'Aquaman' Pre-Sales Outpacing 'Wonder Woman', But Don't Expect As Big Of An Opening Weekend
Aquaman hits theaters this weekend, and the excitement appears to be high as ticket pre-sales for the movie over on Fandango are outpacing Wonder Woman at the same point leading up to its release. But does that mean Aquaman is heading towards as big of an opening weekend as the best movie in the DC Extended Universe?Variety has word on Aquaman tickets pre-sales outpacing Wonder Woman, and since the DC Comics movie starring Gal Gadot opened with $103 million in the summer of 2017, many are thinking Aquaman will have a huge opening weekend. But the box office forecasts for Aquaman still only have it making somewhere between $67 million and $80 million. That's nothing to balk at, but it just means outpacing Wonder Woman in pre-sales isn't necessarily indicative of the movie opening at similar numbers.
Let's not forget that Aquaman is opening up against some pretty big competition this weekend. Mary Poppins Returns will be in theaters, Bumblebee is also opening this weekend, and the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is entering its second weekend. That has audience attention spread across a variety of movies.
On top of that, Amazon Prime members caught an exclusive screening of Aquaman last week. That preview screening took in $2.9 million, which was over $1 million more than the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sneak preview screenings Amazon held around the same time last year. Jumanji went on to be one of the biggest box office hits of the year, but again, that doesn't mean Aquaman will have the same long legs and broad appeal. Plus, that's roughly $3 million worth of moviegoers not heading to theaters this coming weekend.
Finally, let's not forget that we're heading into the last weekend before Christmas. Sure, plenty of families go to the movies over the holidays, but the box office performance is likely going to be more spread out because of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day falling on a Monday and Tuesday. Lots of last minute shopping needs to be done this weekend, so the movies won't be a top priority for everyone. But even so, the five-day projections have Aquaman making around $120 million.
But despite all that, Aquaman looks like it should be a solid hit for Warner Bros. Pictures, especially with the movie making huge bank in China already, and it might give some of the more disinterested DC Comics fans some hope for the future of the DC Extended Universe.