'Aquaman' Tops $940 Million Worldwide; Sony's 'Escape Room' Unlocks $18M Debut
by Brad Brevet
It's a third straight weekend atop the weekend box office for Warner Bros.'s Aquaman as the film pushed over $940 million worldwide, becoming the highest grossing worldwide release in the DC Extended Universe. However, Sony's release of Escape Room made sure this weekend wasn't all about holdovers. The PG-13 horror/thriller made some some noise of its own, delivering a surprise runner-up finish, helping prove once again that the beginning of the year is fertile ground for horror film debuts.
With an estimated $30.7 million, WB and DC Comics's Aquaman is the #1 film at the domestic weekend box office for the third straight weekend. The film's domestic cume now totals nearly $260 million and has now pulled even with Wonder Woman's performance after 16 days in release while still pacing behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film Wonder Woman quickly left behind after 23 days in release. Aquamanwill most likely follow suit and, once again, finish #1 at the box office next weekend, becoming the first film in the DCEU to secure the top spot four weekends in a row.
Internationally, Aquaman added another $56.2 million this weekend from 79 markets for a running overseas cume totaling $681 million and a global tally surpassing $940 million. The film's international cume is the largest among DC Comic adaptations, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises ($636.8m) while the worldwide cume ranks third behind The Dark Knight Rises ($1.084 billion) and The Dark Knight ($1 billion). Aquaman's leading overseas market is China with $282.8 million, nearly $250 million more than South Korea with $35.3 million. The February 8 release in Japan serves as the film's last key market yet to see release.
Sony's Escape Room debuted in second place with an estimated $18 million, well ahead of industry expectations and doubling its reported, $9 million budget. Opening weekend audiences gave the film a "B" CinemaScore, which is a decent score given the genre, while demographics saw audiences split 50/50 male-to-female with 53% of the overall crowd coming in aged 25 years or older for the PG-13 thriller. Looking ahead, we expect the film to top $40-45 million for its domestic run with Universal's Breaking In starting to look like a solid comp after it debuted with $17.6 million back in May 2018 and went on to deliver $46.5 million domestically.
In third, Disney's Mary Poppins Returns delivered a bit below expectations, dipping -44% for an estimated $15.77 million and a domestic cume that now stands at $138.7 million. The drop is a bit higher than expected as the studio is hoping for some long legs out of this one. Internationally, the film added another $23 million this weekend helping push the overseas total just shy of $120 million for a worldwide cume that now totals $257.9 million with releases in Japan (2/1) and Korea (2/14) still on the horizon.
Paramount's Bumblebee and Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are neck-and-neck as expected and right now the edge goes to Spider-Man by just $235k. Spider-Verse delivered an estimated $13 million over the weekend, pushing the film's domestic cume to $133.8 million while Bumblebee delivered a $12.77 millionweekend, resulting in a domestic cume that now stands at $97.1 million.
Internationally, however, it was Bumblebee with the edge this weekend with an estimated $82.7 million, the bulk of which coming from a $59.4 million debut in China. The film's international cume now stands at $192 million with Japan (March 22) serving as the final key market yet to release. Spider-Verse enjoyed its time in China over the past couple of weekends where it has now grossed nearly $60 million. This weekend it added an additional $11.7 million overseas for an international cume that now stands at $141.5 million.
Just outside the top five, Clint Eastwood's The Mule continues its strong performance as it added 425 locations this weekend and dipped just -26% for an estimated $9 million weekend. The film's domestic cume now tops $81 million.
Outside the top ten, Annapurna's If Beale Street Could Talk expanded into 335 theaters (+270) and saw a +141% boost with an estimated $1.8 million weekend. The film is expected to expand into the top 150 markets next weekend, playing in 600+ theaters, while January 18 will serve as the film's nationwide release.
Focus's On the Basis of Sex added 79 locations this weekend for a total of 112, from which it delivered an estimated $1.67 million. That film is expected to expand into over 2,000 theaters next weekend.
As for next weekend's new releases, Friday will see the release of Sony's family film A Dog's Way Home, debuting in ~3,000 theaters; Entertainment Studios will open the Keanu Reeves sci-fi thriller Replicas in ~2,500 locations; and STX will release The Intouchables remake, The Upside, starring Kevin Hart and Brian Cranston into approximately 3,000 theaters.
| January 4-6, 2019 Weekend |
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