From a commercial perspective, 2018 was very much the MCU’s year, but for just these last few weeks, the box office has belonged to Aquaman. And as Arthur Curry’s solo debut maintains its dominance in theaters, the film continues to earn the praises of fans and insiders, including at least one notable figure from the Marvel camp.
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C. B. Cebulski took to Twitter to offer his congratulations to director James Wan and the DC Comics team for the new movie, while also implying that he’ll make at least more than one trip to the theater to soak in the Atlantean spectacle:
“Just back from Aquaman. Really enjoyed it! Such a fun flick, the spectacle of it all made me feel like a kid in the theater. Can’t wait to take my nephew & niece. Big congrats to @geoffjohns @JimLee [James Wan] on this superhero splash!”
Earlier this month, Shazam! director David F. Sandberg (who, incidentally, is a pretty big Aquaman fan himself) went on record calling the Marvel/DC rivalry “so god damn stupid,” and it’s nice to see that he’s not the only one who won’t let brand loyalty get in the way of enjoying a fun flick.
In any case, given the box office success enjoyed by Wan’s feature so far, it’s clear that Aquaman will do just fine regardless of whose endorsement it earns. Over the weekend, the film brought its global total to an impressive $748 million, edging out Suicide Squad as the highest-grossing DCEU title so far, and if the recent projections are anything to go by, the new movie should be the first of its cinematic universe to cross the $1 billion mark.
At this rate, an Aquaman sequel is looking pretty inevitable, but in the meantime, we’ll find out if the DCEU can sustain its success when Shazam! hits theaters on April 5th, 2019.
