‘Aquaman’ Soars Past ‘Justice League’ In The Box Office

Aquaman reigns supreme at the domestic and international box office in its second week. The Jason Momoa film is No. 1 for the second week in a row and currently sits at $188.7 million domestically according to Box Office Mojo. Despite currently being the lowest earner in the DCEU domestically, Aquaman has blown past Justice League internationally.

Aquaman has an impressive worldwide total of $748.7 million at the time of this publication, which puts it $90.8 million above Justice League. The first team-up flick for the DCEU brought in $657.9 million internationally, which lands it at the bottom of the list for highest-earners in the franchise. Aquaman has been dominating overseas since it debuted several weeks ago, and has over $560 million just from those markets.

The James Wan-directed film is projected to make $1 billion when all is said and done according to Screen Rant. If It surpasses the $1 billion mark, it will be the highest earner in all of the DCEU and would dethrone Batman v Superman which made $873 million in total. If the film does make it over the $1 billion mark, it would be ahead of multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a feat not easily achieved by the DCEU.

The stellar success of the underwater film has also pushed 2018 into being the highest-earning year in the domestic box office ever. Aquaman opened alongside Bumblebee and Mary Poppins Returns, all of which helped dethrone 2016 as the biggest year in movies ever. The 2018 domestic box office currently stands at $11.818 billion with one day to go, just ahead of 2016 at $11.377 billion

The fate of the DCEU was weighing on the success of Aquaman after the studio has had issues with critics for every film in the franchise other than Wonder Woman. Aquaman is the second-highest rated DCEU film on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 64 percent. Wonder Woman leads the bunch with a certified fresh rating of 93 percent. Trailing Aquaman is Man of Steel (56 percent), Justice League (40 percent) and Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman both tied with 27 percent.

Although it hasn’t been announced, Jason Momoa will likely return for a second Aquaman film after its massive success in the box office. It also speaks highly for future standalone films from the studios including Shazam!, Joker, and Wonder Woman 1984. Aquaman is only the second standalone film in a franchise which has focused mostly on team-ups.

Next up for the DCEU is Shazam! which hits theaters on April 5, 2019.