Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scoring dreadful reviews and even more dreadful box office projections.
This sequel to the 2018 blockbuster (and one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen) is projected to open between $29 million and $40 million over the upcoming four-day Christmas weekend. If that proves to be the case, we’re looking at yet another superhero catastrophe. Tee hee. Back in 2018, the original Aquaman opened to $68 million and went on to gross $335 million domestic and another $817 million overseas, for a total global haul of $1.15 billion. But that was at the height of the superhero frenzy that has since (thanks to countless bad movies saddled with fun-destroying identity politics) turned into a fizzle.
Aquaman 2 reportedly cost around $200 million to produce. Rumors of desperate reshoots haven’t helped. Then there’s co-star Amber Heard, whose reputation took a crap (pun intended) after a court said she’d defamed her ex-husband Johnny Depp as an abuser. If I were king, people who make false accusations like that would face a mandatory year in prison.
Adding another $100 million to the overall budget for marketing and whatnot is probably pretty safe. So this sucker will have to cross $550 million to $650 million just to break even.
Not helping is a flood of terrible reviews. With 72 reviews posted, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sits at a deadly 39 percent rotten score at Rotten Tomatoes.
Lost Kingdom is the final film from Warner Bros. Discovery’s pretty disastrous Zack Snyder era. From here, James Gunn and his partner will oversee the DC Universe. Next up is another Superman movie no one asked for. If the James Gunn who delivered the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy makes that Superman movie, there’s some hope. Not much. Some. But if it’s the James Gunn who made that dreadful Suicide Squad (2021), there’s no hope.
If Lost Kingdom tanks this weekend, it has nothing to do with a hoax called “superhero fatigue.” Name one decent superhero movie that’s tanked since 2020. You can’t. Everything that tanked sucked. So it’s not “superhero fatigue.” Rather, it’s “lousy-preachy-sexless-unless-the-sex-is-gay movie fatigue.”
Bad movies tend to tank. That is nothing new. But Hollywood and their media enablers want you to believe this is something new when it comes to superhero movies because the truth is too difficult to swallow.
Who cares, right? Watching these movies tank is a lot more entertaining than the movies. I see it this way: Hollywood used to make money entertaining us. Now Hollywood is losing money entertaining us. And I’ve discovered I like it better that way.
I’m just hating Hollywood back.
They started it.
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