There was some concern before its release that Aquaman might not be able to shake off the iffy reception of past DC movies and make a major mark on the box office. Well, we can now well and truly say that this fear was totally unfounded as James Wan’s underwater adventure spectacular has already outgrossed its predecessor in the franchise, Justice League.
This Friday’s total came in at $17 million in the U.S. and $18 million overseas. With those numbers added to the overall earnings, that means that Aquaman currently sits at a devilishly impressive $666 million across the globe, just passing the worldwide gross of JL. That film came in at $657 million, a total that was viewed as a massive disappointment for the much-hyped team-up movie.
The next milestone it should swim past pretty easily, too. Man of Steel‘s the next DCEU movie on the list to beat with its $668 million total gross, while the other global figures of the franchise are as follows: Suicide Squad ($746 million), Wonder Woman ($821 million) and Batman V Superman ($873 million). If its good fortunes continue, there’s every chance that Aquaman could surpass all of these, as analysts are saying that the film could become the first Worlds of DC flick to pass the coveted $1 billion mark.
Whether it does not, you can be sure that Warner Bros. execs are already happy enough with its performance to start work on a sequel. Aquaman definitely sows seeds for a follow-up and star Jason Momoa has also teased that he has some ideas that he’s pitched to WB producers, with positive results. Fingers crossed then that Wan will return also to keep up the quality of the first film.
With strong buzz surrounding Wonder Woman 1984 and Shazam! as well, it looks like the DC franchise might have finally shaken off the bad publicity that’s followed it around to date.
