Aside from Avengers: Infinity War, Aquaman is the comic book movie that I’m most looking forward to this year because it’s something fresh. Sure, we may have paid a brief visit to Atlantis in Justice League, but this is a corner of the DC Extended Universe that is largely unexplored – and I can’t wait to see what director James Wan has in store for us.
For years, I’d surmised that such a film done right would be akin to Clash of the Titans, only underwater. Really, as long as the production design and visual effects departments are in perfect harmony with the stunt coordinators, there’s no limit to what this production can achieve.
Funny enough, lead actor Jason Momoa also isn’t hesitating when it comes to comparing Aquaman to some of the biggest movie franchises in history. When speaking at CinemaCon – the same place where test footage was shown and said to be “epic and fun” – he corroborated those claims by making a bold statement of his own, which Variety’s own Brent Lang summed up on Twitter as so:
“Jason Momoa says Aquaman is like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings [at] CinemaCon. May have missed a franchise.”
To be honest, I could see each of those parallels being accurate as long as the filmmakers stayed to true to the source material. In the past, Green Lantern had been compared to Star Wars, and while that would’ve rung true under most circumstances, that particular flick was set largely on Earth. Granted, this one will be as well, but we also have the mystery of what lies at the bottom of the sea to play off of.
Aquaman docks in theaters on December 21st. And for the first time in four years, this Christmas will be completely Star Wars free, as Lucasfilm has angled Solo: A Star Wars Story for release on May 25th.