Bye-bye, Batman v. Superman. Your grim, but meaty box office total has officially been surpassed by an octopus playing drums and his underwater friends. The latest Saturday figures confirm James Wans Aquaman film has taken in the highest worldwide box-office total of any DC Extended Universe film, dethroning both the Caped Crusader and Man of Steel.
As of January 5, the deep-sea DC flick has pulled in $887 million in cumulative ticket sales, surpassing the likes of 2016s Batman v. Superman and its $873 million haul. Aquaman out-swam the likes of 2017 breakout Wonder Woman ($821 million) earlier this week, and is seen as likely to cross the $1 billion mark—a first for the franchise. The much-maligned Justice League—which first featured Jason Momoas Aquaman after a brief tease in Batman v. Superman—only pulled in $657 million worldwide, by comparison.
That said, its worth noting that Aquamans domestic box-office take has yet to outshine either Batman v. Superman or Wonder Woman. According to Entertainment Weekly, international ticket sales for Aquaman make up 75 percent of the total haul (including $279 million from China). The critical response to the film has been mixed, domestically. Vanity Fairs Richard Lawson called the film “alternately garish and graceful,” but “far from the disaster” it could have been, given past DC misfires.
In the meantime, Warner Bros. has yet to formally announce a sequel to Aquaman. The franchises next releases include Shazam! On April 5, as well as Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020. Aquamans male Justice League peers have not fared nearly so well at the box-office, casting their future films in doubt.
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