Showing strong staying power, the second frame of “Aquaman” is dominating North American moviegoing with about $53 million in the final weekend of 2018, early estimates showed on Friday.
The Warner Bros. tentpole, starring Jason Momoa, took in $137 million domestically at 4,125 locations in its first week. Should the estimate hold, “Aquaman” will decline only 22% from its opening and wind up with a 10-day domestic tally of $190 million on Sunday. The movie, which opened in many international markets prior to the U.S. launch, has reeled in $492.2 million overseas with more than half of that — $249 million — coming from China.
No new wide releases are debuting, but a pair of titles that launched on Christmas Day on Tuesday — Sony’s comedy “Holmes & Watson” and Annapurna’s Dick Cheney biopic “Vice” — are not showing much traction, with weekend projections for both in the $7 million to $8 million range, well behind a quintet of holdovers. Focus Features’ “On the Basis of Sex” is continuing to perform well in limited release with a projected $844,000 at 33 locations, which would give the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic $1.6 million since its Christmas Day launch.
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Disney’s second frame of “Mary Poppins Returns” will lead the rest of the pack, with around $33 million at 4,090 sites. The sequel should be hitting $105 million in its first 12 days at the end of the weekend.
Paramount’s sophomore frame of Transformers prequel “Bumblebee” at 3,550 sites and Sony’s third weekend of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” at 3,813 venues will be battling for third place at around $20 million each. The animated “Into the Spider-Verse” should reach $105 million by the end of the weekend.
Warner Bros.’ third frame of Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” will likely place fifth with about $10 million. The drug drama, which is playing at 2,787 North American sites, should hit the $60 million mark on Sunday.
“Holmes & Watson,” which has been skewered by critics, will finish the frame with about $19 million in its first six days at 2,719 venues. “Vice,” starring Christian Bale, will have taken in about $16 million at 2,442 locations at that point. They will be battling for sixth place with Disney’s sixth weekend of animated comedy “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” which will make $175 million by Sunday.
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