China, thanks to its population and its strict censorship, has always been a forbidden fruit of sorts for Western studios. Grosses of films are often talked about in pre-China and post-China releases, showing how vital the country is to the studios in the West
Despite all the muted hype around Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, China seems to be least concerned with all the controversies surrounding the cast of the film and the state of the DCEU. So much so that the pre-sales of the film have even exceeded Matt Reeves’s The Batman.
Aquaman beat The Batman and The Marvels
As analyst Luiz Fernando revealed on his X (formerly Twitter) account that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has ended up grossing a whopping $1.6 million in previews, putting it ahead of The Batman and The Marvels‘ $1.5 million each.
In #China’s #BoxOffice, #AquamanAndTheLostKingdom grossed 320k on TUE previews (vs #TheBatman 260k, #TheMarvels 288k, #TheFlash 328k, #Oppenheimer 370k, #GoTGVol3 580k, #Quantumania 434k, #NTTD 392k) over 3k screenings!
$1.6M total Pre-sales for WED-MON
(vs#RiseOfTheBeasts 4.5M… pic.twitter.com/yAIx6mwn7r— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) December 19, 2023
This only proves that Aquaman 2 has a decent chance at the global box office, as certain non-Western markets (or even Western ones) might not bother themselves with the Cinematic Universe model. As long as it is a good film, people are bound to show up for it. However, the sentiment back home might be grim for Aquaman 2, as fans are questioning what is even the point of the film, given that it serves as the grand finale of the DCEU, post which all eyes will be trained on James Gunn’s DCU.
Despite being the last entry in the DCEU, Aquaman 2 will have a post-credit scene
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has a post-credit scene, which begs the question: Why?
The post-credit scene has become a mainstay of the superhero genre, being popularized by the MCU. The first MCU film, Iron Man, had a post-credit scene that opened the universe-wide, setting up the next 10 years of the franchise. However, when one hears about a post-credit scene in a film like Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, given the context of the film in the wider DC landscape, it does make you wonder what purpose it could serve.
Whatever the post-credit scene sets up, the audiences are pretty sure that it won’t come to fruition, given that the film is the last entry into the DCEU. If the post-credit scene does not set up anything for the future, its existence is moot, making it extra padding at the end of the film that can be skipped. Either way, it seems the film is gonna have a tough time getting people to stick around for the post-credit scene anyway, given that any promise of future teases will be met with disappointment.
