What Does Aquaman's Box-Office Success Mean For The DCEU's Future?
Yes, James Wan's Aquaman movie has made more than The Dark Knight.
Not content with being the King of Atlantis, Aquaman is now the King of the Box-Office, becoming just the ninth comic book movie in history - and the first DC film since The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 - to gross over $1billlion worldwide.
It marks one heck of a turnaround for the character, who not so long ago was the butt of Entourage's jokes. It also marks an impressive upturn in fortunes for the DC Extended Universe, considering its previous film, Justice League, made just over $650m. There are a number of factors that led to Aquaman breaking the billion-dollar barrier, not least the fact James Wan created a DC superhero movie that dared to have a whole lot of fun.
Now that it has grossed so much money after just a few weeks in cinemas, talk is turning to the future of DC on the big screen. Aquaman was the last movie in advanced development before Justice League's failure, and its success should signal a lot of changes and a real path forward for Warner Bros.
7. There'll Definitely Be An Aquaman 2
The first implication of Aquaman's success is a fairly straightforward one: there will definitely be an Aquaman 2. Unless already confirmed as a closing chapter, it's unheard of for a comic book movie to gross $1bn and NOT get a follow-up.
Even before the film was released, it was reported that a sequel was already in the early stages of development based on its strong tracking at the box-office. Now that it's actually made that money, the sequel is guaranteed, and will likely arrive sooner rather than later to maximise its hype. It should certainly be in cinemas no later than 2021, if not sooner with a push.
Luckily, Aquaman also contains plenty of setup for a future instalment. Black Manta, the secondary antagonist here, is practically begging to be the lead villain in an Aqua-film, but on top of that there's plenty more character work and story potential in Arthur Curry being the King of Atlantis, and the development of Orm into someone who isn't actually a bad guy. That's on top of decades of comics storylines to draw from too, meaning a sequel - even a trilogy - have plenty of places to go from here, and will now happen.