As you’ll see at the end of this post, Warner Bros. just dropped seven new character posters for Aquaman. The James Wan-directed superhero flick is opening in about six weeks, one of the biggest of several big Christmas season flicks alongside Mary Poppins Returns and Bumblebee among others. Since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is opening a week from tomorrow, I’d be… surprised not to see a second (and presumably final) theatrical trailer for the Jason Momoa underwater actioner dropping online over the next week. But in the meantime, we have these posters, who are A) unapologetically colorful and B) absolutely ridiculous. Both are compliments.
Once again, the whole “Gah, the DC Films movies need more color!” thing has never been actually true. That one “What if Man of Steel was shot in color?” viral video that made the rounds in April of 2015 was something of a fraud, using intentionally desaturated Man of Steel clips to make its “point.” Say what you will about the overall artistic qualifies of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Justice League, but complaints about vivid colors aren’t among them.
Heck, I would argue that Wonder Woman is the least colorful of the bunch, if only because Patty Jenkins and friends used Diana’s superheroic costume as a light in the darkness, akin to the bright-red blood in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. But I digress. I imagine every new DC Films flick will get the whole “Hey, it’s a DC movie with bright colors!” treatment just as every 007 Bond Girl is the fiercest, strongest and most independent Bond Girl ever (ditto every new Disney Princess).
The other thing of note is how unabashedly absurd they are. You’ve got, among others, Amber Heard contorting herself accordingly, Jason Momoa looking cartoonishly tough while rocking his classic orange costume, Patrick Wilson howling like a classic comic book supervillain (while surrounded by scary sea creatures), and Willem Dafoe looking like a Keebler Elf ready for battle. Oh, and Dolph Lundgren is riding a seahorse. If that image alone doesn’t pique your interest I don’t know what will. These posters arguably represent the twin challenges of selling an Aquaman movie.
The challenge for this one is to sell an Aquaman movie that both takes its lead superhero seriously and tries to make adults (or at least adults old enough to remember Super Friends) forget about the character’s clownish history while also selling a movie that is appropriately gonzo and gloriously goofy enough to stand out in a crowded Christmas season. After all, what’s the point of making a big-budget Aquaman movie if you’re not going to get a little nuts with it? Isn’t that half the point?
To a certain extent, an Aquaman movie billing itself as an underwater Lord of the Rings (mixed with Raiders of the Lost Ark) should be unapologetically silly, even if it’s treated as real-world drama within the context of the movie. If you want to see an Aquaman movie, you want to see Dolph Lundgren riding a seahorse and Patrick Wilson cackling like a hyena. You want to see sharks with saddles and giant crabs eating people. Otherwise, why are you bothering to make an Aquaman movie?
And yes, even in this age where everything slightly outside-the-box risks being snarked-to-death on the Internet, I do believe there is value in unconventional marketing, especially for seemingly preordained hits. We’ve seen that with two Deadpool movies and certainly something like an Aquaman movie shouldn’t be prevented from indulging a little bit in its gleefully over-the-top superhero roots? These posters make the movie look colorful, ridiculous and fun. That’s successful marketing in my book. All that’s missing are pun-y taglines and/or dolphins with machine guns. There better be dolphins with machine guns!
Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Dolph Lundgren, opens Dec. 21, 2018.. Here’s hoping it will be suitably… outrageous!
