Warner Bros.’ “Aquaman” stayed atop the charts for a third straight weekend with an estimated $30 million total. That pushes the DC film’s domestic run to $259.7 million, 6 percent behind the domestic pace set by “Wonder Woman” in 2017.
Overseas, “Aquaman” has been a record-setting hit since it was released in China one month ago. With a running total of over $650 million, it is now the highest grossing overseas release in DC history, passing the $636 million made by “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012. In the next few days, “Aquaman” will also pass “TDKR” in the international total, becoming Warner Bros.’ first billion-dollar hit in six years and the first not released by Disney or Universal since summer 2014. The current global total is $940 million.
In second place this weekend is the sole new release, Sony’s horror film “Escape Room.” Sony has found some mild success with releasing low-budget horror films during quiet weekends, such as the post-Thanksgiving weekend release “The Possession of Hannah Grace.” Here, “Escape Room” has opened to an estimated $18 million from 2,717 screens and against a $9 million production budget. The film has a 53 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a B from CinemaScore audience polls.
Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” takes third with an estimated $15.8 million, giving the film a $138 million domestic total. The $130 million musical looks like it will be a modest success for Disney, as it crosses $250 million worldwide for a total of $258 million.
Completing the top five are Paramount’s “Bumblebee” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” with $13 million each. “Spider-Verse” now has a total of $133.5 million, while “Bumblebee” has not yet reached the $100 million domestic mark after three weekends in theaters with a total of $97 million.
Outside the top five, Warner Bros.’ “The Mule” continues to hold well, as it dropped just 25 percent with a $9 million total in its fourth weekend, pushing its domestic cume to $81.1 million against a $50 million budget. Meanwhile, Annapurna’s “Vice” also held its drop to 25 percent with a total of $5.8 million and a domestic cume of $30 million. While the $60 million biopic still faces a long road to profitability, Annapurna will be hoping that some of the film’s six Golden Globe nominations lead to wins and more interest from audiences during awards season.