‘Aquaman 2’ Now Going On A Friday; Robert De Niro Mobster Pic ‘Wise Guys’ Now Titled ‘Alto Knights’ & Moves Later In 2024

What is it with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? Is it Wednesday? Is it Friday? The DC sequel will now open on Friday Dec. 22 this year instead of Dec. 20. Know that Warners knows what they’re doing here: They turned Aquaman back in 2018 into the highest grossing DC movie of all-time at $1.15 billion. That movie launched on Saturday and Wednesday with previews, and after an official opening on a Friday (Dec. 21) cleared over $105M at the domestic B.O. by Christmas Day –which fell on a Tuesday that year. What they do here with the immediate shift is they capture more gross closer to the Christmas Day Monday when moviegoing shifts into high gear. It’s a four-day holiday weekend. Aquaman ended its stateside run at $335M.

Meanwhile, the Barry Levinson, Robert De Niro playing twin mobsters movie Wise Guys is now titled Alto Knights and has moved from Feb. 2 next year to Nov. 15, 2024. Again, this is part of the seismic shift for movies due to the ongoing actors’ strike.

Left on Feb. 2 is Apple Original Films’ Matthew Vaughn directed action film Argylle which Universal is distributing and it’s getting a promo as an attached trailer in theaters on Killers of the Flower Moon. Alto Knights now moves to a more robust holiday launch period. Furthermore, De Niro, should this actors strike end, will be consumed with promoting Killers of the Flower Moon in the New Year. Levinson and De Niro teamed on previous pics Wag the Dog, Sleepers, The Wizard of Lies and What Just Happened.