The grand finale of the DCEU is here, Aquaman 2, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. And as many expected, it’s ending with a whimper. Well, a whimper that is a critical and likely box office bomb.
Despite the original Aquaman getting decent reviews and making a billion at the box office, now we are channeling what just happened to The Marvels over in the MCU, lower critic scores and a much, much lower box office than the original.
Reviews are coming in for Aquaman 2 and they are bad, like many recent DCEU films, with few exceptions. But they are really, really bad so far.
With 52 reviews in, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is at a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, down from the 65% of the original. That means it’s lower than every single DCEU movie besides Batman V Superman and the original Suicide Squad. It’s lower than recent high profile bombs like Black Adam, Shazam 2 and The Flash. Here’s the total, and now final, list of all DCEU films, and where it ranks:
- Wonder Woman – 93%
- Shazam – 90%
- The Suicide Squad (Gunn) – 90%
- Birds of Prey – 78%
- Blue Beetles – 78%
- Justice League (Snyder) – 72%
- Aquaman – 65%
- The Flash – 63%
- Wonder Woman 1984 – 58%
- Man of Steel – 56%
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods – 49%
- Justice League (Whedon) – 39%
- Black Adam – 38%
- Aquaman 2 – 37%
- Batman V Superman – 29%
- Suicide Squad (Ayer) – 26%
This embargo lifted just six hours before the first showings in the US began, actually after some international releases. It’s now pretty clear why, as DC was trying to lessen what is almost certainly going to be a terrible opening weekend for the film. Tracking puts estimates at around $40 million for its debut, far lower than the originals’ $67 million opening, but likely with a much faster falloff. And that $40 million would be below The Marvels’ $47 million opening, which was the worst in MCU history. Like The Marvels, its entirely possible this sequel only makes 20-30% of what the original earned.
This is a disaster for DC, but in this case, a predictable one. This won’t be as shocking as The Flash losing $200 million (even with halfway decent reviews), but it’s a terrible end to a terrible final era of the DCEU, as WB hopes that in 2025, James Gunn can swoop in with a refresh and save them all. He’s certainly got his work cut out for him, and he may actually have his pal Jason Momoa on board in a different role. Let’s hope Lobo fares better than Arthur Curry in the next universe.
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