James Wan Aquaman

Sadly, fans have come to expect stories of behind the scenes turmoil when it comes to Warner Brothers’ DC films.  Nearly all of them have endured massive reshoots, re-edits– sometimes without the input of the directors– poor test screenings, and more.  While too often these reports have proven to be true, some of them have, thankfully, been false.  The latest buzz appears to fall into that latter category.  There have been some reports surfacing that James Wan has had to snip 20 minutes worth of footage from ‘Aquaman’, but the director quickly and quite succinctly nipped that in the bud.

Wan has, unfortunately, been swatting down negative rumors since he was announced as the director of ‘Aquaman’.  At one point, there was a rumor that he had clashed with WB and as a result, was swimming away from the movie.  There was also speculation after fans felt that the first ‘Aquaman’ trailer had not been released far enough in advance.

What does seem to be true, however, is that the first ‘Aquaman’ test screenings weren’t a slam dunk.  While viewers that saw it insist the film isn’t bad, it also doesn’t seem to be a rousing success like ‘Wonder Woman’ or most Marvel entries.  In fact, many compared ‘Aquaman’ to an early, Phase 1 Marvel movie, back when these films were still finding their way and were largely self-contained.  That’s certainly not an insult as those pictures were successful, although nowhere near so as later movies from that studio.

‘Aquaman’ will also be facing threats more menacing than Ocean Master and Black Manta, as it is opening on “ground zero” of this year’s movies, December 21, 2018.  The DC picture must face off against ‘Transformers’ spin-off ‘Bumblebee’, Disney’s crowd-pleaser ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, and Fox’s just-announced ‘Deadpool Before Christmas’ as well as smaller projects like the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly comedy ‘Holmes & Watson’ and Steve Carrell’s ‘Welcome to Marwen’.  We’ll have to see if DC’s Sea King can out-swim the competition in just two months.