Jason Momoa’s $215 Million Fantasy Flop Is a Sudden Streaming Success

Against all expectations, the first Aquaman The film became a runaway hit in 2018, grossing over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and becoming the biggest film based on a DC character. The superhero film made more money than The Black Knight And The Black Knight Risesboth of which crossed the coveted $1 billion mark. Fast-tracking a sequel was a no-brainer for Warner Bros., which was struggling to compete with Disney’s rival Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. However, at the time when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was released, the DC Extended Universe had been all but abandoned by the studio. Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the film’s production and theatrical debut, Aquaman 2 recently witnessed an unexpected increase in viewers at home.

According to FlixPatrol, the film was among the 10 most watched titles in the national Netflix rankings over the weekend, when the rankings were dominated by Jingle Bell Flight. Released in 2023, the film debuted when it was already common knowledge that the DCEU was going to be rebooted, and that star Jason Momoa would probably never play the superhero again. Momoa himself was quite candid about the situation during the film’s publicity tour, which ended with a special screening for fans and, most importantly, a real premiere. Directed by James Wanwho also directed the first Aquaman film, the sequel survived a turbulent production, only to gross around $600 million less than its predecessor.

Jason Momoa returns to the superhero genre

The success of the first Aquaman suggested there was an audience for the DCEU, despite divisive reactions to the franchise’s early films – Man of Steel And Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But by the time the sequel came out, it was game over for the franchise. Aquaman 2 grossed approximately $440 million worldwide against a budget which would have reached 215 million dollars. The movie got poor reviewsand now has a score of 33% on aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads: “Jason Momoa remains a capable and committed leading man, but even DC diehards may think that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sticks to familiar waters. » It is undeniable, however, that fans loved Momoa in the role; they rewarded Aquaman 2 a healthy 79% score on RT.

Momoa leaves the blockbuster A Minecraft movieand is set to debut as Lobo in the upcoming DCU movie Supergirl. You can watch Aquaman 2 at home and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.