10 Upcoming Movies That Could Bomb At The Box Office
8. Aquaman
Forget Justice League: Aquaman is the real test as to whether or not the DCEU is worth continuing or not.
Enough criticisms have been leveled at DC and Warner Bros.' handling of their shared mythology over the last few years that there's really no point in going over it again. Long story short, the franchise's shortcomings have only increased the pressure on the shoulders of James Wan and his crew.
The movie has a blank canvas with which to build the mythology from the ground up, seeing as how Arthur Curry's character development so far basically amounts to 'surfer bro who lives under the sea that Batman found in a GIF'. Whether audiences are willing to get on board with Aquaman or not will have a great deal to do with the marketing, of which 'from the director of Furious 7' will no doubt be a focal point.
James Wan may be a talented and versatile filmmaker, and Momoa a charismatic screen presence, but the movie faces a real struggle to make an impact at the box office due to negative perceptions of the DCEU, the relative obscurity of the character to general audiences and a release date in a typically-stacked December that puts it up against Bumblebee, Mary Poppins Returns and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
If Aquaman fails, then Shazam! is pretty much f**ked at this point.