Box Office: ‘Aquaman 2’ Swims to $4.5 Million in Previews

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Can “Mean Girls” make fetch happen at the box office? Paramount’s new take on the teen classic is aiming to generate $30 million from 3,800 North American theaters over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. The studio projecting a debut in the high $20 million range.

Timothée Chalamet and “Wonka” topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters.Warner Bros.’ family-oriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million.“’Wonka’ is following in the tradition of a film like ‘The Greatest Showman,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in Dec.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Night Swim,” a supernatural thriller produced by horror mavens Jason Blum and James Wan, waded to second place in its debut. The film, marking the first nationwide release of the year, collected a moderate $12 million from 3,200 North American theaters. Those ticket sales weren’t enough to topple “Wonka,” which claimed first place again with $15 million in its fourth weekend of release.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.Deadline said the film, which stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon and centers around a family’s discovery that their pool is haunted, “falls off the deep end.”“Wonka” moved down a notch to second place, where it enjoyed sales of $4.3 million. This week, the Timothee Chalamet-led musical fantasy set a milestone, reaching $400 million in worldwide sales, Screenrant reported.

There’s always been a demand for horror in the New Year, and Universal, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are meeting that this weekend with Night Swim which made $1.45M in previews at 2,750 theaters from showtimes that began at 5PM. The PG-13 movie isn’t expected to be M3GAN, the early PG-13 horror doll hit from last year, which overindexed to $30.4M in a hefty Avatar 2 marketplace, to a $95M-plus domestic take. Warner Bros’ Wonka in its fourth weekend is expected to prevail, down 40%, with a take in the teens.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Night Swim,” a supernatural thriller about a ghost-plagued pool, is attempting to start the 2024 box office with a splash. The Universal Pictures film, which marks the year’s first nationwide release, is targeting a debut of $9 million to $11 million from 3,200 North American theaters. It’s a decent start for the $15 million-budgeted movie, which won’t face competition on the horror front until March’s haunted-teddy-bear-inspired “Imaginary.” “Night Swim,” written and directed by Bryce McGuire and starring Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon, follows a family who finds out that an otherwordly presence haunts the backyard swimming pool in their new home.

Releasing three tentpole movies into December, Warner Bros is walking away with bragging rights to giving the holiday season an important boost – particularly given the absence of an Avatar or a Spider-Man as in recent years.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost City” is quickly sinking at the box office. The comic book adventure, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis, was positioned on the calendar as the de facto blockbuster of the holiday season. But, so far, the follow-up to 2018’s megahit “Aquaman” has failed to recapture the spark of the original.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.“Wonka” also surpassed the $100 million earning mark domestically this week, as per Variety. Last week, the Timothee Chalamet-led musical fantasy had been dethroned by “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which is now in second place with $6.75 million in earnings.

J. Kim Murphy Warner Bros. is continuing to beat out Warner Bros.

Christmas Week rang in an estimated $281.4 million at the domestic box office, up 14% from the December 23-29 period a year ago ($246.4M), indicating that moviegoing remains healthy post-pandemic for a family-heavy yet diversified lineup of movies — this despite the lack of one big five-quad tentpole on marquees.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Timothée Chalamet retained his holiday season crown as “Wonka” topped the box office on Thursday. The family film, which looks at chocolatier Willy Wonka and his quest to open the world’s most fantastical candy company, earned $8 million, pushing its domestic gross to $110.6 million. “Wonka” carries an $125 million budget and has been a success overseas, where it has earned more than $180 million.

Typically the momentum of Christmas moviegoing spills over into Dec. 26, but that wasn’t the case this year as Warner Bros’ Wonka led all titles with $8.9M — the second lowest take for a No. 1 movie after Christmas (since 2000) ahead of the studio’s own Wonder Woman 1984 which made $5.8M when a bulk of the nation’s cinemas were closed due to Covid. Yikes!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” didn’t give Hollywood much to be merry about at the Christmas box office. The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, opened slightly below estimates with $27.7 million over the traditional weekend and a disappointing $40 million through the four-day holiday frame.

Naman Ramachandran “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” led the worldwide box office with a $108 million debut weekend, according to numbers released by Comscore. Warner Bros. and DC Studio’s “Aquaman 2” also topped the U.S.

led a crowd of new releases at the box office on the weekend before Christmas Monday. The DC and Warner Bros.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” opened to $80 million at the international box office, which isn’t all that super considering those ticket sales are on par with eventual big-budget superhero disappointments like “The Flash,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the king of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, has generated $120 million globally to start, including a weak $40 million in North America. The Warner Bros.

The numbers are in for Aquaman 2.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” failed to make a splash at the Christmas box office, debuting to $28 million over the weekend and an estimated $40 million through the four-day holiday weekend. Those ticket sales were enough to top domestic charts over three other newcomers, Universal and Illumination’s animated “Migration,” Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s romantic comedy “Anyone but You” and A24’s sports biopic “The Iron Claw.” But Warner Bros. and DC Studio’s “Aquaman 2” has little to boast about beyond its No.

Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom began offshore rollout on Wednesday, and with numbers through Friday included has grossed $40.9M in 73 international box office markets. This portends a full overseas opening in the $70M range. With domestic’s three- and four-day, the global start will top $100M.