Box Office: 'Aquaman' Is the Christmas Day Champ
"Aquaman" was the movie of choice for Christmas Day. The Jason Momoa-led DC adventure racked up an additional $22 million, bringing its five-day total to $105 million. It's now grossed over $550 million worldwide.
Settling for second place was Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns" with $11.6 million. Featuring the combined star power of Emily Blunt and Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, the sequel to the 1964 classic has now earned $50 million since it opened on December 19.
Despite scathing reviews and a dismal audience reaction, "Holmes & Watson," starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as the famed crime-solving duo, managed to snag fourth place with $6.4 million. The movie wasn't screened ahead of time for critics, who've given it (at last check) a bleak 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences weren't much more impressed: It currently has a 26% audience score. Several moviegoers, even diehard Ferrell/Reilly fans, tweeted that it was "the worst movie of the year" and that it prompted mass walkouts.
The much better-reviewed Reilly movie "Stan & Ollie," in which a heavily made-up Reilly plays Oliver Hardy to Steve Coogan's Stan Laurel, opens December 28.
Among the other new releases is the political satire "Vice," starring a nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale as former vice president Dick Cheney. It's gotten mixed reviews, but did receive six Golden Globe nominations. It opened in seventh place with $4,784,212.
Also opening Christmas Day: "On the Basis of Sex" starring Felicity Jones as a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It earned $466,825 from 33 venues. That works out to $13,000 per location, which was the best per-screen average of the holiday.
Karyn Kusama's thriller "Destroyer," starring Nicole Kidman as an LAPD cop with a troubled past, made $30,738 when it debuted in three theaters on Tuesday.
Here are the top 10 estimates for December 25, 2018
1. "Aquaman," $22,065,000
2. "Mary Poppins Returns," $11,457,469
3. "Bumblebee," $8,887,978
4. "Holmes and Watson," $6,425,000
5. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," $5,635,000
6 “The Mule," $4,900,000
7. "Vice," $4,784,212
8. "Second Act," $3,070,000
9. "Dr. Seuss's The Grinch" (2018), $2,083,630
10. "Ralph Breaks the Internet," $1,681,922
[Via Variety]