‘Ralph’ tops box office again, ‘Aquaman’ is a hit in China
NEW YORK — In the calm before the Christmas storm at the box office, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” remained No. 1 for the third straight week, while the upcoming DC Comics superhero film “Aquaman” arrived with a cannonball-sized splash in Chinese theaters.
For the second week in a row, no new wide releases opened in North American theaters, allowing Disney’s animated sequel to again lead domestic ticket sales with $16.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The top six films at the box office were all unchanged. Universal’s “The Grinch,” still a major draw in its fifth weekend, trailed in second with $15.2 million.
But the weekend’s biggest new arrival was in China, where Warner Bros.’ “Aquaman” debuted with $93.6 million in ticket sales. That marked a new openingweekend record for both Warner Bros. and DC in China. Considering the checkered recent history of DC films (“Justice League,” “Suicide Squad”), the big launch in China was a promising sign for the spinoff starring Jason Momoa.
“Adding to the success of ‘Wonder Woman,’ this is a really solid performance and portends big numbers for North America in two weeks when it opens,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “This is a movie, along with ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Bumblebee’ and other movies, that’s going to give December that boost that a ‘Star Wars’ movie would give us.”
“Aquaman” will expand to 40 international countries next week and arrive in U.S. theaters Dec. 21.
Next weekend, the box office is expected to be significantly busier with the release of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “Once Upon a Deadpool,” Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” and “Mortal Engines.”