Aquaman Swims Past $260 Million at the Worldwide Box Office

Aquaman had a terrific first weekend at the box office in several new markets — and a powerful second in China, where it released the previous week on December 7 — as the James Wan-directed DC movie shot past $250 million, for a total of $261.3 million. Of that, $126.4 million came in this weekend from 43 territories, including India. The numbers put it 65 percent ahead of last year's Justice League, which was a financial disappointment for Warner Bros.

Aquaman has yet to open in its home market of the US, where it releases December 21.
China led this week's performance with $54.2 million, followed by the likes of the Mexico ($7.9 million), Brazil ($7.7 million), Russia ($7.4 million), UK ($6.5 million), Indonesia ($5.3 million), Taiwan ($4.7 million), Philippines ($4.3 million), India ($4 million), and Thailand ($3.5 million).

Reviews for Jason Momoa-starrer Aquamanhave been somewhat mixed — we felt the film has too much exposition, doesn't flesh out its supporting characters, and its unique underwater visuals can't quite make up for those shortcomings among others — with the consensus titling towards the positive. And audiences seem to agree, if the weekend performance is anything to go by. We are yet to find out how American viewers receive the new DC Comics entry, which will form a sizeable part of the total earnings for the parties involved.

Meanwhile, Aquaman's international box office collection of $261.3 million has taken the DC film universe past $4 billion, without accounting for inflation. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice leads with $873.6 million, followed by Wonder Woman at $821.8 million, Suicide Squad at $746.8 million, Man of Steel at $668 million, and Justice League last with $657.9 million. Justice League's troubles led to major reshuffling at DC Entertainment, with iconic properties such as Superman and Batman now in flux.

Aquaman's China numbers — $189.2 million
 — have made it the fourth highest-grossing superhero movie in the country in less than two weeks, behind Avengers: Infinity War ($359.54 million), Venom ($270.15 million), and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($240.11 million). For Warner Bros., it's the second biggest movie of all-time in China after Ready Player One ($218.47 million) earlier in the year.

The other big grosser this weekend was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which opened with $56.4 million globally. Of that, $35.4 million came in from the US, while the rest $21 million was brought in by 44 other markets, including South Korea ($3.3 million), the UK ($2.9 million), Australia ($2.3 million), and Russia ($2.3 million).

December 17, 2018