Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom drowned at the domestic box office during the Christmas weekend performing just marginally better than Blue Beetle in its opening weekend.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Warner Bros.
According to The-Numbers, the film had an opening domestic weekend of just $27.7 million. However, it did have a relatively strong Christmas day performance of $12.3 million boosting its 4-day weekend Christmas weekend grosses to $40 million.
While the film posted a relatively strong Christmas day number, it saw its grosses significantly decline from Friday to Saturday and then Saturday to Sunday. It only brought in $13.7 million on Friday. It declined to $9 million on Saturday, and then plummeted to $5 million on Sunday. That’s a decline of 33% between Friday and Saturday and a whopping 44% between Saturday and Sunday.
At the international box office, the film grossed $80.1 million. So far the film has brought in $120.1 million globally.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Warner Bros.
RELATED: Rumor: James Gunn And DC Looking For White Actress To Play Supergirl In DCU, Sasha Calle Is Out
Comparing the film to recent DC releases the film is performing marginally better. The film’s 3-day weekend just marginally beat Blue Beetle, which had a $27.7 million domestic opening. However, that film wouldn’t top $40 million until its second Saturday. Blue Beetle would max out at the domestic box office at $72.4 million.
Compared to The Flash, the film is still far behind. The Ezra Miller led film grossed $55 million in its opening weekend and would go on to total $108.1 million totally.
The film had a worse opening weekend than Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The Zachary Levi led film had an opening weekend of $30.1 million However, it’s domestic grosses capped out at $57.6 million.
An even uglier picture emerges when you look at the film compared to the first Aquaman film. The first film had a $72.5 million opening weekend and powered home to a $335 million total domestic box office. It would add another $808.6 million internationally for a global gross of $1.1 billion.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Warrner Bros.
It gets even uglier when you compare it to the box office bomb of The Marvels.
The Marvels grossed $46.1 million in its 3-day opening weekend besting Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s 4-day weekend by over $6 million. The Marvels also had lower percentage drops in its dailies during its opening weekend as well. It only declined 29% from Friday to Saturday and just 39% from Saturday to Sunday.
The movie would only gross $84.4 million at the domestic box office. It did gross $115.5 million internationally. Globally, the film grossed $200 million.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Warner Bros.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is likely to lose a ton of money for Warner Bros. Pictures given the film’s estimated production budget is $205 million. That means the film needs to gross $512.5 million due to the cut that theaters take of the box office grosses as well as the studio’s marketing costs.
Box office analyst OMB Reviews predicts the film will likely flop and believes it will only gross between $200 million and $300 million in its entire box office run.
What do you make of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s opening weekend box office results?
NEXT: James Gunn Admits Lack Of DC Content In 2024 Is “Great For Us For The Reset”
