‘Aquaman And the Lost Kingdom’ movie release date confirmed

Warner Bros brought a lot of DC — a lot — to its CinemaCon session Tuesday. In addition to a trailer for The Flash and Dwayne Johnson showing up to push DC League of Super-Pets and Black Adam, the cast of Shazam: Fury of the Gods stopped by with a trailer, as did James Wan who had a sizzle reel of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. 

Shazam! Fury of the Gods cast members Zachary Levi, Jack Dylan Grazer and Asher Angel were on hand for the presentation at Caesars Palace Colosseum, along with Helen Mirren who plays the villain Hespera.

Levi said it was “super dreamy getting the gang back together” and promised the original’s themes would remain in the sequel. “We don’t want to veer from the magic we were able to find in the first movie, balancing action, comedy, drama and heart. That’s a massive part of what people connected to in the first movie.”

Angel, who plays young Billy Batson, said, “The last time everyone saw Billy he was a kid, and he’s grown up and matured. I would say adulthood is on the horizon and it’s scary because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him. That weighs pretty heavily on him and he’s trying to enjoy the moment and, hey, have these superpowers.”

Mirren called the gang “The most wonderful crazy family that I’ve had the honor to be a small part of. You just have to hold your nose and jump into the deep end and allow the whirlwind to take you.”

The footage shown kicked off with Shazam dining in Paris with what appears to be Wonder Woman, whom he’s wooing, suggesting they could be known as the “Hottie Goddies” or “Shezam,” but it’s actually Djimon Hounsou’s Wizard who’s arrived to tell Shazam he must “fight for your family, fight for the world.”

The pic is currently dated on the same weekend as Avatar 2 from Disney/20th Century Studios: December 16. Does the film stick to the date or go earlier or later? Certainly there’s enough room in a Christmas marketplace for two blockbusters as moviegoing rebounds.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom star Jason Momoa in a taped message introduced director James Wan to the crowd, who showed up onstage and spoke with Warner Bros’ CinemaCon host Aisha Tyler. Momoa said he was “stoked to have the band back together” and added, “It’ll be the best movie of the year.”

Wan talked about the new technology he was using in the movie, putting 100 cameras on the actors and capturing their performance and then putting a 3D spin on it.

“It frees me up to do other things,” said Wan.

“I’m still in the midst of my director’s cut,” Wan told Tyler before showing off a sizzle reel that showed Black Manta coming to greater power. Lots of swirly, octopus-like underwater machines driven by the Aqua people here.

Wan said the return to Atlantis will continue the story and world that was created in first film and “take it to the next level.” That’s with “these new different kingdoms and new intense characters.”

In a video, Momoa echoed that “the characters coming in are pretty intense. Nothing else I’ve ever been a part of that’s like this.”

The release date for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is March 17, 2023.