Credit: DC StudiosAs DC Studios tries to salvage their upcoming superhero flick, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), from seemingly inevitable doom, it sounds like the latest from director James Wan could be one of the shortest DCEU movies to date.
Related: Amber Heard’s ‘Aquaman 2’ Role Officially Cut Short
From poor test screenings, extensive last-minute reshoots, and the studio’s ongoing Amber Heard problem, things aren’t looking too good for the sequel to DC’s billion-dollar hit, Aquaman (2018). Despite the film’s all-star cast, which includes Jason Momoa as the titular hero, Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is reportedly floundering behind the scenes, setting it well on track to sink at the international box office.
Related: ‘Aquaman 2’ Trailer Roasted for “Awful” CGI: “Going to Be a Dumpster Fire of a Movie”
Recently, ahead of the release of the first full-length trailer, an Entertainment Weekly article attempted to portray the troubled Aquaman sequel in a better light, with Wan insisting that shooting the movie was, contradictory to earlier reports, a “smooth” process and that any buzz of Amber Heard’s trimmed-down role as Mera was simply due to the main cast having drastically different schedules—not because of her highly-publicized legal battle with Johnny Depp.
But even though Wan and Warner Bros. are seemingly doubling down on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a reliable Hollywood insider recently shared some new information that seems to suggest otherwise.
According to Twitter user @Cryptic4KQual, who has a solid track record when it comes to sharing movie runtimes before they hit theaters, DC’s Aquaman sequel will clock in at just under two hours—a record low for any film in the DCEU.
Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom
Current runtime of 1 hr 55 mins
Not Final#wb #AquamanAndTheLostKingdom #Aquaman pic.twitter.com/DbkAHRwPfT
— Cryptic HD QUALITY (@Cryptic4KQual) September 14, 2023
For reference, 2018’s Aquaman was two hours and 23 minutes long, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) clocks in at a whopping four hours. One hour and 55 minutes would place Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom between Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey‘s (2020) and Justice League‘s (2017) roughly two-hour runtimes.
It’s important to note that a two-hour runtime is about average for a superhero flick and perhaps even slightly longer than most comedies, dramas, and action movies. But considering all of the behind-the-scenes chaos that went into making the Aquaman sequel, it’s easy to understand how some might think the film’s relatively short time is actually the result of a choppy story, with most footage allegedly being outright unusable, if test viewers’ scathing criticisms are anything to go by.
Reshoots are expensive, meaning Warner Bros. is probably looking to pinch pennies where they can in hopes of turning a profit on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. One possible explanation for its shorter runtime could be that shaving off 20 or 30 minutes from the final cut meant it could play in a larger number of screens and make more money. Or perhaps editors just found a way to tell the story more efficiently.
It’ll be interesting to see if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom can top its predecessor, which still holds the crown for the highest-grossing DC film of all time. But with this latest update in mind, that goal seems increasingly doubtful.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom swims into theaters on December 20, 2023.
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