Warner Bros. is mixing up the DC release calendar once again.
After the “Aquaman” sequel was pushed back from December 16, 2022 to March 17, 2023, the DC installment is getting shifted once more to December 25, 2023. That’s the same release window as its initial December 2022 premiere date, following the 2018 holiday debut of the first film.
Now in the DC shuffle, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” will take over the vacant “Aquaman 2” premiere date, this time delayed until March 17, 2023, after being first announced to open on December 16 of this year (the original “Aquaman” sequel date).
In addition to the DC game of musical chairs, two HBO Max titles are now getting theatrical premieres: “House Party” is set for December 9, 2022, while “Evil Dead Rise” will open on April 21, 2023. Upcoming Warner Bros. titles also now include “The Nun 2,” as part of “The Conjuring” franchise, set for September 8, 2023, along with Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” being pushed to a TBD date in 2023 (its original release was set for April 21, 2023).
An untitled “Warner Bros.” event film is also slated for February 10, 2023, on Super Bowl weekend.
With “Batgirl” confirmed to be shelved indefinitely after originally being set for an HBO Max release and the future of the DCU hinging on “The Flash” despite lead star Ezra Miller’s multiple arrests and abuse allegations, it seems that the release calendar reflects the imbalance and push for a Kevin Feige-like leader to oversee all of DC.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav earlier clarified during the company’s second-quarter 2022 earnings call that axing “Batgirl” was part of a plan to “bring Warner back and produce great high-quality films” with a mission to “protect the DC brand.”
“We have some great DC films coming up: ‘Black Adam,’ ‘Shazam!,’ and ‘Flash.’ We’re working on all of those. We’ve seen them, and we think they’re terrific, and that we can make them even better,” Zaslav said.
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