Dive Back in with “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” Trailer

It's been an extremely rough year for the DCEU. The sequel to Shazam! and the solo outings of The Flash and Blue Beetle all underperformed. And even superhero movies as a whole seem to have taken a backseat to the unstoppable power of Barbie and J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Into this dark era comes a splash of much-needed lightness. While the original Aquaman film certainly wasn't great, it managed to balance its world-threatening plot with humor and colorful costumes. That blend (as well as not having to compete against a Star Wars film) made it more than $1 billion worldwide.

With director James Wan and star Jason Momoa returning, it looks to deliver more of the same. Also back are Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson and (sorry, haters) Amber Heard.  And Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, whose star has only risen in the interim, will try to get his revenge as Black Manta.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives in theaters on December 20.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.