'Aquaman' makes a big box office splash with $67.4 million debut

e_aquamanstill_120318-3
e_aquamanstill_120318-3

Jasin Boland/™ & © DC Comics

Jasin Boland/™ & © DC Comics(NEW YORK) — Aquaman easily won the battle of the new holiday releases, delivering an estimated $67.4 million to beat out Mary Poppins Returns and Bumblebee. The sixth installment in the DC extended universe added another $4.7 million from pre-weekend Amazon Prime showings. The film, starring Jason Momoa as the titular character, ranks as one of the top 10 December openings of all time, despite posting the lowest debut for a DC movie.

With the holiday weekend still in full swing, The film is on a pace to to deliver around $105 million through Christmas Day, which is normally the busiest day at the box office all year.

Aquaman, which began it’s international run three weeks ago, added another roughly $91.3 million over the past weekend, bringing its overseas totals to around $410.7 million and worldwide tally to $482.8.

Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, which opened on Wednesday, pulled in an estimated $22.2 million over the three-day weekend for a respectable second place finish. It’s expected to add another $31 million or so by the end of the long holiday weekend. Overseas, the film, starring Emily Blunt as the magical nanny, earned an estimated $20.3 million.

In third place was Bumblebee, with an estimated $21 million debut. The sixth film in the Transformers franchise, which stars Hailee Steinfeld, should collect another $32 million for the five-day weekend. Internationally, the film delivered an estimated $31.1 million.

Dropping from first to fourth place in its second week of release was the animated adventure film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with an estimated $16.7 million. The Mule rounds out our top five, delivering an estimated $9.95 million.

It’s not until seventh place that we find the fourth of the weeks’ four major releases, the Jennifer Lopez-led rom-com Second Act, pulling in an estimated $6.65 million.

Robert Zemeckis’ Welcome to Marwen, which stars Steve Carell, only managed to take in an estimated $2.35 million in its opening weekend, for disappointing ninth place finish. It’s tied with this year’s Action Point for the worst wide opening from a major studio this year, and it is the worst career opening for both Carell and director Zemeckis.

Here are the top 10 movies from Friday through Sunday, with estimated domestic box office earnings:

1. Aquaman, $67.4 million
2. Mary Poppins Returns, $22.2 million
3. Bumblebee, $21 million
4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, $16.7 million
5. The Mule, $9.95 million
6. The Grinch, $8.18 million
7. Second Act, $6.5 million
8. Ralph Breaks the Internet, $4.599 million
9. Welcome to Marwen, $2.35 million
10. Mary Queen of Scots, $2.2 million

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.