Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom already has its home release dates, and they’re closer than you may think. While there’s no word yet on when it’ll debut on Max, the film will be available digitally next week on January 23, ahead of its DVD/Blu-ray/4K release on March 12. One would expect the Max date to be somewhere in that time frame too.
Directed by James Wan, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hit theaters less than a month ago and, so far, has grossed about $380 million worldwide, including about $110 million domestically. That’s not bad, but nowhere near the original film, which did over $330 domestically and over $1.1 billion internationally, making it the highest-grossing DC film ever. There was probably a time Warner Bros. thought the sequel could at least match that but, in recent years, that hope all but faded.
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That’s because, in the five years between Aquaman movies, the balance of the power in the DC universe shifted, at least a few times. It was once a highly anticipated sequel connecting Justice League characters, but several factors played into the film changing multiple times at various stages of production. (For example, Ben Affleck’s Batman was in it at one point, as was Michael Keaton’s Batman. Not to mention the controversy surrounding Amber Heard.) As a result, the final product was disconnected from any real continuity and carried the burden of all those creative changes. Plus, it ended up unintentionally serving as the final film in an entire franchise. Earlier in the year, Warner Bros. announced that DC would be restarting under new leadership and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom instantly became the de facto swan song of the Zack Snyder era.
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The resulting film isn’t bad; it has some fun moments and is a worthy continuation of the characters and story of the first movie. You just get the sense throughout that things are cobbled together a bit, leaving a film that’s less than satisfying. What it is, though, is a great movie to watch at home, which you can do very soon.
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ComicBook broke the news of the release and has the full list of special features, if you’re curious about such things.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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