Jason Momoa's “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” floats to top of box office but flounders with $28M opening

The DCEU's latest superhero flick has an estimated four-day total of $40M for a global debut of $120M.

Superhero movies are in a real sink-or-swim moment, with the sequel to 2018's Aquaman treading water this week.

The original film also opened the weekend before Christmas, grossing nearly $28 million on its first day and, with an additional $22 million, becoming one of a handful of movies to gross more than $20 million on Christmas Day, typically a slow day for the box office.

Five years and countless superhero movies later, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has earned $28 million again, this time over a three-day weekend, as Comscore reports. With Christmas on Monday, the Jason Momoa–led sequel is projected to take in $40 million.

Internationally, Arthur Curry and co. fared better, earning $80.1 million for a global opening of $120.1 million.

Directed by James Wan, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom follows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Black Manta as he tries once again to defeat Momoa's titular submariner. Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, and Amber Heard reprise their roles from the first film, which went on to gross nearly $1.2 billion, making it the DCEU's highest-grossing film.

Ahead of his new movie's premiere, Momoa didn't sound too convinced that he would get to play Aquaman again, telling Entertainment Tonight, "The truth of it is, I mean, if the audience loves it, then there's a possibility. But right now, I’m like, 'It's not looking too good.'"

With these box office receipts against the flick's reported budget of $205 million, it's probably looking a lot worse. DC Studios is also in the middle of rejiggering its whole superhero strategy under the stewardship of  James Gunn and Peter Safran, but who's to say what it will look like, or if enough people will even care.

Meanwhile, Wonka slipped to No. 2 in its second week, earning $17.7 million domestically, bringing its total so far to $75.2 million (an expected cume of $254.9 through Monday). The animated family film Migration, written by White Lotus auteur Mike White, opened in third place with $12.3 million and an expected four-day haul of $17.1 million domestically ($34.3 million globally).

The R-rated rom-com Anyone but You, starring two of young Hollywood's hottest up-and-comers Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, opened in fourth, with a decent $6.2 million and an expected four-day gross of about $9 million against a $25 million budget.

In the movie, Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery attraction ice cold — until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be an item.

Indian import Saalar Part 1 – Ceasefire rounds out the Top 5 with a $5.5 million debut and a projected four-day gross of $6.3 million domestically. Internationally, the action drama added another $33.6 million, for a global debut of $39.9 million.

Wrestling drama The Iron Claw, starring  Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson, got put in a chokehold by the other films this weekend, with a $5.1 million opening and a projected four-day total of $7.5 million — not so bad given its estimated $20.4 million budget.

Up next, The Color Purple opens on Christmas Day.

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Related content:

• James Wan dives deep into Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — and the DCU's changing tides

• How Migration embraced Big Duck Energy and Little Miss Sunshine

• Into the ring: The Iron Claw stars talk dropkicks and their emotional wrestling drama

• How Anyone but You navigated shark-infested waters and rom-com tropes
  

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