‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ is an upcoming American superhero film based on DC Comics character Aquaman. Following Aquaman (2018), it will be the thirteenth film in the DC Extended Universe, produced by DC Films, The Safran Company, and Atomic Monster Productions. Warner Bros. Pictures will distribute the picture worldwide (DCEU). In addition to Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman feature in director James Wan’s cinematic adaptation of David Leslie Johnson-script. McGoldrick’s

A sequel to Aquaman was suggested by Momoa during the filming of the first Aquaman movie. Wan did not want to hurry a sequel, but consented in January 2019 to supervise production. Later, Johnson-McGoldrick contracted to write the script and Wan was announced to helm the film in August 2020. In June 2021, he confirmed the film’s title and said that it will expand on Aquaman’s worldbuilding. Filming started towards the end of the month and was scheduled to wrap up in January 2022 in the UK, Hawaii, and Los Angeles.

On December 16, 2022, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be published.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Production

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Development

While filming Aquaman (2018), actor Jason Momoa devised a screenplay idea for a sequel and presented it to Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman Toby Emmerich and producer Peter Safran during the filming process. Before the film’s release in October 2018, Momoa claimed he would be more engaged in the creation of a prospective sequel and anticipated production to begin in 2019. After establishing seven new underwater nations in Aquaman, director James Wan stated various stories may develop from that film’s introduction of them.

It wasn’t until early December that Emmerich began to seriously consider a sequel after seeing the film’s box office numbers improve so dramatically. On January 31, just days before Aquaman became the biggest earning DC Comics picture, Warner Bros. was in talks with Wan to supervise the development and scripting of a sequel, with Wan potentially returning to helm.

Geoff Boucher of Deadline Hollywood stated that Wan had been particularly protective of sequels to his previous films, Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013), and was “fully involved” in the worldbuilding of Aquaman. It’s not the first time that Wan has drawn comparisons between the fictitious realms of Aquaman and others, including Middle-earth, the galaxy of Star Wars, and the Wizarding World.

In February 2019, Warner Bros. engaged Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald to create the storey for an Aquaman spin-off film named The Trench, based on one of the kingdoms featured in the first film. It was planned to have a lesser budget and not contain the core cast of Aquaman, with Wan and Safran producing it. Aquaman’s co-writer and frequent Wan collaborator David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick has signed on to write the screenplay for the sequel to the film, according to Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, who first reported the news.

However, whether Wan would direct or not was still up in the air at the time of this writing. The release date for Aquaman 2 was set on December 16, 2022, towards the end of February by Warner Bros. Animation. According to Safran and Wan, they did not want to hurry the sequel, and Warner Bros. was supportive of that, therefore the film’s release was slated for four years after its predecessor. A similar approach to the Conjuring Universe is taking place with Aquaman spin-offs like The Trench, he said, comparing it to how they’ve approached the Conjuring series. Safran claims that Wan is familiar with “the architecture, the armoury, the military, the appearance, the feel, the overall vibe” of each of the seven kingdoms and hopes to explore them all in future projects.

In July 2019, Wan was scheduled to helm Malignant (2021) before commencing production on Aquaman 2. When Patrick Wilson spoke about the sequel in November, he hinted that he will reprise his role as Orm Marius/Ocean Master from the first film. A month later, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II revealed that he will be returning as David Kane / Black Manta and that he planned to further develop the character’s backstory and character arc.

As Johnson-McGoldrick revealed in March 2020, Aquaman 2 was inspired by the Silver Age of Comics’ Aquaman storylines featuring Black Manta as the villain. Johnson-McGoldrick said the sequel was not based on a particular comic book. This film will be more serious than the first, with issues that are more pertinent to today’s world. Wan confirmed this during the virtual DC FanDome event in August, when he revealed he will be directing this picture.

According to him, there will be additional worldbuilding and exploration of the underwater kingdoms, as well as some horror aspects akin to the Trench section from the previous film’s opening half. To Wan’s credit, Johnson-screenplay McGoldrick’s featured a “very great premise to bring all these characters back, and then expanding them in a major manner,” which was one of the main reasons he wanted to helm the sequel.

The speculations that Amber Heard will not be repeating her role as Mera from the previous film due to claims of domestic violence brought against her by her ex-husband Johnny Depp were disproved by the actress in November. That same month, more than 1.5 million people signed a petition demanding that Warner Bros. remove Heard from the Fantastic Beasts series after claims of abuse made public by The Sun were found to be “largely accurate,” prompting Warner Bros. to do the same. Safran said that they never contemplated doing it without her. He stated that they would not respond to the “pure fan pressure” of the petition and other social media discussions.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Pre-production

In February 2021, Dolph Lundgren said that he will reprise his role as King Nereus in the sequel, with production scheduled to begin later that year in London. After a month had passed, the filming schedule was announced to begin in June, albeit the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to disrupt this. Warner Bros. and DC stated in April that they will no longer be pushing through with the production of The Trench because the studios did not have place for the spin-off on their schedule of films and believed that Aquaman 2 would suffice as an extension of the brand for the time being. A few weeks later, Pilou Asbk began negotiations to join the cast of the film. Earlier this year, Momoa said that he will begin shooting Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in July. A month later, director James Wan confirmed that Momoa would reprise his role as Aquaman’s father, Thomas Curry, in the sequel.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Filming

On June 28, 2021,[4][30] principal filming on the film Necrus started in London[4][30]. From the first film, Don Burgess was back as cinematographer. In August, Wan revealed the sequel was heavily inspired by the film Planet of the Vampires (1965). Devon’s Saunton Sands beach was the site of filming during the first week of September. During this time period, Randall Park was revealed to be returning as Dr. Stephen Shin; Vincent Regan had replaced Graham McTavish as the ancient king Atlan; Jani Zhao was set to portray Stingray in her first English-language feature role; and Indya Moore was revealed to be portraying Karshon in the sequel. Up until December 9, most of the film was shot in the UK before moving to Hawaii for the last few days of filming. Soon later, Nicole Kidman’s return as Atlanna, the mother of Aquaman, was announced. After thereafter, production relocated to Los Angeles, where it was officially concluded on January 12th, 2022, in Malibu.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Music

It was announced in August 2021 that Rupert Gregson-Williams was returning to score the sequel after he did so for the original film, which was released in 2012.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Marketing

As part of the virtual DC FanDome event in August 2020, directors Wan and Wilson revealed ideas for the film. A year later, at DC FanDome 2021, concept art and behind-the-scenes video from filming were shown.

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Release Date

When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theatres on December 16, 2022, it will be available to watch on HBO Max 45 days later.