Audiences will have to wait a bit longer for the upcoming Aquaman standalone film. Warner Bros. has shifted the release date from its previously announced October 5, 2018 slot and instead will open the DC Comics adaptation on December 21, 2018. Aquaman will be directed by James Wan (The Conjuring) and star Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) – the actor briefly teased his Arthur Curry in last spring’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and appears in this year’s forthcoming DC showdown Justice League.

A few curious bits on Aquaman‘s release date change. Firstly, the date itself was long considered to be when James Cameron would unveil his long-gestating sequel to Avatar. While distributor Fox never officially confirmed this, a “untitled Fox/James Cameron project” staked out the holiday 2018 date a while back. Cameron recently pushed back and stated Avatar 2 would, in fact, not be ready in time for 2018.

Secondly, another comic book adaptation has already stacked out the December 21, 2018 date. That would be Sony’s forthcoming animated Spider-Man entry (which recently confirmed the film would focus on Miles Morales). If both films keep the same holiday berth, it would mark a Marvel-DC box office battle, a first. Notably, there was a time a few years back when both Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and DC’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were set for the same May 6th release date, though Warner Bros. flinched and moved BvS to March. It will be interesting to watch to see if either studio flinches this time out.

Momoa will headline as the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and will be joined by Amber Heard (The Danish Girl), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man), Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) and, potentially Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, who is rumored to portray Aquaman’s mum.