Aquaman 2's box office performance isn't great – but it's not all bad news
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom landed in cinemas just before Christmas on a wave of apathy as the final movie of the DCEU.
Despite being the sequel to the biggest-ever DC movie, it was never expected that the sequel was going to come close to Aquaman's $1.14 billion haul, especially after three consecutive flops for DC.
Reviews also weren't kind for Aquaman 2 as it debuted with a 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which has since sunk a bit lower to 35%. (That's still not the lowest DC rating though thanks to Suicide Squad's 26%.)
But it's easy to forget that the omens were as bleak for Aquaman ahead of its release in 2018, so did its sequel also defy the odds and float to the top of the box office over the Christmas period?
Let's delve into the numbers to assess whether the sequel was a hit or a flop.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom didn't sail off to the best of starts at the US box office. Having been projected a $40 million four-day opening, it landed below those modest expectations with $38.1 million and was sunk by The Color Purple on Christmas Day.
However, it's held better than most other comic book offerings did in 2023. It might have dipped to second in the US on its second weekend behind Wonka, yet a 34% week-on-week drop wasn't as bad as, say, Shazam! Fury of the Gods (69%) or The Marvels (78%) from similar opening weekends.
After two weeks in play, Aquaman 2 stands at $81.7 million in the US and $173.6 million overseas for a combined global tally of $255.3 million to date.
We're not about to say that its total is exceptional, especially for a blockbuster with a reported $205 million budget. However, it's certainly not as bad as some might have expected and compares favourably to other 2023 releases.
With The Flash's $270.6 million closely in its sights, Aquaman 2 will have outgrossed the worldwide box-office results of the other three DC releases of last year. Shazam! Fury of the Gods ($133.8 million) and Blue Beetle ($129.3 million) have already been overtaken.
In terms of the overall DCEU, the sequel won't reach Justice League's $655.9m global result, but if it holds well again in its third and fourth weeks, it could challenge Shazam! ($367.8 million) and Black Adam ($393.3 million).
That's far from guaranteed though, even with its final release to come in Japan on January 12.
Even if Aquaman 2 doesn't manage to swim higher up the all-time DCEU rankings, it has at least avoided a similar fate to The Marvels, which ended its run with the MCU's lowest-ever box-office return.
The DC sequel has already surpassed The Marvels' final US box office gross of $84.5 million, as well as its global tally of $205.6 million. So while the numbers might not be as high as the $1 billion of Aquaman, it could have been a lot worse.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might not have sent the DCEU out on the crest of a wave, but at least it hasn't completely sunk to the bottom.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is out now in cinemas.
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