AQUAMAN 1 came out at the apex of the super hero cycle and made a FORTUNE -- over a BILLION.
This sequel is barely going to scrape up enough to make $40 million over the weekend...something that was once a ONE DAY gross for these types of films.
OK performance from WONKA, meager performance elsewhere.
Christmas movie-going isn't what it used to be -- and this is going to be a scary sign of things to come for movie goers and theater owners in 2024.
RIDAY AFTERNOON: Right now, it’s looking like Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will arrive at $40M over 4-days, which is where tracking had it.
That said, Warners can boast, and CEO David Zaslav can be happy, in having the top two films at the box office along with Wonka‘s second weekend in the No. 2 spot with a projected $31M over the Dec. 22-25 span. Friday/previews for Aquaman 2 is $14M with a 3-day of $30M at 3,706 theaters. Wonka‘s second Friday is $7M (-51%), which translates to a 3-day of $22M at 4,213 theaters. We’re hearing that Color Purple‘s Christmas Day gross could be around $10M-$12M, which would put it in the No. 4 spot behind Illumination and Universal’s Migration which is looking at $18M at 3,761 theaters; a better than expected result than the $10M-$12M we were hearing about.