'Aquaman' sequel drifts to first at Christmas weekend box office

“ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ” led a crowd of new releases at the box office on the weekend before Christmas Monday. The DC and Warner Bros. superhero sequel starring Jason Momoa earned an estimated $28.1 million in its first three days of release in 3,706 locations in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. By Monday it is projected to have around $40 million in domestic ticket sales.

Despite many new offerings — including the family friendly animated film “ Migration,” the R-rated romantic comedy “Anyone But You,” the wrestling tragedy “ The Iron Claw ” and a ghostly tearjerker in “ All of Us Strangers ” — this will go down as a quieter pre-holiday frame at the box office. Moviegoing audiences perhaps just had other priorities than going to the cinema.

It is never great for Hollywood or theaters when Christmas Eve falls on a prime weekend day, but the last time Christmas was on a Monday, in 2017, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” dominated the four-day charts with $71.5 million from its second weekend.

On Christmas Day, which often brings big crowds back to the theaters, they’ll be joined by more new films, including the big budget musical adaptation of “ The Color Purple,” Michael Mann’s racing film “ Ferrari ” and George Clooney’s adaptation of the rowing drama “ The Boys in the Boat.” All should get a boost between Christmas and New Years, too, a traditionally lucrative time for movie theaters.

But none will compare some of the biggest holiday earners, like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Avatar” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” It was not lost on social media that this was the weekend that Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars movie “Rogue Squadron” was supposed to come out.

“Seven openers in the course of four days is unusual,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is estimated to have cost around $200 million to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs. Including international estimates at $80 million through Monday, “Aquaman” is heading toward a $120 million global debut.

The first film opened to $67.8 million in 2018 and went on to make almost $1.2 billion globally. Dergarabedian noted that the first film also earned more than 70% of its box office internationally.

The ”Aquaman” opening ends a tricky, transitional year for DC superhero films, full of box office disappointments including “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle,” as the studio phases out this slate to welcome in James Gunn’s vision for the future. “Aquaman 2” was the final “holdover” of the previous administration.

Its studio, Warner Bros. also has the No. 2 movie of the weekend, “ Wonka ” and one of the major Christmas openings, “The Color Purple,” a buffet of big movies that was sorely needed by theaters – especially without no new movie from the Walt Disney Company or Paramount. By Monday, Warner Bros. will likely have three spots in the top five.

“Wonka,” in its second weekend, earned an estimated $17.7 million over the weekend and $26.1 million including Monday, bringing its total domestic earnings to $83.6 million.

Third place went to Illumination and Universal’s “Migration,” a PG-rated animated adventure about a family of mallards traveling South. Voice actors include Kumail Najiani, Elizabeth Banks and Awkwafina. It earned an estimated $12.3 million from 3,761 locations in North America through Sunday, which will likely increase to $17.1 million by the end of Monday.