‘Aquaman’ Soars at Holiday Box Office to $72 Million Launch
DC film dominates the competition, but “Bumblebee” and others will have time to become hits
Jeremy Fuster | December 23, 2018 @ 7:57 AM
Last Updated: December 23, 2018 @ 10:18 AM
As expected, “Aquaman” is the clear film of choice on this pre-Christmas box office weekend, easily taking the No. 1 spot with an estimated $67.4 million opening from 4,125 screens. When Wednesday and Amazon preview screenings are included, that pushes the film’s domestic launch to $72.1 million.
Though that is well below the $93.8 million made by “Justice League” last year, a lower figure was expected between the sheer amount of competing films released this holiday season and the usual slowdown in movie theater traffic that comes in the days before Christmas. “Aquaman” is already on its way to becoming a big global hit for Warner Bros., having made an estimate $410 million overseas through this weekend and expected to blow past $500 million globally after Christmas Day.
“Aquaman” and all the other new releases this weekend will look earn a strong sum on Christmas and in the weekends to come, as families and other major demographics usually watch multiple films during the Christmas/New Year’s period. The film has earned the approval of audiences with an A- on CinemaScore, even as critics were somewhat less enthused with a 64 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Instead of releasing a “Star Wars” movie as they have done the past three years, Disney released “Mary Poppins Returns” this holiday. The sequel, which released on Wednesday grossed $22.2 million from 4,090 screens for a five-day launch of $31 million. That is enough to push Disney’s combined domestic annual grosses to $3 billion for the second time in the past three years, and it is the only studio to have reached that mark.
“Poppins” was the top choice for female audiences, who accounted for 60 percent of tickets sold. Like past musicals like “The Greatest Showman,” this $130 musical is looking to leg out well into January. The film has an A- on CinemaScore and a 77 percent RT score.
In third is Paramount’s “Bumblebee,” which only opened to $21 million as it faced heavy competition from “Aquaman.” But again, there’s plenty of time for audiences to double back and see this “Transformers” spinoff in later weeks. Word of mouth has been stronger for this film than any other new release this weekend, with critics giving it by far the highest RT score of any “Transformers” film with 94 percent. It also received an A- on CinemaScore.
Completing the top five are Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and WB’s “The Mule.” “Spider-Verse” held on decently in the face of superhero competition, dropping 54 percent to an estimated $16.5 million for a 10-day total of $65 million while opening in China to a No. 1 total of $26 million. “The Mule” dropped 47 percent in its second weekend to $9.3 million for a domestic total of $35 million.
Outside the top five, STX’s “Second Act” came in seventh with an estimated $6.5 million from 2,602 cinemas, somewhat behind the projected opening of $8 million. Made on a $16 million budget, the film earned a mixed reception with a B+ on CinemaScore and a 41 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
By far the biggest bomb of the weekend was Universal’s “Welcome to Marwen,” which fell well below tracking and is opening to just $2.4 million from 1,911 screens and against a reported $40 million budget. It’s tied with Paramount’s “Action Point” for the worst opening from a major studio this year, and comes a weekend after Universal released another bomb, “Mortal Engines,” which fell 76 percent this weekend to gross $1.7 million for a 10-day domestic total of $11.9 million and a global total of $54.3 million.
The bright side for Universal is that “The Grinch” is still going strong in its seventh weekend, passing the $250 million domestic mark with a total of $8.2 million in this pre-Christmas frame. Internationally, the Illumination film grossed $23.7 million from 62 markets for a global total of $422.5 million.
Finally, in its 12th weekend in theaters, Warner Bros.’ Oscar contender “A Star Is Born” crossed the $200 million domestic mark, grossing $330,000 from 262 screens. Even after “Aquaman” completes its theatrical run, Bradley Cooper’s film will rank second in domestic grosses among all of WB’s 2018 releases, currently accounting for 11 percent of the studio’s $1.74 billion domestic annual total.
Every DC Comics Movie Ranked From Worst to Best, Including 'Aquaman'
The DC Comics universe hasn't flooded the big screen quite the way Marvel ones have, but the DC brand has been hitting the big screen longer in the modern era. We ranked all those modern flicks, from "Superman: The Movie" to "Wonder Woman," "Justice League" and "Aquaman."
33. "Jonah Hex" (2010)
Despite the efforts of Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender, this is one of the worst comic book movies of the modern era.
32. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)
Christopher Reeve is by far the best Superman. But "Superman IV" is a bomb in every sense -- partly because of its heavy-handedness about bombs. Nuclear bombs. The film finds Superman trying to eliminate the world's nuclear threat, but his best intentions run afoul of a silly, badly dated villain named Nuclear Man.
31. "Supergirl" (1984)
We had a female-superhero movie in 1984, and it was pure cheese. But hey, at least they tried. The best thing I can say about it is there are worse things in life than this movie.
30. "Suicide Squad" (2016)
Less a movie than it is a fever dream of unrelated sequences and montages that somehow end up using more than two hours of your time. Totally incomprehensible experience.
Best known as "the one Shaq was in back when he tried acting," "Steel" is pretty bad. But the fun kind of bad.
28. "Justice League"
Warner Bros has continued to innovate in how to make bad DCEU movies, with "Justice League" managing to be terrible in a totally different way from "Batman v Superman" and "Suicide Squad."
27. "Man of Steel" (2013)
Could have been worse, I guess. But it's still morally gross and has a plot that doesn't make sense. That it's very pretty to look at doesn't override those things nearly enough to make it watchable.
26. "Catwoman" (2004)
Thoroughly horrible, but somehow amusing even so. Sad that it's seemingly been swept into the litter box of history.
25. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Rightly hated, but it's tremendously entertaining here and there. Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzeneggar are going so far over the top I can't help but admire them.
