Warner Bros. Discovery shuffles premiere dates for 'Shazam!' and 'Aquaman' sequels

The changes keep on coming at Warner Bros. Discovery — this time it’s the release dates for two upcoming DCEU films: Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will move from its prior Mar. 17, 2023 release date to Dec. 25, 2023. The Shazam! sequel will take over Aquaman’s old release date in March 2023 rather than come out during December of this year.

The date changes were reportedly pushed out to help Warner Bros. Discovery spread out the cost of promoting and distributing a tentpole film. The company has been making a lot of moves lately to reduce costs, not least of which was shelving the almost-finished Batgirl movie.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a sequel to Shazam!, the lighthearted 2019 film starring Zachary Levi as a kid who stumbles across the powers of the titular ancient wizard and becomes a Levi-sized superhero overnight. The James Wan-directed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the sequel to 2018’s Aquaman, a film centered on Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry that brought in over $1 billion worldwide. 

Warner Bros. Discovery has also shifted the dates for other films on its roster. Evil Dead Rise is now scheduled to premiere on Apr. 21, 2023, The Nun 2 will now come out on Sept. 8, 2023, and Salem's Lot which was supposed to come out on Apr. 21, 2023, is now off the calendar. 

With these changes, that leaves only two major Warner Bros. movies coming out this year: Dwayne Johnson's much-anticipated DCEU movie, Black Adam, comes out on Oct. 21, and the Harry Styles and Florence Pugh-starring film, Don’t Worry Darling, is set to premiere on Sept. 23. The only other movie the studio has slated to come out this year is the HBO Max comedy House Party in December.

Looking for some action and adventure? Peacock has a slew of titles to get your heart rate up, including The Fast and the Furious, Ambulance, and Flashpoint.