As the big hitters of the DCEU struggled, the universe's "lesser-known" superhero films like Aquaman and Shazam! were huge hits.
The aforementioned movies were loved by both critics and audiences alike. The Zachery Levi-led film pulled in $366 million at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes has also since ranked the film as one of the best superhero movies of all time with a 90% critic score.
Because of Shazam!'s immediate runaway success back in April 2019, the studio decided to greenlight a sequel almost immediately.
Two years later, that sequel has finally finished filming.