Leave it to Jason Momoa and his perfectly tousled man bun to dominate box office charts for the third straight weekend. “Aquaman” easily retained its No. 1 spot, pulling in a solid $30 million for a domestic haul of $259 million.
The DC superhero adventure directed by James Wan has now crossed $940 million worldwide, making it Warner Bros. biggest comic-book title since “The Dark Knight Rises” amassed over $1 billion globally in 2012. If “Aquaman” continues at this pace, Arthur Curry could give Batman a run for his money. “Aquaman” generated another $56.2 million in foreign markets this weekend, bringing its international total to $681 million. The Atlantean blockbuster has already nabbed the distinction as DC’s highest-grossing title overseas, surpassing the record previously set by “The Dark Knight Rises” with $636 million.
With no major studio releases, “Aquaman” didn’t have much competition to maintain its reign in North America. The only newcomer was Sony and Columbia Pictures’ “Escape Room,” a psychological thriller about a group of strangers who get trapped in a deadly (you guessed it) escape room. The PG-13 horror film secured second place with $18 million when it debuted in 2,700 locations. That’s a strong start considering the film only cost $9 million to produce.
“Escape Room” was neck in neck with Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” for the No. 2 slot, though Sunday estimates show the latter coming in third with $15.8 million during its third weekend of release. “Mary Poppins Returns,” a sequel to the 1964 classic, has earned $138 million at the domestic box office. The movie starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda has been a slow burn in theaters, which is to be expected for a movie-musical. It has collected $119 million internationally and over $250 million globally, though it will need to keep chugging a long at multiplexes to justify its $130 million price tag.
Elsewhere in moviegoing, it was holdovers galore. Paramount’s “Bumblebee” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” are in a close race for fourth and fifth place. Both titles pulled in roughly $13 million over the three-day frame, so we won’t be able to officially tell until final numbers come in on Monday.
Hailee Steinfeld stars in “Bumblebee,” the “Transformers” origin story that has made $97 million since debuting just before Christmas. Meanwhile, the domestic haul of “Spider-Verse,” an animated flick from Sony’s arsenal of Marvel characters, currently sits at a robust $133.8 million.
