DC’s costliest venture to date was the 2017 production of Justice League, and it proved to be a thunderous box-office tempest, leaving Warner Bros. with an estimated loss of $60 million, despite its $657.9 million global earnings. With the upcoming release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, is DC bracing for a similar financial squall?
While the first Aquaman movie rode the tidal wave of success to a staggering $1.148 billion dollars worldwide, the waters for its sequel, Aquaman 2, have grown decidedly choppy. Controversy swirling around certain cast members (you know who we’re talking about) has left fans divided, with many even questioning the necessity of a sequel.
With the record of no DC movie sequel finding success since The Dark Knight, the fate of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom seems sealed. But with reports of a third set of reshoots finally satisfying the producers and a trailer finally gracing our screens, there could be some hopes of the film at least breaking even, ONLY IF the film’s budget wasn’t as massive. Did we tell you the numbers yet?
What was the budget for Aquaman 2?
Aquaman 2 has found its way into the DC’s list of the 5 most expensive comic films ever made. The studio greenlighting the sequel was a no-brainer after Aquaman‘s success, but the production budget? That’s a bit too much to put at stake for a film nobody seems to be chomping at the bit to see.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reportedly had a production budget of $205 million dollars. And that was prior to the multiple reshoots. The film has weathered its own storms behind the scenes, through numerous test screenings, re-edits, and re-shoots between the summer of 2022 and the present. The film was initially shot during the pandemic, which undoubtedly introduced monetary pressure on its own.
According to reports, the creative team has made a lot of adjustments, including the unexpected replacement of Michael Keaton’s Batman with Ben Affleck’s Batman and the apparent diminution of Amber Heard’s role as Mera. Sure it costs something to create an underwater world, but a thought into trimming it down instead of increasing it with reshoots would’ve been smart.
Comparing the budget to the original film, Aquaman had a reported production budget of $160-200 million. While a similar budget was expected for the sequel, is it really worth it? After The Flash became one of the biggest box-office bombs in recent history, maybe DC needs to sip a coffee and re-evaluate where they put their money. James Gunn and Peter Safran rebooting things under DC Studios has already decreased audience interest and trust in the upcoming projects significantly.
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