Napoleon

Shazam 2

One thing DC did right over Marvel was having separate universes for their DC adaptations. Greg Berlanti and the CW were allowed to build a successful universe on TV despite all the messy changes that eventually ran the DCEU into the ground. Movies like The Batman and Joker were also successful stories that would never happen in the MCU model. Marvel fans used to complain that Agents of SHIELD was ignored by the movies, and now that the Disney+ shows are part of the overall MCU storyline, some fans are complaining that they are required to watched them. Hopefully after Gunn establishes his own universe, we continue to get separate DC projects that aren't limited to fit into a larger storyline.

It didn't have an astronomical budget. It was reported at $250m (less than Superman Returns) but Snyder once said that it actually ended up costing less than Man Of Steel. And it's still the highest opening ever for a DC film to this day, there's no evidence that it could have opened to more than that because no other DC movie ever proved that it can be done.

I just watched it on HBO Max and I am shocked this is actually pretty good. The first movie was awful.

Black Adam opened significantly better than any post-Aquaman DCEU movie. With $393 million worldwide without China, it had more than double the audience of the 3 DCEU movies released before and the 3 released after it: Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, Shazam 2, The Flash and Blue Beetle average under $180m worldwide. So I think it's weird to claim audiences were indifferent to the cameo in Black Adam, especially when it saw a significant boost in presales after the cameo started being openly reported in the media and on social media. If the cameo in The Marvels generates engagement and excitement among fans, that buzz will spill over to general audiences.

Our society is a joke

Quantumania wasn't great, but there were other less than great MCU movies that received a much more positive reception, so I can see why they were blindsided. This was an average MCU movie, in my opinion.

She was also the best hero in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Mera almost killed Steppenwolf by herself. A true Queen

If this was as good and well received as Halloween 2018, there was potential for really big numbers for the trilogy, which would make the $400m payment for the rights a good investment. Everyone would be interested in an Exorcist reboot that has been praised and brought something new and interesting to the genre while being a great homage to the original, it's an iconic franchise.

I think more important than the quality of the movie is how much effort WB will put into marketing. Suicide Squad was horrible, and it still opened huge and had decent legs. Just like that movie, Aquaman 2 has the potential for a big opening and has a good scheduling. The holidays and lack of competition should guarantee at least decent legs. This movie doesn't need to be great to at least avoid a disastrous box office run. The only way I see this making less than Black Adam is if WB completely dumps it with no real marketing effort.

No, but they would probably consider having Aquaman continue as a separate franchise like The Batman.

There was a rumor a few months ago that (spoiler warning):

Excellent trailer and the movie looks good. It will do well at the box office.

David Ayer said the exact same things about Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder also supported WB's claims that Joss Whedon was coming in to finish his vision for Justice League. They always do that, so anything Wan says about reshoots and studio interference, at this point in the movie's marketing cycle, is meaningless in my opinion. And I'm not trying to be negative, of course there's a chance he's telling the truth and the movie is more than fine (and I want that to be case, I would really like to celebrate this movie's success).

James Wan is doing his job in trying to sell the movie, so I don't expect that article to be really insightful.

The local distributor of Sound of Freedom announced a deal for people to buy tickets in bulk 🙄

I think he's just being reactive about all the doubting he's been facing, as he was the one who started reporting Aquaman 2 may have problems, on top of everything that happened with The Flash... I like and trust ViewerAnon a lot. Of course he will have opinions on movies that we don't agree, and of course he'll make predictions that won't come true, that's normal. With Malignant, the reason the movie isn't hated is because it only reached a niche audience. Had it been properly promoted as a major release in normal times, for sure it would have received more backlash. It's too out there and not a typical horror movie, and if I had watched it early I would likely expect it to be rejected by audiences too. I believe in his reports regarding Aquaman 2, there are also other signs the studio isn't confident in it. Of course, that also doesn't mean it can't be well received.

From the teaser, it looks like a movie that can easily be marketed to good box office numbers.

It's kinda odd how things slowed down for the Conjuring universe since the pandemic. It used to have one movie a year. Since covid they only shot this one and I think they still haven't started shooting the next one (The Conjuring 4), and there's nothing else announced to be in development. James Wan signed with Universal, publicly announced on Instagram that the Crooked Man spin-off was not happening anymore and it was outside of his control, and also had an announced Aquaman spin-off movie cancelled by WB. Not to mention the rumors of trouble with Aquaman 2.

I remember before Part One came out a lot of people were skeptical it could do well because the books were not that popular, and I argued that it didn't matter that the majority of the audience haven't read the novel, what mattered was its reputation, and the director's reputation, and the cast. The movie was being hyped by critics, bloggers, cinephiles, book readers, and you can't underestimate how people are sheep and will get influenced to be hyped for something (I don't believe for a second Barbie and Oppenheimer would have done as big as they did if not for the obsession the internet created around them). I think the same will happen with Dune Part Two: being from the same reliable director, having new celebrated cast members, and coming from the same reputable source material, there's a sense that this is also an experience movie goers won't want to miss. The overall discourse around the first film was entirely positive.

Did Blue Beetle even have any connection to the DCEU? I didn't watch it yet, but there's no indication of that in the marketing. But it has been reported everywhere that James Gunn announced this as the first movie of his DCU, and that he intends to bring Xolo Maridueña back in the role. If there's this huge community of DC fans waiting for the reboot, I think it's weird that they weren't interested at all in Blue Beetle, considering he's planned to be part of the new DCU.

This meme implies that DC fans have a strong online presence, but at least for their recent flops, I didn't see much online buzz for them. The last theatrical DC movie that was always trending was The Batman.