Box Office: ‘Aquaman’ Stays Strong With $51.5 Million in Second Weekend

“Aquaman” easily retained its reign in North America for the second weekend in a row, dominating box office charts with $51.5 million from 4,125 locations.

That marks a decline of just 24% from its opening weekend of $72 million and brings the DC superhero tentpole past $188 million in the states. Since it’s a busy time of year for moviegoing, “Aquaman” will likely cross $200 million by New Year’s and could become Warner Bros.’ biggest film of 2018. Overseas, the movie, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa, has surpassed $560 million.

There was enough holiday cheer at multiplexes to spread the wealth. Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” held the No. 2 spot with $28 million, a solid uptick of 28% to take ticket sales just shy of $100 million. Globally, the musical has amassed $173 million.

Paramount’s “Bumblebee” landed in third place again, picking up $21 million from 3,550 venues, a small 3% drop. The “Transformers” origin story with Hailee Steinfeld has made $67 million through Sunday.

Meanwhile, a pair of Christmas Day releases — “Vice” and “Holmes and Watson” — are neck in neck for sixth place. The former, Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic, generated $7.8 million for a domestic haul of $17.7 million. That’s a middling result for a movie that cost Annapurna $60 million to produce before accounting for marketing costs. The latter, “Holmes and Watson,” a comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, brought in $7.3 million during the three-day stretch and $19.8 million since Tuesday. The good news, for the comedy at least, is its Rotten Tomatoes score has jumped from 0% to 9%. The bad news is Columbia Pictures shelled out $42 million to make the absurd take on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Not falling far behind is STX and Jennifer Lopez’s “Second Act.” The romantic comedy saw a gain this weekend, up 11% with $7.2 million for a domestic cume of $21.7 million.

DreamWorks and Universal’s “Welcome to Marwen” continues to have a bleak holiday, dropping to No. 14 with $2.23 million in its second outing. Robert Zemeckis directed the drama starring Steve Carell as a man who attempts to overcome his PTSD. It’s made just $7.7 million, branding it as one of this year’s biggest flops. The movie, based on the 2010 documentary “Marwencol,” carries a $40 million price tag and stands to lose the studio over $45 million when marketing and distribution costs are considered.

A number of holdovers rounded out the top five. Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” nabbed fourth place, amassing $18 million in its third week of release. The latest big-screen adaptation of Marvel’s web-slinging hero, which has received high praise from critics and fans alike, just crossed the $100 million mark in North America.

Fifth place went to Warner Bros.’ “The Mule” with $11.7 million from 2,787 theaters for a domestic tally of $60 million. Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the drama, which saw a 24% hike this weekend.

At the specialty box office, Participant Media’s “On the Basis Of Sex” pocketed $690,000 from 33 screens. Felicity Jones portrays a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the biopic, which launched on Christmas Day and has since made $1.5 million. It secured the best screen-average of the weekend with $20,877 per venue. The studio plans to expand to 100 theaters next weekend.

“Audiences across the country truly love the movie — exit polls are in the mid-90s — clearly showing the film’s sheer entertainment power,” said Lisa Bunnell, Focus Features’ president of distribution . “As a woman heading up a studio’s distribution team, a part of our industry that has traditionally been filled by men for decades, I can’t help but watch this film and know that Ruth’s work help make that possible.”

Annapurna and Nicole Kidman’s “Destroyer” also debuted on Christmas Day and took in $58,472 from three locations for a domestic total of $116,000. It scored the second-biggest screen average of the weekend with $19,491.

Elsewhere, Sony Pictures Classics’ “Stan and Ollie,” a biographical drama about comedic duo Stan Laurel and Ollie Hardy, brought in $79,674 million from five screens for an average of $15,935.

A handful of awards hopefuls got a boost over the holiday frame. Annapurna’s “If Beale Street Could Talk” earned $759,579 when it added 60 locations. Barry Jenkins wrote and directed the film based on James Baldwin’s book, and it’s made $1.9 million in its platform release.

Focus Features’ “Mary Queen of Scots” also saw an increase in ticket sales with $2.6 million from 841 theaters in its fourth outing for a North American haul of $9 million.

Another royal costumed drama, “The Favourite,” brought in $2.4 million from 809 locations. Yorgos Lanthimos directed the Fox Searchlight film starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. It just crossed $15 million at the domestic box office.

Revenues in North America dropped 5.2% compared to the same weekend in 2017, according to Comscore, though that’s because last year benefited from the release of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Even so, the domestic market is up almost 7% from last year and over 4% from 2016’s record bounty. As of this weekend, ticket sales have surpassed $11.8 billion.

Related stories

'Aquaman,' 'Mary Poppins Returns' Power Year-End North American Box Office

Box Office: 'Aquaman' Rising to $53 Million in Second Weekend in North America

Box Office: 'Aquaman' Leaves Rivals Under Water, Hits $137 Million in North America

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!