They may be some of the universe's strongest heroes, but the "Justice League" was no match for critics opening weekend and stumbled hard in the box office. And now, Aquaman himself is addressing the negative response to the film.
"I try to stay the f— away from what people say. Some of my friends said, 'Justice League isn't doing well' and it kind of bummed me out," Jason Momoa told EW. "But I didn't want to look it up. I don't want to look up the bad and the negativity. I don't think that's useful; it doesn't help."
The movie, the first film uniting Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Cyborg, The Flash and the Atlantean king in action, mustered a dismal 40% on Rotten Tomatoes and raked in only $94 million in its debut weekend. That number gives it the lowest launch of a DC film to date, falling behind the $166 million opening of "Batman v. Superman," the $133 million "Suicide Squad" took in and both "Man of Steel" and "Wonder Woman," which earned $116 million and $103 million, respectively, their opening weekends.
Why Justice League Flopped So Hard
View Story"I busted my ass" Momoa said the role of Arthur Curry. "You can't get into the whole 'why this, why that.' I went to [Wizard World Austin fan convention] this weekend and got great praise. Now obviously, that's a positive place, and I'm not only interested in the positive," he continued. "But if people love what we did with Aquaman, it's all [director Zack Snyder] — it's his brainchild. He came in with, 'I'm going to make Aquaman a badass and I'm going to change stuff, and change the myths about this guy.'"
Though more of Curry's backstory was filmed for "Justice League," it wound up getting edited out of the final film. But for those who want to see more, Momoa promised all will be revealed when his solo film drops in 2018.
"A lot of things got cut. But it's not my movie. It's a huge movie introducing three new characters, and for myself and The Flash and Cyborg, there was a lot that was there we just couldn't get in," he said. "It could have been two movies. We had some stuff with Willem Dafoe. The whole Atlantean part, about me being this reluctant king. There was no need for it because you're going to see it in Aquaman. It's not an Aquaman movie, it's a Justice League movie."
Both Momoa and Dafoe will be joined by Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen when James Wan's movie hits theaters December 21, 2018.