Exclusive: Aquaman 2 Test Screening So Bad That People Walked Out
Reportedly, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is testing poorly and reshoots are in production.
Update: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ended up scoring just 33% with critics according to Rotten Tomatoes.
A recent audience screening of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom allegedly tested so poorly that viewers left the theater, which is an extremely bad sign for the future of the franchise. According to our trusted and proven sources, the version of the much-anticipated Jason Momoa sequel was so disliked by the audience that some people could literally not finish it (which might seem a little extreme). It seems that the movie was immediately pulled back for reshoots, which we speculate might cause more delays in the already much-rescheduled movie.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is one of the few remaining projects left from the pre-James Gunn DC Extended Universe that is confirmed to still be headed to theaters. That should really be no surprise, as the first James Wan movie was a massive surprise hit, grossing $1.149 billion in theaters, making it both the highest-performing DCEU movie and the highest-performing film based on a DC Comics character. Given the generally shaky performances of various DC films, a second Aquaman movie was never in doubt.
However, the extremely poor test performance of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom seems to have put a little fear into DC Studios’ heart. That said, reshoots have often been overblown as a sign that a movie has turned into a disaster; for example, reports that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had extensive reshoots after test screenings initially seemed to indicate the movie would be a disaster. Instead, it is generally regarded as one of the best Star Wars projects to emerge from the Disney era of the franchise.
All that is to say, reshoots are not necessarily the end of the world or of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. All movies are subjected to reshoots in some capacity (which is known as “the editing process”), but a high-profile movie with one of the biggest stars in the world makes everyone feel a little jittery. We will just have to wait till Christmas Day to see if James Wan and Jason Momoa got things done, assuming that it does not get rescheduled once again.
There have been consistent rumors that Jason Momoa is looking to defect from the Aquaman franchise to portray interstellar badass bounty hunter Lobo for the new DC Universe. If this new movie does not perform on the level as the first movie, it certainly seems that could be a possibility. While James Gunn has not confirmed that the Main Man will be appearing in the DCU, the studio definitely has the right overly-muscled, shaggy-haired actor to play the role if he does.
Of course, it does not seem like Jason Momoa has put all his eggs into the aquabasket. He will be appearing in a villainous role in the upcoming Fast X movie (already driving fans wild with his knife-licking action) and is in talks to appear in the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie. We’ll just see if he actually is done with Aquaman after whatever happens next.
