Warner Bros. could see Aquaman open to over $120 million in its extended holiday opening weekend. WB and DC Films are attempting to bring the DC movie universe to glory after a bit of a divisive start. By every early indicator, it looks like they will accomplish this goal with Jason Momoa's solo Aquaman movie.
The movie sees director James Wan bring his own complete vision of Aquaman and Atlantis to the big screen, and the reactions have been very positive so far. Not only are critics largely liking the movie (a rare occurrence as of late for DC), but it is already performing well at the box office. Aquaman opened big in China last week and has continued to swim in the money internationally. It is closing in on $300 million worldwide before even opening in the United States, where it has been expected to win the Christmas weekend.
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Aquaman remains on track to do just that, but the latest projections reported by Deadline point to an even larger opening than previously expected. The movie is currently projected to make over $120M over the extended 5-day holiday weekend, easily beating fellow major newcomers Mary Poppins Returns and Bumblebee. There's even some estimates that are calling for an opening as high as $150M during the first five days for Aquaman, which would be a giant win for WB and DC.
Going up against major competition in its opening weekend will only make Aquaman's opening more impressive should it hit these numbers. However, when comparing the opening weekend to prior DC movies, it will be important to separate the 3-day total from the 5-day. Aquaman may be projected to make $120M over 5 days, but the standard 3-day weekend total is expected to come in around $65M-70M. This is a low point for the current iteration of DC films, but Aquaman will get an extra boost through the holidays that will actually put ahead of Justice League's pace. Overall, simply matching these projections could put Aquaman close to $500M worldwide by the time Christmas comes to a close.
With the positive reviews and word of mouth coming Aquaman's way, the film should be able to have strong legs throughout December and into 2019. As long as that happens, then the box office should continue to climb even higher. The studios obviously have faith in Aquaman's continued success as they're already discussing plans for a sequel. With this type of response at the box office, it won't be surprising if more news on Aquaman 2 starts to surface in the weeks and months to come.
MORE: Aquaman v Bumblebee v Mary Poppins Returns Box Office Predictions
Source: Deadline
