‘Aquaman’ sequel drifts to first on the weekend before Christmas

LOS ANGELES

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ” led a crowd of new releases at the box office on the weekend before Christmas Monday.

The DC and Warner Bros. superhero sequel starring Jason Momoa earned an estimated $28.1 million in its first three days of release in 3,706 locations in North America, according to studio estimates on Dec. 24.

It is never great for Hollywood or theaters when Christmas Eve falls on a prime weekend day, but the last time Christmas was on a Monday, in 2017, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” dominated the four-day charts with $71.5 million from its second weekend.

The “Aquaman” opening ends a tricky, transitional year for DC superhero films, full of box office disappointments, including “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle,” as the studio phases out this slate to welcome in James Gunn’s vision for the future. “Aquaman 2” was the final “holdover” of the previous administration.

Its studio, Warner Bros. also has the No. 2 movie of the weekend, “Wonka” and one of the major Christmas openings, “The Color Purple,” a buffet of big movies that was sorely needed by theaters, especially without no new movie from the Walt Disney Company or Paramount.

“Wonka,” in its second weekend, earned an estimated $17.7 million over the weekend and $26.1 million including Monday, bringing its total domestic earnings to $83.6 million.

Third place went to Illumination and Universal’s “Migration,” a PG-rated animated adventure about a family of mallards traveling South. Voice actors

include Kumail Najiani, Elizabeth Banks and Awkwafina. It earned an estimated $12.3 million from 3,761 locations in North America through Sunday.

In fifth place was the Telugu-language action film “Salaar: Part 1—Ceasefire,” which made $5.5 million from only 802 theaters. The top 10 was rounded out by another Indian film, the Hindi-language “Dunki,” which earned $2.7 million from 686 locations. The top 10 also included two Japanese films in “Godzilla Minus One” and “The Boy and the Heron.”