Aquaman will now release a week earlier in several countries. Directed by James Wan, it reunites fans with Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry after the events of Justice League. Dubbed the origin story of the DC superhero, the film follows the titular character back to Atlantis as he proves himself worthy to be the king of the underwater civilization. Warner Bros. has been slowly revving up the marketing machine for the film, with the release of its highly anticipated first trailer during last month's San Diego Comic-Con.

Movie buffs have been talking about the film's crowded December 21 release date, with four major releases coming out: Aquaman, Transformers prequel spinoff Bumblebee; the John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell comedy Holmes & Watson, and Alita: Battle Angel. For months, people have been discussing which film studio should give in and roll out their movie at a different time, but it appeared that everyone was willing to battle it out, until now. It turns out, Warner Bros. has quietly shifted the release date of their upcoming superhero film, at least outside the U.S.

Reddit user awhite14 shared that in Australia, Aquaman is now scheduled to hit theaters December 13. Soon after, other fans chimed in on the conversation and said that the same thing happened in the U.K., as was previously reported. Yet another claimed that Warner Bros. also moved the release date in Thailand and Russia, a suggestion backed up by other online sources, such as IMDB.


It's unclear if there are any plans to change the release date domestically as well, but if anything, previous reports claimed that Warner Bros. is aware of the stiff competition that Aquaman will face if it sticks with its current release date stateside. Some suggested that it would be better to move it to November, considering that the DCEU had Justice League release the same month last year (although the box office results weren't ideal), and Wonder Woman 1984 is scheduled to hit theaters November 2019. While this would help the franchise plant a release date flag on said month, Warner Bros. likely wouldn't want to risk the possibility that their two biggest releases of the year - Aquaman and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - have to vie for people's attention.

If there are any plans to shift Aquaman's release date in the U.S., the best plan of action is probably to move it up two weeks from December 21 to December 7. That way, the film would have a solid week to itself to dominate the box office, before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrives. It may not be ideal, given that Warner Bros. would want the film to be the talk of the town for at least a couple of weeks, but at this point, it's probably the best case scenario.

Release Dates:

  • Aquaman (2018) release date: Dec 21, 2018
  • Shazam! (2019) release date: Apr 05, 2019
  • Joker (2019) release date: Oct 04, 2019
  • Wonder Woman 2 (2019) release date: Nov 01, 2019