Warner Bros. recently announced changes to the release dates for several upcoming movies, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Wonka, and more.

Dwayne Johnson, aka "The Rock," broke the news on Instagram yesterday that the animated comedy DC League of Super-Pets was moving from May 20, 2022 to July 29, which conflicted with his action/adventure movie, Black Adam. Have no fear, however, because the latter movie is changing to an October 21, 2022 release date.

After he might have let the cat out of the bag on those changes, Warner Bros. confirmed those changes and also mentioned the following release date changes as well:

Jason Momoa's Aquaman sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, has changed from December 16, 2022 to March 17, 2023. That release date made room for Shazam! Fury of the Gods to move up from June 2, 2023. December 16 is also the release date for the long-awaited Avatar 2, which might have caused Warner Bros. no small amount of sleepless nights.

Shazam's departure made room for delaying Ezra Miller's standalone The Flash from November 4, 2022 to June 23, 2023.

Moving the Aquaman sequel to March 17, 2023 meant that Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka shuffled to December 15, 2023, where it currently has the weekend to itself when it comes to major releases.

Based on the news coverage that we could find (see list of some articles below), it appears that a large factor in all these changes is the backlog of work for the visual effects companies. Given the nature of these movies, you can see how the stress levels of visual effects artists would go down a few notches with a relaxation of these release timelines!

Finally, the sequel to the original "we're gonna need a bigger shark" action movie, The Meg 2: The Trench, now has a release date of August 4, 2023. Jason Statham is returning from 2018's The Meg, as a deep-sea rescue diver that comes face-to-face with a massive prehistoric shark-like creature that was intent on making everyone regret moving to an undersea laboratory. Whe he didn't move and find a job in Missouri after the events of the first movie, I'm not sure...

Photo above © 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Related News Articles

• Warner Bros. Shifts Dates for ‘Black Adam,’ ‘The Flash,’ ‘Aquaman 2’ -- The Hollywood Reporter [Mar 9, 2022]
• Warner Bros Release Dates: ‘The Flash’ & ‘Aquaman’ Moved To 2023; ‘Wonka’, ‘Shazam’ Sequel & Others Shift -- Deadline [Mar 9, 2022]
• ‘Aquaman 2,’ ‘Flash’ Delayed to 2023; ‘Shazam 2’ Moves to Christmas 2022 in Warner Bros. Release Date Shuffle -- Variety [Mar 9, 2022]