Aquaman Star Teases 'Publicity Plan' For Trailer Release

Screen Rant

By David Stephens

Published May 21, 2018

Black Manta actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II responds to questions about the trailer for Aquaman and says that a plan is definitely in place.

One of the stars of Aquaman has responded online to the endless requests regarding the release of a trailer, and teased that the studio has a definite "publicity plan." Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - who plays Arthur Curry's longtime nemesis Black Manta in the film - assured fans that there are very good reasons for the apparent lack of promotion for the next DCEU movie and all would become clear eventually.

Aquaman is still set for a release in December but Warner Bros. have not yet released an official poster or a trailer for the film. A teaser trailer was screened at CinemaCon in April, and some early footage was shown at SDCC last year, but neither has been officially released or leaked online. Reactions to those and also to test screenings held in February, point to a successful outing for the superhero as well as a bounce-back after the mixed reception for Justice League. Many were expecting Warners to release a trailer to theaters just before or after Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War but that hasn't happened, and left some in the industry scratching their heads as to when to expect some solid promotion. At one point director James Wan took to Twitter to make a statement, citing the laborious VFX and quality control as being a major factor in holding back a trailer.

With many fans still eager to get some kind of hint as to when to expect some serious promotion, plenty of them have bombarded Abdul-Mateen II with queries about the trailer on Twitter. When one post asked him if he could tell them if it would show at Ace Comic Con in June or the SDCC in July, he responded with an emphatic "If I did that, it would RUIN EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!" and qualified his outburst. You can see the full post below:

While Abdul-Mateen II doesn't actually confirm or deny a planned screening at either of those events, the main thing to take away from his tweet is that there is a strict overall plan in place for Aquaman promotion. And judging by the phrase "You'd just be waiting again," it's likely to kick in later rather than sooner. While that might be disappointing in the short-term, it's encouraging that Warner Bros. and Wan have strategized the promotion and hopefully fixed the DCEU's PR problems that have occurred in the past. Wan himself has repeatedly stated that he won't let anything be officially released until he is happy with the quality, and has performed some re-shoots to ensure this. SDCC might be a safe bet, but it's best not to second-guess until confirmations are made.

In the meantime Abdul-Mateen II is having fun with his role and previously revealed that he had to do some serious fight training to play Black Manta. Hopefully the amount of anticipation for the trailer (and movie) will be qualified when the publicity plan is finally unleashed, and we can see the actor in conflict with Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and the rest of the cast. More news on Aquaman as we get it.