Aquaman released just over 13 months after Justice League, but the next batch of DC movies will all hit theaters within six months (or less) of each other. Several years ago, Warner Bros. announced plans to build a shared universe around their mainline DC Comics characters, officially beginning with Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. But things didn't necessarily go according to plan, and now DC Films is taking off in a new direction.
Following the release of the oft-maligned Justice League, DC Films restructured and re-prioritized behind the scenes, which ultimately led to changes in the division's movie slate. James Wan's Aquaman happened to be the final movie from DC Films' old leadership, and due to various factors, it ended up releasing over a year after Justice League. In the same time-span, audiences saw half-a-dozen Marvel Comics-based movies hit theaters. But, as it turns out, the amount of work that has gone into developing the future of DC's film slate means they now have more confirmed release dates carved out than the MCU.
Related: Predicting DC's 2020 Release Slate
After Aquaman, there are four DC movies on WB's slate, all of which release within just a few months of each other: David F. Sandberg's Shazam! on April 5, 2019 (four months), Todd Phillips' Joker on October 4, 2019 (six months), Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020 (four months), and Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020 ( four months). It's clear that the wait for more DC stories on the big screen won't be as long as the wait was for Aquaman.
It seems that, aside from the wait between Shazam! and Joker, which is six months, moviegoers only have to wait four months between each release. This generally falls in line with how Marvel Studios has been releasing movies recently, as they've been putting out three movies per year, which will more than likely continue going forward as it's proven to be a sound money-making strategy. While 2016 and 2017 both saw two DC movies release each, it seems DC Films is willing to branch out into other seasons throughout the year in order to provide their fans with year-round content.
While this is great for DC Films, it remains to be seen if they plan on releasing three movies a year as well as well as what's going on their 2021 slate. At the moment, there are more than two dozen DC movies in development, but most of them are still in the earliest stages, which means they won't see the light of day for several years.
