With the upcoming release of Justice League, Jason Momoa will be getting his first significant swim out in his trident-wielding DC role, and he’ll be following it up next year with his first solo film in Aquaman. Following on from the success of Wonder Woman, things are looking pretty good for DC’s Extended Universe and if Momoa can do the same thing that Gal Gadot did as Diana Prince then it should be one of the year’s biggest superhero films.
James Wan has been given the reigns for the film, but with so much horror in his back catalogue, including Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring and Annabelle, the question is whether or not the DC adaptation will be going in dark directions. The only real counter point in his filmography is Furious 7, so it’s going to be interesting to see the trailer when it arrives to get a feel for the direction he’s going in with the film.
Release date
Aquaman has been slated for a UK release date of the 5th October 2018, according to the official film Facebook page. This is the same as the US release, so we could see things moving around a little in terms of the release schedule, but we’ll keep you updated as we get closer to the date.
Story
The synopsis for the film hasn’t been released as of yet, but we do know a good amount about the characters that will be involved in the story. With Aquaman’s archenemy Black Manta in the mix, we’re expecting him to be behind some sort of sinister plot, but there’s also his supervillain half brother Orm Marius / Ocean Master, so it’s possible the two will be working together to take control of Atlantis.
The question is whether or not the action takes place before or after the events of Justice League. With Wonder Woman doing so well at the box office, there’s more than enough of a case for DC to make Aquaman another origins movie, but then it would be interesting to see how the characters shake out in the under-the-sea modern day. If you’re not up on your DC Comics history, you can read more about the character at www.dccomics.com/characters/aquaman.
Cast
In addition to Jason Momoa in the starring role as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, the king of Atlantis, Warner Bros. has also confirmed that Amber Heard (Drive Angry) will be starring as Arthur’s queen, Mera. They’ll be joined in the cast by Willem Dafoe (Murder On The Orient Express) as Nuidis Vulko, Atlantis’ chief science advisor, along with Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables) as Nereus.
Nicole Kidman (The Beguiled) will play Atlanna, Arthur Curry’s mum, and former queen of Atlantis, and Temuera Morrison (Moana) takes on the role of Tom Curry, Aquaman’s dear old dad. On the more devious side of the cast equation, we have Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Baywatch) as Black Manta and with Patrick Wilson (Fargo: Series 2) as Orm Marius / Ocean Master.
Production
Supporting director James Wan is producer Peter Safran and executive producers, Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Rob Cowan, Jon Berg and Geoff Johns. The production team also includes regular Wan collaborators, director of photography Don Burgess, editor Kirk M. Morry and production designer Bill Brzeski. Kym Barrett (The Amazing Spider-Man) is the costume designer, Charles Gibson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II) and Kelvin McIlwain (The Fast and the Furious) the VFX supervisor.
Principal photography for the film got underway in May 2017 and filming has taken place mostly on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Locations have also included Newfoundland, Sicily and Tunisia. You can keep up with more details on the production at James Wan’s Twitter page.
First impressions
There’s no trailer at the moment, so it’s difficult to make a call. James Wan seems like an unusual choice for director with so much horror in his back catalogue, but then Jason Momoa looks impressive as Aquaman in Justice League. There is a lot of quality in the rest of the cast too with both Nicole Kidman and Willem Defoe signed on as significant characters.
We’re fans of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Patrick Wilson with the former putting in a funny comedy performance in Baywatch and the latter’s sublime effort as Minnesota cop Lou Solverson in Fargo. However, it’s hard to see either of them in the main villain’s role, so a lot is going to ride on how they work out.
