders also confirmed that the movie isn’t ruined by Mera’s character played by Amber Heard and that her role in the film is very less.
In Case You Missed It: Will There Be Two Batmans In ‘Aquaman And The Last Kingdom’?
DC Undertaking Major Changes
The reports and leaks come at a time when DC is going through a major rehaul. Many actors have left and movies have been canceled by the studio to start entirely from a clean slate. At such a time, the reports about the ‘Aquaman‘ sequel being inferior are a major jolt to the studio.
In a now-deleted tweet, another insider has revealed that the studio is planning to undertake major changes before the release of the Jason Momoa starring movie. Movie Insider has disclosed that DC is taking serious action amid the terrible reviews of the sequel. He also added how the test screening movie had unfinished VFX and the plot and characters were very different.
American filmmaker Robert Meyer Burnett also divulged how the studio is conducting reshoots. He also said that the studio is also looking for changing potential plot points and making the movie more interesting. As the hopes of the studio rest upon the movies released in 2023, it is not a surprise that they are ensuring to woo the audience by making substantial changes in the movie.
You May Also Like To Read: Jason Momoa’s ‘Fast X’ Character Explained
