The second part of “Aquaman” had a disappointing start in cinemas. According to the industry portal “Variety,” the comic sequel “Lost Kingdom,” starring Jason Momoa (44) as the King of Atlantis, only grossed $40 million during the Christmas holidays. This is one of the worst starts in the history of the DC cinema universe.
With production costs of $205 million (around €186 million), “Aquaman 2: Lost Kingdom” is becoming the latest underperforming film for Warner Bros. and DC. There have already been a few films that have done poorly this year: “The Flash” ($55 million debut), “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” ($30 million debut) and “Blue Beetle” ($25 million debut). dollar debut). The makers had high hopes for the “Aquaman” sequel. Because the first part was a complete success. The film became the king of the holiday season when it debuted in 2018, taking in $67.9 million in its first weekend.
The only thing that could give the makers hope is the proceeds abroad: there, the film took in $80.1 million in 72 markets on its opening weekend – including $30.4 million in China, where it had the biggest start of the year scored a Hollywood superhero film.
As The Hollywood Reporter reported, the fantasy flick could suffer from an overall decline in moviegoers. Overall, Christmas revenue at the US box office was behind that of the previous year. Combined ticket sales in North America for the big holiday weekend (December 22-25) were down seven percent compared to 2022.
