Aquaman 2 Has Fans Mocking Warner Bros. For An Unexpected Reason

With the last few installments of the DC Extended Universe taking notable hits at the box office, the franchise's upcoming entry, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," has a lot to prove. However, the first teaser for the sequel to the 2018 billion-dollar hit has already received some jeering comments from sharp-eyed fans who noticed a striking similarity to the first film's advertising. 

On Twitter, @TheBatmanShill shared a side-by-side comparison of the first shot from the new teaser showing Aquaman (Jason Mamoa) on the beach with the same image from the final trailer of the first "Aquaman." Fans quickly reacted to the jarring move, with many defending the decision as one that many sequel trailers have done in the past. 

Nevertheless, it didn't stop some cynical commenters from having a field day with the discovery. With the lackluster audience attendance of DC's recent efforts, @based_floch doubts Warner Bros.' faith in the film, stating, "Even they know nobody will watch it." Many were on board with this sentiment, such as @astleybrick, who believes that the studio's resources may be stretched thin, with the user commenting, "They only had enough money to film half the movie and they had to fill the marketing somehow." Regardless of the reasoning, others were left annoyed by the decision. User @snap_dragn unfavorably compared the notion to other choices within the DCEU, saying, " ... this is the same energy as reusing Wonder Woman's theme over and over without changing a single note. it's LAZY." 

While it remains to be seen how fans will react to the finished film, such criticism is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to concerns for "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom."

It may be odd that the "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" teaser needed to recycle previous footage to fill in its 30-second runtime, but that's the least of the film's worries. Given the trajectory of many recent comic book movies and the film's hectic production, it's looking like it'll take a miracle for the "Aquaman" sequel to replicate the monumental success of its predecessor. 

Much of the troubled making of "Lost Kingdom" is owed to changes behind the scenes at Warner Bros. Development on the project began in early 2019 under former Warners Bros. head Toby Emmerich alongside DC Films President Walter Hamada. Things took a turn in 2022 when Emmerich and Hamada stepped down from their positions in the wake of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The mix of the new leadership and a series of unsuccessful test screenings resulted in the film going through three rounds of extensive reshoots, with versions existing that even brought Batman into the mix. 

With its release date only a few months away — December 20, to be precise — it's concerning that we are just now getting the first substantial sneak peek of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." For comparison, the first trailer for 2018's "Aquaman" came out in July of that year. Considering that the many alterations to "The Lost Kingdom" have resulted in its production budget exceeding $200 million, it seems that Warner Bros. is doing what it can to reduce the film's marketing costs, but it may also be a sign the studio doesn't have much faith in the project.