24. "Superman III" (1983)
Featured a brilliant corporate rip-off -- one later referenced in "Office Space" -- but the attempt to funny things up with the addition of Richard Pryor didn't gel. There was also a weird bit about a weather satellite creating bad weather, which isn't what weather satellites do. Seeing Clark Kent fight Superman was pretty cool, though.
23. "Green Lantern" (2011)
Overreliance on cartoony visual effects during a period when big blockbusters were moving away from that aesthetic meant this was a movie nobody liked. Not that it was especially horrible. It just looked like a dumb cartoon and is hard to watch.
22. "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)
Probably wasn't intended to be a grim and gritty Shumacher Batmovie, but that is indeed what it is. This is Nolan going full Hollywood, smashing plot points into place by sheer force of will rather than because they make sense. An extremely theatrical Tom Hardy as Bane is amusing front to back, and a nuke with a countdown clock on it will never get old.
21. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)
A total mess that hates Superman and turns Batman into a total maniac. None of those things are good. Ben Affleck can't save the thing, but he's excellent nonetheless and gives it a huge bump it probably doesn't deserve.
20. "Watchmen" (2009)
I have no particular affection for the revered "Watchmen" comic the way a lot of other nerds do, so my distaste for this adaptation isn't personal. It just doesn't add up to nearly as much as it thinks it does.
19. "Batman" (1989)
Fondly remembered mostly because it was the first Batmovie in a couple decades. It isn't actually very good, though. The reveal that a younger version of the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents is as hamfistedly dumb as it gets in a "Batman" movie.
18. "V for Vendetta" (2006)
Felt nothing watching this. I tried, OK. It's impeccably made, though, and very watchable.
Giving this its own slot because it fundamentally changes the narrative of the movie and the character of Superman in the DC Extended Universe. This version is still not great (especially at three freaking hours), but it's a monumental improvement over the theatrical version.
15. "Red 2" (2013)
Did you even know these were comic book movies? Whatever, it's a great cast in a serviceable action movie and everybody's having a good time. Hard to remember, but fun.
14. "Red" (2010)
Better than its sequel, but they're basically the same.
13. "Batman Forever" (1995)
Hits just the right tone for what Joel Shumacher was trying to do with the two films he directed. Tommy Lee Jones, as Two Face, is doing stuff in this movie that is hard to believe even today, given his perpetual sour face in nearly every other movie he's been in.
12. "Superman Returns" (2006)
Actually a pretty decent attempt by Bryan Singer to do a Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie in the present day, but Brandon Routh couldn't pull off the charisma it takes to be the Man of Steel. It was his first movie, so that's not surprising. But it's a shame, because Routh has gotten much better in the years since.
11. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)
Remember that time they released a "Batman" cartoon theatrically? It gets lost amongst all the live-action ones, but "Mask of the Phantasm" is better than most of them.
10. "The Dark Knight" (2008)
Should be way shorter, but Heath Ledger's Joker is far and away the best villain in any of these movies. Ledger elevates what would otherwise be just another self-indulgent Christopher Nolan exercise into an endlessly watchable picture.
9. "The LEGO Batman Movie" (2017)
Funny, sweet and self-deprecating -- exactly what we needed in the wake of the disaster that was "Batman v Superman."
8. "Superman II" (1980)
Made kids everywhere cry as they watched Superman give up his powers for a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). There are different edits of this movie, and we frankly can't keep them straight. But the sight of a powerless Clark getting beat up in a diner made Superman as sympathetic as he's ever been.
7. "Wonder Woman" (2017)
Has the standard origin movie problem of "too much story, not enough time." And the standard DC Extended Universe problem of "We gotta have a nonsensical CGI battle at the end." But despite those caveats it's an enormous delight, and a big step forward for the DCEU.
6. "Batman Returns" (1992)
One of the best of the franchise because it's really just a political thriller. The Penguin emerges from the sewer and runs for mayor of Gotham! It's great stuff, especially as we continue to watch the rise of Trump in our world.
5. "Constantine" (2005)
A happy balance of serious and ridiculous, manages to find exactly the right tone for this weird religious fantasy and a cast led by Keanu Reeves. They all seem to get it.
4. "Aquaman" (2018)
It's not often that we get a comic book movie that is: full on ridiculous; loves how ridiculous it is; and is made with skill by a legitimately great filmmaker. James Wan's "Aquaman" is all of that, and it's just a wonderful experience.
3. "Superman: The Movie" (1978)
This is the gold standard of Superman movies, and was the best superhero movie bar none for many, many years. John Williams' score soars, and so does the believable and compelling romance between Superman and Lois Lane. The film convincingly blended camp (in the form of Gene Hackman's wonderful Lex Luthor), an epic origin story that actually felt epic, and funny lines. The scene in which Supes and Lois fly together is one of the most beautiful metaphors for new love ever captured on film.
2. "Batman: The Movie" (1966)
Has a timelessness that none of the other films do, and it's just a delight from beginning to end thanks to Adam West's winking Batman and the coalition of villains who can't stop cackling maniacally. Watching it again recently, I found it functions almost perfectly as a parody of the super-serious Christopher Nolan Batfilms, which is incredible.
1. "Batman Begins" (2005)
The most complete film, on its own, in the entire live-action franchise. It's just, like, a regular movie... except it's about Batman. It has actual characters and everything, and Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne even has emotions. It's weird.
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How does the standalone “Aquaman” movie fare in our rankings?
The DC Comics universe hasn't flooded the big screen quite the way Marvel ones have, but the DC brand has been hitting the big screen longer in the modern era. We ranked all those modern flicks, from "Superman: The Movie" to "Wonder Woman," "Justice League" and "Aquaman."
