With the success of Aquaman at the box office, which passed over $1 billion, it was obvious that the DC superhero would be getting a sequel. Total Film has revealed, per a new interview with director James Wan, that the story for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom drew heavy inspiration from an influential, campy '60s Italian science-fiction horror film called Planet of the Vampires.
Directed by Mario Bava, Planet of the Vampires was first released in 1965, and was based on a sci-fi short story titled "One Night of 21 Hours." The film follows the terrors experienced by the crew members of two spaceships that crash-land on a mysterious planet, and those who did not survive are later possessed by disembodied spirits. Wan, who hinted at the horrors of the underwater world in the first Aquaman movie via the visually stunning Trench sequence, believes that fans will be more receptive to exploring the darker underbelly of the sea in the upcoming sequel.
In Wan's words:
"Well, the first movie took a lot of people by surprise, right? And that’s partially because they were not familiar with the comic book, which deals in this very lurid, strange world. ... People were taken aback that I didn’t throw all that stuff away and make a dark, heavy film. But I didn’t feel that would have been right for it. So with the second film, I feel it will be easier for people to accept where we go because I’ve already laid the foundation."
There isn't an official synopsis for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom yet, but since it'll be horror-inspired, it already sounds promising and different from other DC films. The DC universe has been known for being dark (both figuratively and literally) but not in the horror kind of dark. Plus, Wan has worked on such iconic franchises as Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, so this is definitely up his alley.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released on December 16, 2022. You can watch the trailer for Bava's Planet of the Vampires below: