“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” explodes with a $50-$60 million holiday season opening – early theatrical release

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros./DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom It was followed by a three-week follow-up with a forecast of $50 million to $60 million for the four-day run.

The James Wan-directed sequel hits theaters on December 22, with Christmas Day falling on a Monday this year. This means that sales of all films on Christmas Eve Sunday will be down -60% compared to Saturday, while all pictures on Monday will be up more than 100%. From Christmas Day, cinema attendance increases dramatically.

While this prediction may not seem surprising in retrospect, consider the first one Aquarius The opening weekend was just $67.8 million. The superhero fish had the biggest chance in ticket sales: the film earned $137 million in the first seven days plus previews in the US. Eventually, Aquarius did the Warner Bros. Became the highest grossing DC film of all time with $1.1 billion worldwide. Admittedly, this amount included a large draw in China of $291.8 million (not adjusted for currency fluctuations and inflation) and another $20 million from Russia. Those moolahs will not be there this time; Russia turns up its nose at American tentpoles while Hollywood boycotts war in Ukraine and China.

The same applies Aquaman 2 At the box office, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t scream superhero fatigue just yet. The first Aquarius Received an A-CinemaScore.

In Aquaman 2The only benefit is that he is top dog during the Christmas holidays and hardly has tent poles in the mix; rather a large part of the prize contenders, namely A24 iron claw, and on Christmas Day there are Amazon MGMs The boys in the boatNEONS Ferrari and Warner Bros.’ The color purple. In terms of counter-programming against it Aquaman 2 On December 22, Sony will show the romantic comedy “Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney”. Everyone but you and Illumination and Universal have the animated bird image Migration.

What is clear, however, is that Warner Bros. expect a robust opening. Wonka expected ($40 million) on December 15, which Warner Bros.’ Troika of this Timothee Chalamet film in its second weekend, Color Purple And Aquaman 2 will set the Christmas environment.

At the moment Aquaman 2 in Unconscious Consciousness (the part of the survey where respondents name a movie they want to see without being asked) is solid for boys and before that for The Marvels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol And The Lightning.

Tickets went on sale early to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday. In spite of Aquaman 2 Star Jason Momoa is already represented Saturday Night Live As a presenter, the campaign for the sequel must still be in full swing.

Written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Aquaman 2

In the run-up to Christmas last year, Disney/20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water Although the sequel opened to $134.1 million, many in distribution circles were unable to piece together the sequel, estimating $150-$175 million. The reason for this was that due to the long running time of the film, most viewers decided to wait and watch the film in PLF or Imax format. But in hindsight this opening is for Avatar 2 was pretty massive.