Both Shazam! Fury of the Gods just got delayed, and there are multiple reasons that appear to be behind why this happened. There’s been a lot of rampant speculation about the hows and whys of these most recent delays, especially with them happening in the midst of the controversy surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery and its recent franchise cancellations. The exact reasons behind their delays have been given, however, and they’re not as complicated as one might think.
It was recently announced that both Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Shazam! Fury of the Gods have been delayed again, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom now releasing in December 2023 and the Shazam! Fury of the Gods movie taking Lost Kingdom’s previous March 2023 release date. One major explanation for this is that Warner Bros. Discovery is so low on funds at the moment that they could only afford to release three movies in 2022 (via Twitter), which is why Fury of the Gods was pushed out of 2022 and Lost Kingdom, in turn, was pushed back to the end of 2023. Warner Bros. Discovery’s monetary issues have been a very public matter in the past few weeks, so it would make sense for that to be in play here.
Money was a definite factor in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Shazam! Fury of the Gods being delayed, but it also appears other details also led to the decision. These details comprise a combination of production issues and Warner Bros. Discovery wanting to make sure that the movies would succeed as much as possible by altering release dates to more optimal times. It’s unfortunate either way, but defining why the delays happened still does a lot to change their circumstances.
Why Shazam: Fury Of The Gods Has Been Delayed To March 2023
One key reason that appears to be behind why Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been delayed is a simple one: to avoid competition with Avatar: The Way of Water. According to David Sandberg, while post-production is nearly finished, The Way of Water was already taking most of the IMAX and PLF screens for its theatrical run, meaning that Shazam: Fury of the Gods would have been stuck on lower-quality screens if it kept its original release date (via the Shazam 2 movie to have more access to IMAX and PLF screens, but it even makes it easier for it to be a success at the box office since it won’t have to compete with James Cameron's Avatar 2, a movie that’s all but guaranteed to make a massive amount of money during its run.
Why Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Has Been Delayed To December 2023
As for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s delay, that has more to deal with production issues. Aquaman 2 has reportedly run into issues during post-production and needs additional time to finish everything (via Deadline), which is why it needed to be delayed from its previous March 2023 release. One benefit to the delay, however, is that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will now have a holiday release, just like the original Aquaman film - and with how successful that was, Aquaman 2 can be expected to have similar success at the box office.
Even though money did play a part in the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom movie and Shazam! Fury of the Gods being delayed, seeing the practical benefits of the times these films have been moved to suggests other reasons were at play. For the former, more time was needed to finish up post-production, and for the latter, it was largely a tactical move to avoid having to compete with Avatar: The Way of Water. It’s unfortunate that neither movie was able to be released on their expected release dates, but their delays will likely be for the best, in the end.
