You know you’re living in strange times for the DC brand when a film led by Aquaman is a stronger box office draw than the latest outings from Superman and Batman, but here we are, with James Wan’s new movie now looking likely to pass the $1 billion mark in global gross.
A new report from Forbes says that Arthur Curry’s solo debut is on track to take in a total of $700 million by the end of next weekend, but its commercial success will continue well into the new year. By the end of the first week of January, it’s predicted that the film will be the third-highest grossing entry in the DCEU, behind only Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman, and will probably hit $1 billion before its run in cinemas is complete. This forecast is based on the feature’s impressive foreign totals so far, as well as the film’s strong hold in both international and domestic markets.
As it stands, Aquaman’s worldwide total sits slightly north of $550 million, so the flick still has a long way to go before it reaches ten figures, but after the lackluster box office performance of last year’s Justice League, it’s safe to say that the bosses at Warner Bros. will be ending this year feeling a lot more optimistic about the state of the DCEU.
At this rate, an Aquaman sequel is also looking pretty inevitable, whether James Wan is willing to stick around or not, with the new movie even setting up the next adventure with its post-credits scene. Needless to say, thing are going pretty well right now for the superhero saga, but we’ll find out if the DCEU can sustain this success when Shazam! arrives in theaters on April 5th, 2019.