7 Years Later, Rebooting the Highest-Grossing DCEU Movie Is Clearly Not a Priority Actorsvaultpro

Apparently, the #1 modern DCEU movie of all time, Aquaman, is not only the king of the seven seas, but also the box office. According to IMDb, the 2018 feature starring Jason Momoa and directed by James Wan tops the likes of The Dark Knight, Joker, Man of Steel, and this year’s Superman, earning $1.14 billion worldwide.

How did Aquaman, a character admittedly not as well-known as other members of the Justice League, rise to the very top of the DCU moneymakers? And an even bigger question: why isn’t he more of a priority for Warner Bros. today?

‘Aquaman’ Was Extremely Successful at the Chinese Box Office

It Was Successful Domestically as Well

Warner Bros.

The number-one reason Aquaman is at the pinnacle of the DCU box office list is its stellar showing in China, where it was released two weeks before the U.S. Making $24.6 million on opening day in the country, within a week, the film earned more than all the MCU solo movies. When it was all said and done, Aquaman cleared around $291 million and is currently the 40th most successful movie in China of all time.

One possible reason cited for its phenomenal popularity was its focus on water special effects, with many fans comparing it to the highly popular Chinese romantic comedy The Mermaid. While Superman, Batman, and even Wonder Woman are undoubtedly more high-profile in the United States than Aquaman, he may resonate deeper with foreign audiences. A great example of this phenomenon is the American pulp hero The Phantom, who is largely forgotten in the United States but a beloved cultural icon in Australia to this day.

Beyond its spectacular success in China, Aquaman was loved by fans worldwide for being a big, fun superhero flick, reminiscent of a sunnier era in superhero movies. While some prominent critics of the time derided it as hokey and, in the words of Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers, filled with “shameless silliness,” the movie retains a 72% rating on RT’s audience-measuring Popcornmeter, with over 25,000 ratings.

Domestically, the film remained in first place for three consecutive weekends through the 2018-2019 winter holiday, crossing $1 billion in its fourth week. And particularly interesting was the unusual number of females in attendance for a comic book movie, with Deadline announcing that “moms are outnumbering dads in attendance” — though perhaps having Jason Momoa shirtless helped in this department.

The Failure of ‘Justice League’ and the ‘Aquaman’ Sequel

Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, and Ray Fisher in Zack Snyder's Justice League

Despite its popularity, Aquaman might have had its fate sealed with Warner Bros. before it was even released. The previous year saw the Justice League, of which the character Aquaman was a part, infamously bomb both critically and at the box office. While Zack Snyder did not direct the film, it was essentially his vision for what would become known as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), incorporating his previous cinematic interpretations of Superman and Batman.

The studio invested heavily in this production, hoping it would become their Avengers and support a long-running DCEU franchise. It is very possible that, regardless of how well Aquaman performed, it couldn’t overcome the crushing disappointment of Justice League or halt the buzz around Warner Bros. that perhaps investing in the Snyderverse was a bad decision.

If the aquatic superhero was now tainted by its connection to the Zack Snyder DCEU, perhaps the failure of its 2023 movie sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, was the final nail in the coffin. Being the last Snyderverse DC superhero movie, and released only six months after the colossal failure The Flash, perhaps it was all a lost cause by that point anyway. The online rumor mill was already flooded with whispers of an end to the DCEU and a desire on the part of Warner Bros. to reboot the entire thing (with the unlikely exception, it turns out, of an odd little TV hit called Peacemaker made by Suicide Squad director James Gunn).

Perhaps dooming Lost Kingdom even further was the controversy surrounding one of its stars, Amber Heard, who was embroiled in an ongoing legal battle with her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. In the end, while the film’s box office receipts made it the highest-grossing DCEU movie since the original Aquaman, that really wasn’t saying much. It earned less than half of the first film’s box office in both the U.S. and China, received mostly negative reviews, and faced largely apathy from all but the most loyal Jason Momoa and Snyderverse fans.

As of 2025, there is essentially no chance that the DCEU version of Aquaman will return. As symbolized by the release of the new Superman, James Gunn’s vision has replaced Zack Snyder’s as the guiding star for the superhero franchise. An altered flashback scene in the second-season premiere of Gunn’s Peacemaker has seemingly erased the previous Justice League, including Aquaman.

In a recent interview, Gunn indicated that there is “no rush” to reintroduce the water-based character into the franchise. However, perhaps the most significant indication that, despite starring in the #1 modern DC superhero movie to date, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman has been relegated to history concerns the actor himself. He is scheduled to appear in 2026 as the fan-favorite character Lobo in the upcoming Supergirl. Given that it seems highly unlikely — outside a George Clooney-style ‘Multiverse’ crossover — that Ezra Miller or Gal Gadot will reprise their roles, Momoa returning as a completely different character is particularly impressive.