Aquaman looks to be fixing the biggest problem with the DC Extended Universe. Of course, the DCEU has many issues - erratic direction, a reactionary post-production approach, a constantly changing set of executives - but the most damaging of all is its image: marketing, PR and perception. Thankfully, it looks like the next film may be fixing that, taking the narrative back and allowing the filmmakers to focus on the movies themselves.
Right now, Aquaman undergoing reshoots. You’d be forgiven for not knowing that, however, because rather than coming from a splashy expose in the trades, it was announced almost in passing as “pickups” by James Wan, the film’s director, who focused more on his excitement about the casting of Randall Park. Typically, a DC movie adding a whole new character in reshoots would set the internet alight, but in a single tweet Wan pre-emptively curbed any concerns.
Update: James Wan has clarified that Park was cast originally, but the director has only got around to shooting his scenes. While this means Aquaman isn’t undergoing traditional reshoots, it does further show the manner by which Wan is successfully controlling the movie’s narrative.
It’s worth noting that reshoots aren’t inherently a bad thing - they’re done to fix a movie, not ruin it - but that it’s remarkably different is a big deal. Indeed, this is the latest step in a stormy but well-managed journey for Aquaman, one that suggests that - finally - the DCEU is lining up its sights correctly.
- This Page: The DCEU’s PR Problem
The DCEU’s PR Problem
DC Films has been bad at communication. The popularity of the movies - or lack thereof - is unimportant, really, when the narrative is so stacked against them. Even if Justice League hadn’t released as a two-director Frankenstein monster of a film, it would have still been lumbered with two years of negative buzz and extreme, semi-substantiated reports. Sure, part of the problem is that the creative choices are, plainly, brash - both Suicide Squad and Justice League had late-in-the-day reshoots and re-edits aiming to fundamentally alter the project - but they really didn’t try too hard to change that narrative along with the movies.
All knowledge of what’s gone on behind-the-scenes on those movies has come from press reports that the studio has no control over, and there’s rarely effort put into addressing them until it’s already stuck. This allows extreme versions of whatever the truth is to propagate and hurts the brand. Contrast to similarly production-problem-prone Lucasfilm. Rogue One’s troubles are so hush-hush that we’ve only just had vague comments from the pickups’ ghost director, while as public as Solo’s directorial changeover may feel, the studio has been working flat out to present an “everything’s fine” aura around Ron Howard.
Even post-Justice League, things are murky for DC. Only three upcoming DCEU movies are confirmed - Aquaman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman 2 - yet the dozens of in-development projects get equal standing in many eyes despite only being glancingly mentioned by Warners if at all. For example, even though there’s never been any official announcement of the Joaquin Phoenix-starring Joker origin movie, with all information coming from scattered reports, it’s treatment almost the same as Wonder Woman 2 because there’s no base level set by the studio. Here the comparison point is Marvel, who have much better stuck to their 2014 slate announcement than the competition, and have announced changes carefully to make sure even casual audiences know broadly what’s going on.
Read More: The DC Extended Universe Has a PR Problem
Aquaman’s A Problem By Himself
Enter this setup with a movie like Aquaman and things could easily get messy. The character is the joke member of the Justice League thanks to the works of Seths MacFarlane and Green, while the Jason Momoa version of Arthur Curry has been semi-controversial since the first look presented an Aqua-bro twist. Add in a poor Quicktime tease in Batman v Superman and a neutered debut in Justice League - for all the swagger, he felt compromised, likely due to many of his key scenes (specifically his meeting with Bruce Wayne, the Atlantis action sequence, and his profession of love for Diana) being reshots - and you’ve got a risky proposition.
Coming after a year off following Justice League, Aquaman is the DCEU’s shot at redemption, but under the current setup is prone to misinformation bolstered by so many confusing elements. Indeed, we’ve already had multiple test screening reports of wildly varying quality levels.
And yet, we’re now seeing a shift. Something is changing in the DCEU, and it’s all thanks to James Wan.
James Wan Is Taking Control Of Aquaman’s Narrative
What Marvel really has that DC doesn’t is directors with a forward-facing approach who can address rumors and curb criticisms easily. James Gunn, Taika Waititi, Peyton Reed, Joss Whedon, Jon Favreau and now the Russo brothers - not to mention the sprawling cast - are constantly engaging with fans on Twitter, promoting the shared universe brand and making the Marvel narrative fit what the creators want. In contrast, the biggest social media impact for DC has been Zack Snyder opening up on his failed vision after leaving Justice League.
Enter James Wan. Wan is one of the most interesting filmmakers in Hollywood. He broke out with Saw, and later also started The Conjuring and Insidious franchises for Blumhouse before shepherding the most successful (and tragic) entry in the Fast and Furious franchise to the big screen. He’s a commercially minded, fun-focused director who delivers. Chiefly, Wan understands audience - be they gorehounds, scare freaks, or petrol heads - and with Aquaman, we’re seeing that’s not reserved for just in the theater.
On Twitter, he’s there to bolster Aquaman’s standing: he debunked entirely false trailer assumptions; he brushed off reshoots as exciting “pickups”; he even slyly trashed Justice League’s underwater bubble sequence when the film hasn’t been out a week. He understands the fan chatter and works to address it. This is a proactive, aware approach unlike anything we’ve got in the past.
And it’s having an impact. Patty Jenkins (who was, to her credit, always active) has been using her social feeds to be the point of contact on Wonder Woman 2 - she directly announced Kristen Wiig’s casting as Cheetah - and Shazam’s David F. Sandberg (who is a big Reddit user and fan of perennial joke subreddit DCEULeaks) has been more than happy to tease (read: troll) fans, even as his movie is subjected to typical DC set leaks.
Can Aquaman Turn The DCEU Around?
This is a lot of contextual talk, and there’s likely a sense that we should be talking about the movie itself. After, Aquaman is, without real intention, the start of a new era for the DCEU; it’s having to be some form of expectation reset after the resounding disappointment of Justice League, yet must continue Wonder Woman’s trick of fleshing out its key characters. Fortunately, as a film, it seems in good hands. Wan is a choice pick for his developed blockbuster sensibility, of course, and per what’s been said - again in press reports - he fought for creative control (something Matt Reeves later used as motivation for The Batman negotiations). If anyone can make Aquaman good, it’s him.
But movies aren’t made in a vacuum, and this PR aspect is the key. The MCU releases consistently good films, but the power of expectation and understanding of “fun” that they deliver has in some ways conditioned audiences to be more open to them. DC has the opposite problem, with skepticism at an absolute high. If it’s going to turn things around, rather than simply halt acceleration in the wrong direction, it needs people on board before the movie releases.
This is why the PR shift is so important; whether it’s Wan acting autonomously or part of a bigger corporate move, we’re seeing the multimedia marketing telling the story of Aquaman’s production, rather than have it constantly playing catch-up. It’s impossible to say what the DCEU’s future is, but it’s looking a little bit brighter.
Next: All 26 Upcoming & In-Development DC Films
- Aquaman Release Date: 2018-12-21 Wonder Woman 2 Release Date: 2020-12-25 Shazam! Release Date: 2019-04-05
