Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sinks even further in its 3-day opening weekend projections, landing considerably below Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Summary
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s opening weekend falls below expectations, estimated to earn $27.6 million domestically.
- This would make it the fourth-worst opening weekend in the franchise, behind The Suicide Squad, Blue Beetle, and Wonder Woman 1984.
- The movie’s performance is a disappointment compared to the success of the first Aquaman film, which is the highest-grossing in the franchise.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s opening weekend is plummeting below expectations. The movie is the first direct sequel to the 2018 smash hit Aquaman, which remains the highest-grossing installment in the DC Extended Universe. It features the return of Aquaman (Jason Momoa), most recently seen in the post-credits sequence of The Flash, as he teams up with his untrustworthy half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to take down the returning villain Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).
Per Deadline, the 3-day opening weekend projections for the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom box office have deflated during a quiet Christmas Eve Sunday. Its domestic opening weekend is now estimated to turn out a result of $27.6 million, which is considerably lower than the $30.1 million total that DC’s earlier 2023 flop Shazam! Fury of the Gods earned during its own opening weekend. This total would also give Aquaman 2 the fourth-worst opening weekend of the franchise, behind The Suicide Squad, Blue Beetle, and Wonder Woman 1984.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Still Has a Chance to Grow
This result for the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom release is a disappointment, considering the fact that the movie’s production budget is over $200 million. However, it still has an opportunity to grow as its release continues into the coming weeks and months. Holiday releases have a tendency to leg out with relatively consistent week-on-week grosses, so the New Year period and January could provide valuable growth for the title.
While the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reviews trending negative with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 36% threatened to impact the movie, it is in fact already projected to turn things around with a solid Christmas Day. Its projected 4-day gross lies between $38 and $39 million at the domestic box office. The movie’s international numbers also have yet to be calculated and could prove to be a major boost. That helped the original Aquaman during its release in the 2018 holiday season, as international markets grossed nearly two-and-a-half times the movie’s $335 million domestic gross.
By the end of its theatrical run, Aquaman earned $1.15 billion worldwide.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will also benefit from a lack of competition throughout early 2024. While January sees some notable wide releases including Mean Girls and Night Swim, the next big-budget tentpole won’t hit until the release of the Henry Cavill spy movie Argylle on February 2, and the next big superhero movie won’t hit theaters until Madame Web debuts on Valentine’s Day.
Source: Deadline