Box Office Update: Aquaman sinks with just $30 Million debut

Numbers have begun rolling in for this Christmas weekend and as expected Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is pulling out a first place victory, however before we start celebrating, this final entry in the DC Extended Universe is pulling in just around $30 million for its 3 day haul, roughly $4 million shy of where we thought it could get to in our Thursday predictions, while its full 4 day outlook (including Christmas Day on Monday) is looking to be in the $40 million range. 

That is quite the fall from grace when you consider that just 10 years ago the DC Extended Universe was launched to much fan fare when Man of Steel took in $116.6 million in its first 3 days ($128.6 million in its first 4 days). This opening comes in about $38 million shy of what the first Aquaman did back in 2018 and even worse than the notorious bombs Black Adam and The Flash ($67 million and $55 million respectively). The good news, if you want to call it that, is that this opening does beat the last DCEU movie as Blue Beetle was only able to garner $25 million in its debut while we will have to wait and see if Aquaman has enough juice to take down Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ $30.1 million debut.

All this to say: The DCEU is officially dead and it went out with a whimper. You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 5/10 review of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom here.

Second place will also go to Warner Brothers (or as it will soon be known Paramount Brothers or Warner Mount, although that sounds more like an adult film star than a major studio!) Wonka is seeing a second weekend take of $22 million with a 4 day take around $31 million. The 3 day decline for the whimsical prequel will represent just a 43% drop which is pretty impressive when you consider that Christmas Eve (tomorrow) is generally a dead zone at movie theaters while Christmas Day (Monday) generally is packed and that 4 day outlook shows that families are expected to embrace the Timothy Chalamet starring film.

Coming in third place looks to be the new animated film Migration with a 3 day gross around $13 million and a 4 day gross expected to be around $18 million, which is actually better than the $12 million the film was tracking to do earlier in the week. Fourth place will likely go to another film pulling in stronger numbers than earlier expected as The Color Purple looks to do in the $12 million range. If that number holds, it will be slightly better than the $10.5 million Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story launched with in 2021. But much like that film, The Color Purple carries a hefty price tag (reportedly in the $100 million range) and will need tremendous word of mouth if it wants to leg out to any sort of profitability. Normally I would say Award season helps those numbers, but West Side Story received plenty of praise including 7 Academy Award Nominations with Ariana DeBose taking home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and yet it only managed $38.5 million at the domestic box office ($76 million worldwide).

Rounding out the top five is a fight between the new R rated romantic comedy Anyone But You and the Indian language Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire with each film looking at just over $6 million respectively (with 4 day numbers expected to be in the $8 million range). For Anyone But You that is a slow start to what looked like a nice throw back to old school R rated romantic comedies such as When Harry Met Sally, but critics have been less than thrilled with Chris Bumbray calling it “tepid” in his 5/10 review.

The real surprise of the weekend seems to be A24’s The Iron Claw as it looks to do a shade under $6 million for the 3 day weekend with its 4 day outlook also in the $8 million range. It seems fans and critics have embraced this true story of the Von Erich brothers with our own Travis Hobson giving it an 8/10 in his review and our Editor in Chief calling it his second favorite movie of the year (after The Holdovers).

What do you make of the DCEU ending with a spectacular thud? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back with us tomorrow when we have a full rundown on this weekend’s box office numbers.