'Aquaman' Tops $940 Million Worldwide; Sony's 'Escape Room' Unlocks $18M Debut
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. Aquaman will 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.
GET MORE: Compare all six films in the DC Extended Universe side-by-side!
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 million weekend, 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.
You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results right here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo.
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. Aquaman will 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.
GET MORE: Compare all six films in the DC Extended Universe side-by-side!
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 million weekend, 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.
You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results right here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo.
