New Warner Bros release Aquaman made the biggest waves in North American theatres over the weekend with $67.4 million in ticket sales, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said Wednesday.
This put it well ahead of two other new holiday-timed releases, as Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns took in $23.5 million for the three-day weekend, flying slightly higher than Paramount’s Bumblebee at $21.7 million.
Aquaman stars Jason Momoa in a title role infused with new swagger by director James Wan, with Variety calling Momoa’s Aquaman “a bare-chested Hawaiian super-stud with long, shaggy surfer hair and all-over tribal tattoos.”
Mary Poppins is expected to follow past musicals in enjoying a long box-office run.
The sequel to the 1964 movie stars Emily Blunt as the stern but kind-hearted nanny, backed by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame. Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins’ Cockney-accented friend in the original film, makes a cameo.
Bumblebee, a prequel to the Transformers movies, stars Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena. It drew a lofty 94% rating from Rotten Tomatoes while all three of the top grossing new movies earned strong A- ratings from CinemaScores.
In fourth was Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, taking in $16.6 million. It has Peter Parker making way for Miles Morales as a black, Latino Spider-Man.
