Warner Bros. Discovery has once again shuffled their titles around. We’ve recently reported on Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt being cancelled and HBO Max merging with Discovery+.
It was revealed last night that Warner Bros. has moved both Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom and Shazam! Fury of The Gods to further next year.
Shazam!, which was due to be released this December, will now premiere on March 17, 2023. March 17 was the original release date of the Aquaman sequel, which will now arrive on December 25, 2023, pushed more than 8 months.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods has moved to March 2023
Aquaman doesn’t come as that big of a surprise. There had been rumours of it moving as director James Wan recently did some more reshoots, which included Ben Affleck’s Batman, and we still haven’t had as much as an official image or a poster.
Shazam!, however, was due to be released in mere months. A new trailer was launched at Comic-Con in July, but many criticised the trailer’s look and the CGI. Director David F. Sandberg seemed enthusiastic about the date change as he posted on Instagram: “Avatar 2 can have December, we can have IMAX screens.”
View this post on Instagram
While the news might be devastating for fans who are eager to see their favourite heroes return to the big screen, there was some good news too. As David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery is now focusing on theatrical releases for their films, both the new Evil Dead film and House Party are getting a cinema release instead of going straight to HBO Max. However, Salem’s Lot was removed from its April release date, without a new date announced. Uh oh.
Lee Cronin is on directing duties for Evil Dead Rise which will open in the US on April 21, 2023 and the reboot of 1990’s House Party will now arrive on December 9 this year. There are no official, confirmed UK dates yet.
While it’s not confirmed and it’s purely speculation, the internet has decided that WB has moved things around because they don’t have the cash to release Shazam! this year. The Hollywood Reporter also alluded to this in their report. WB is currently gearing up to release Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson, which will be a costly film for the studio.
