Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom release pushed back to December 2023; Shazam 2 fills the old date

It looks like it will be over a year before Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) returns to Atlantis. Deadline has reported that Warner Bros. has pushed the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom back by quite a bit. The Aquaman sequel was originally slated to hit theaters on March 17, 2023, but has now been moved to December 25, 2023.

With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom being pushed back, its original release date will be filled by Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The David F. Sandberg movie was supposed to hit theaters on December 21st, but will now fill Aquaman‘s old date of March 17, 2023. This shift will move the Shazam sequel away from the release of Avatar: The Way of Water and allow it to have access to the IMAX screens that were going to be taken up by the James Cameron movie.

Warner Bros. also announced that a pair of movies once destined for release on HBO Max will now be heading to theaters. The reboot of House Party will open in theaters on December 9, 2022, and Evil Dead Rise will be released in theaters on April 21, 2023. I’m particularly excited about getting the chance to see Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead sequel on the big screen. The studio also slated The Nun 2 for September 8, 2023, and will release an untitled event film on February 10, 2023. They’ve also pushed the feature-film version of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot from April 21, 2023 to a TBD date.

Although we have to wait a little longer before the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Jason Momoa is clearly pumped for fans to see it. “We killed it,” Momoa recently told THR. “We made something amazing and it’ll come out when it’s meant to come out.” The actor added that he’s game to keep playing the character as long as audiences want him to. “As long as we can. If people don’t like it and it feels like it’s past its due date, then we won’t make another one,” Momoa said. “But if they love it, then we will make more, you know. I don’t want to force anything down someone’s throat to watch it. But I love it.“