'Aquaman' dominates box office through Christmas in China, North America

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The DC Comics superhero film "Aquaman" continued to take the lead in both the Chinese mainland and North American box office during the past Christmas Day.

In China, it continued to lead the box office for the second straight week, with its gross now standing at 1.69 billion yuan (240 million U.S. dollars). While in North America, it still dominated the Christmas Eve box office, bringing in an estimated 10.9 million U.S. dollars on Monday.

The superhero film topped the North American box office on its opening weekend and has earned 83 million dollars for its first four days of release, pushing its global total to more than 500 million dollars, according to American entertainment trade magazine Variety.

Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, “Aquaman” is the sixth installment in the DC Extended Universe. Directed by James Wan, it stars Jason Momoa in the title role.

Cast members Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard pose at the premiere for "Aquaman" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

The film, with a reported 200 million dollars of investment, reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry.

As the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, Curry must step forward to lead his people against his half-brother, who seeks to unite the seven underwater kingdoms against the surface world.

On the Chinese mainland, “Aquaman” was released two weeks ahead of its debut in North America, and the film will be screened for another month until February 6, 2019, according to Maoyan Films, a Chinese film ticket selling platform.

A still from the film "Aquaman" /VCG Photo

Second place in the Chinese film market during this time went to Hayao Miyazaki's animation "My Neighbor Totoro," which has taken in over 89 million yuan (12.9 million U.S. dollars) at the box office since its release on December 14.

Chinese comedy "A Cool Fish" came in third. The low-budget film with no A-list actors earned around 37.3 million yuan (5.4 million U.S. dollars) last week and has accumulated more than 781 million yuan (113.2 million U.S. dollars). Indian comedy "Padman" took fourth place, generating nearly 36 million yuan (5.2 million U.S. dollars) since hitting Chinese cinemas on December 14.

In North America, Disney's musical fantasy film "Mary Poppins Returns" came in second with an estimated six million dollars on Monday for a North American gross of 39 million dollars.

A still from the film "Aquaman" /VCG Photo

Paramount's science fiction action film "Bumblebee" took in an estimated 3.7 million dollars in third place. The film is the sixth installment of the "Transformers" film series.

Usually, Christmas Eve is not the prime time to go to the movies in North America. But theaters are going to be more crowded from Christmas Day through New Year's Day.

(With input from Xinhua.)