New Report Details What Test Audiences Don’t Like About Aquaman

For a superhero tentpole featuring one of the most iconic characters in DC history, there hasn’t been an awful lot of material for Aquaman. At least, not yet.

Pegged for a release this December, James Wan’s standalone (and sub-aquatic!) adventure is undoubtedly one of the most hotly-anticipated comic book releases of the year that doesn’t have the word ‘Avengers’ in the title. And though fans were beginning to grow concerned by the radio silence, Aquaman is supposedly testing pretty well in early screenings, which have also brought forth some interesting plot details about the emotional story underpinning Wan’s creative venture. But not every viewer has taken to Arthur Curry’s spinoff.

Earlier this week, we heard from Mark Hughes of Superhero News that some pretty negative reactions had emerged from a recent test screening of the pic. It was surprising as, like we said above, we were told that Aquaman was going over quite well. Now, in an attempt to clear up the confusion, former IGN editor Jeremy Conrad’s posted a new report explaining what’s going on.

According to him, the issues that Hughes mentioned the other day should be fixed before the film’s release but as things stand, here’s what those test audiences didn’t like. For starters, apparently Aquaman‘s still a bit too long, with 2 hours and 30 minutes being the current runtime. Conrad notes that about 10-15 minutes need to be trimmed, though it certainly won’t be a “Justice League hatchet job to get it down to two hours.”

Furthermore, some viewers are finding the transition from Act 1 to 2 a little jarring, with folks asking how they “get from point A to point B in the story.” But again, this is more a minor issue that’ll likely be fixed with reshoots, should they happen, and we imagine they will.

One way or another, we’ll be able to run the rule over Aquaman once Wan’s solo movie begins its theatrical rollout on December 21st. Elsewhere on the DCEU slate, director David F. Sandberg is making serious headway on Shazam!, which now has an official (and downright striking!) new logo to call its own.