It’s shocking to say that 2023 was the year of blockbuster flops. Especially among the superhero giants, Marvel and DC. Although DC has been struggling to reach the same level of success that Marvel has over the last decade, it’s weird to be comparing the two studios in terms of “who did it worse?” However, with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom this weekend, that’s exactly what it’s come down to.
Marvel started off the year with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania back in February, a release that would end up being Marvel’s biggest disappointment up until that point. It set a record for having the worst second-weekend box office numbers of any Marvel movie and it would eventually be alleged that working conditions on the film were poor, with artists reportedly putting in 70-hour work weeks in order to get the film ready to release.
Following Ant-Man, DC would release Shazam: Fury of the Gods, a sequel to the 2019 film starring Zachary Levi as the titular hero. Shazam 2 would start the competition to see which DC movie could outperform the others for the title of worst DC release. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would be the biggest success Marvel saw this year as the finale to the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. It would also be James Gunn’s last project at Marvel as he shifted over to co-CEO of DC Studios.
DC would then release two other summer films back to back, with The Flash in June and Blue Beetle in August. The Flash had been expected to be a major disappointment even before its release, partially due to the numerous controversies surrounding its star, Ezra Miller. Oddly enough, The Flash would be the best-performing out of DC’s releases this year, bringing in $270 million…although well under its $300 million budget.
Blue Beetle was the first project to be completed under Gunn’s new ownership of the DC, although it was still part of the former DC Extended Universe and isn’t part of Gunn’s rebooted DCU. It’s the worst-performing 2023 DC release to date, only bringing in $129 million for the studio. Marvel would have the next release in November with The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel that continued to expand the idea of multiverses and brought Ms. Marvel into the Avengers-sphere. It would be a major disappointment for the studio, only bringing in $202 million, not only registering as the lowest-ever opening in Marvel history, but coming in as one of the worst-performing Marvel movies overall.
With 2023 clearly a bad year for the superhero genre, fans wondered how the final installment of the DCU would fare with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom this weekend. Well, Deadline has answers, and it doesn’t look good. The article points to the film’s multiple delays and reshoots over the last three years due to COVID-19 as well as Amber Heard’s legal drama and controversies as factors in its box-office performance. “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is expected to do around $40M+ over the four-day Christmas weekend,” the report states. “While that’s possibly a lower gross than even The Marvels‘ 3-day start of $46.1M, and many might be quick to scream ‘superhero fatigue,’ there are a couple of factors in hand.”
The article goes on to explain that the film is actually doing quite well overseas and could possibly make up its money after the holidays and into the new year. However, the film is also currently competing with other highly-anticipated films, like The Iron Claw, Wonka, and The Color Purple. Without much of a possibility to recover from its disappointing estimated opening weekend numbers, it seems as though Aquaman is doomed to lose to The Marvels for worst-performing 2023 superhero movie.
With much of the film industry frozen this year due to the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strike that took place from May to November, stars were unable to promote their films, which may have led to the overall poor performances of dozens of movies this year. Unfortunately, it’s impacted the 2024 and 2025 release schedules as well, meaning that upcoming releases might not perform any better than those during 2023. Unfortunately, it seems as though the final piece of DC’s former DC Cinematic Universe has gone out with a whimper, rather than the bang they were hoping for. At least fans can put the releases of 2023 behind them and look forward to the releases expected for 2024 as well as updates on Gunn’s new DCU.
Aquaman 2 stars Jason Momoa reprising his role as Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Amber Heard returning as Mera. The film is now available in theaters.
Did you or are you planning to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? Let us know what your thoughts about it in the comments below!