Things We Saw Today: People Are Excited by the First Look at Aquaman

Although Justice League didn’t get very far with audiences, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman was a fan favorite—and now that CinemaCon attendees have seen some initial footage, it seems like we have reason to hope the standalone Aquaman will be worth diving into.

Aquaman is forthcoming from director James Wan (Furious 7, The Conjuring, Saw) and will star Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Patrick Wilson, and Dolph Lundgren (among other undersea-goers). Hopes have been high that in Wan’s hands, Warner Bros./DC could have another standalone critical and crowd pleaser to join Wonder Woman. Footage from Aquaman was shown at CinemaCon, and while it was “a work in progress trailer,” things are looking promising.

Just screened a work in progress trailer for Aquaman and it looks way beyond the scope of anything DC has done yet. Blade Runner underwater with more superhero action .

— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) April 24, 2018

A “work-in-progress” AQUAMAN trailer includes giant sea horses versus giant sharks, Willem Dafoe, and some very temporary VFX. I can’t imagine this will go online anytime soon. Audience loved it. #CinemaCon

— Barry Hertz (@HertzBarry) April 24, 2018

Holy shit, AQUAMAN looks *epic* in scale. Exponentially bigger than anything Wan’s done to date. And it looks fucking awesome: huge underwater skylines, dudes riding giant armored seahorses, Black Manta looks straight outta the comics. I’m super impressed.

— Scott Wampler™ @ CinemaCon (@ScottWamplerBMD) April 24, 2018

Here’s a description of what the audience saw, per Movieweb:

The footage showed off the incredible strength of Aquaman, as he pulls a submarine out of the water, and fans also got a glimpse at a young Arthur Curry/Aquaman, who is seen catching a trident with his bare hands. Mera was also seen asking for Aquaman’s help, telling him that, “Unless you help us, millions will die,” while Orm the Ocean Master is seen saying, “There is a war coming to Earth and I’m bringing the Seven Seas with me.” The story will largely follow Orm’s quest to overthrow his brother Aquaman from the throne of Atlantis, while also giving Momoa the chance to deliver one-liners like “I’m a blunt instrument and I’m damned good at it,” which was seen in the trailer.

The trailer also featured a number of glimpses at Atlantis itself, with Orm seen in an Atlantis coliseum as he gets the crowd riled up in his bid to take over as the new king of Atlantis.

While the reactions stress that what they saw of Aquaman was very much a rough cut, it’s promising when so many have a similar and enthusiastic reaction. I think many people will be curious about Aquaman purely to see what they do with such a unique sort of hero and his environs—and Jason Momoa doesn’t hurt.

(via Nerdist, image: Warner Bros./DC)

• Studio Ghibli theme park concept art. Enough said. (via Kotaku)
• Avengers: Infinity War is officially certified “fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes, holding steady at 87% with 133 reviews in. (via CBR)
• Shockingly enough, Donald Trump seems to have chosen a less-than-savory candidate to run the V.A.. Shocked, I say. (via The New York Times)
• M. Night Shyamalan also previewed Glass at CinemaCon, the superhero movie that will feature several characters from Shyamalan’s previous movies, with its title a reference to Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Glass from Unbreakable. Weirdly psyched for this? I may be in the minority here, but I really like Unbreakable, and also I will watch Samuel L. Jackson do anything. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

So, what’d you spot today?

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