CinemaCon 2023 is in motion; the summer of this year’s conventions has kicked off, and hopes of the latest fan favorite pop culture updates, trailers, and panels are at an all-time high. Amidst all of that, DC Extended Universe’s final outing, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, carries great anticipations and expectations. After several release date pushes, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman sequel is set for a December 2023 release. James Wan’s effects-heavy, underwater action-adventure is about to enter the press and marketing phase. At the same time, fans anticipate the movie’s first trailer getting a public release very soon.
Meanwhile, at CinemaCon, a fan spotted a new teaser poster for the movie. The poster did not feature cast members but showed a cracking underwater iceberg.
There isn’t any behind-the-ice threat implied in the poster. Still, it could reference the film’s newfound setting, which James Wan teased early in production a couple of years back.
It’s possible that the threat from the titular “Lost Kingdom” comes from beyond the frozen underwater lands. Notably, the film’s early working title was Necrus, referring to another doomed nation hidden in Earth’s oceans. In the comics, the unstable location status of Necrus only allows it to appear through a dimensional hole when an alien satellite triggers the planet’s magnetic fields. Necrus has a strange and antagonistic place in DC Comics. It’s possible that the breaking ice could refer to a similar reveal of the new threat to Aquaman and Atlantis.
On the other hand, the cracked ice under the ocean could refer to a wider environmental message the movie might entail. In the first film, Orm launches flooding on the surface beaches, throwing off the discarded garbage, shipwrecks, and waste the humans have dumped into the seas and corrupted the underwater life. It’s possible the cracked iceberg could have a similar environmental significance.
There have been hardly any updates on Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. Interestingly, Walter Hamada called it a buddy movie during the heavily publicized Depp-Heard trial. He revealed that Momoa’s Arthur and Patrick Wilson’s Orm/Ocean Master would take center stage in the film to face a new rising conflict against the brothers’ home nation. However, with the new management, the film has gone through several changes, including having shot a few scenes with Ben Affleck’s Batman, which may not be included in the final cut. Since the film is releasing after The Flash and its timeline reset, its value in the new DC Universe and its future are hanging on a thread.
While Jason Momoa has teased a new collaboration with James Gunn and Warner Bros. in an enthusiastic social media video, it’s still a mystery if the new collab also brings good news for Aquaman.
Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom will release on December 20, 2023, ending DC Extended Universe’s ten-year run, which will eventually merge into the new DCU.