Hot on the heels of conquering the box office with The Batman, Warner Bros. has had to rethink their superheroic release plans. Citing COVID-19 interference with visual effects, both Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Flash are being pushed back to 2023. The good news is that Shazam! Fury of the Gods will now open in 2022. Variety broke the story, but apparently The Rock broke it first (of course).
If the darkness of Matt Reeves’ take on Batman has you longing for a more family-friendly superhero story, DC League of Super-Pets has now pushed Black Adam back. (Dwayne Johnson wins either way, as he’s both Krypto and Black Adam.) What DC League of Super-Pets has that no other DC movie does is… Keanu Reeves as Batman.
The animated comedy now opens on July 29, 2022, followed by Black Adam on October 21, 2022. The rest of the Shazam! Family arrives on December 12, 2022. Though technically the two live-action films aren’t connected, we know eventually Zachary Levi has to meet The Rock, and not the Rock of Eternity.
Where things get tricky, maybe, is that it was likely that HBO Max’s Batgirl was meant to follow the theatrical release of The Flash. It seems that the HBO Max production should follow the film that re-introduces Michael Keaton as Batman to the DC Extended Universe. Not only is Keaton definitely present in Batgirl, so is J.K. Simmons as Commissioner James Gordon. Leslie Grace plays Barbara Gordon. As there’s also a rumored appearance by Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary, a few DCEU films will be colliding.
With The Flash not opening until June 23, 2023, look for the announcement that Batgirl will stream Summer 2023 instead of late 2022. Though I’m still betting that like Blue Beetle (still unscheduled), Batgirl will be bumped to theatrical release.
Let us not forget Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Self-contained (as far as we know), the sequel to Aquaman now opens a little over a year from now on March 17, 2023. There will be some sort of St. Patrick’s Day-themed marketing, but there are no leprechauns under the sea. Are there?
Unrelated to the DCEU, Wonka, the prequel film starring Timothee Chalomet, has been pushed back to December 15, 2023.
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