Weekend box office roundup.
The King of the Seven Seas is rapidly swimming toward a European box office bonanza for Warner Bros. Aquaman has positioned itself to be the biggest opening weekend in China, Warner Bros. has ever had, outpacing Wonder Woman for that title.
Aquaman opened in India to $956,000, more than double of what Wonder Woman made in that market with its debut. As of 12/16/2018, it has grossed $261,300,000 in the European market. In China alone, it grossed $94,728,452. In other top markets, Aquaman is also cutting through the water like a hammerhead shark: Mexico ($1.6 million), Russia ($1.4 million), Brazil ($1.4 million), the UK ($1.3 million) Indonesia ($3.1 million) , Taiwan ($2.2 million), Thailand ($1.5 million) and the UAE ($1.4 million).
Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, the half-human heir to the throne of Atlantis. When his half-brother Orm stokes the savage fires of war between Atlantis and the surface dwellers, Arthur finds himself caught between two worlds ...land and sea. Other stars in the film are Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard. Aquaman is directed by James Wan and follows Momoa's debut as Aquaman in 2017's Justice League, directed by Zack Snyder. When speaking with ComicBook.com, Director James Wan acknowledged that he wanted to make this film with his own touches and stamp.
"It was very important for me early on to be allowed to make my own film and to have my own voice be in there...it was very important for me to be able to bring my own stamp, my own visual aesthetic, create the characters. Even though Jason has somewhat been established in Justice League, I wanted to bring his character into this, basically, fresh in a lot of ways".
"My hero goes on this hero's journey to become someone very different than where he started. That was something that was very important for me. But the movie I want to make, is what I was allowed that freedom to do that".
So for those who saw the early trailers and were a bit leery about Aquaman, don't be. It is a visually stunning film, with lots of bonkers underwater action. Jason Momoa was meant to play this role and after seeing him in all of his Aquaman glory, I couldn't envision anyone else as the reluctant aquatic hero.
There are a few issues with the script, the dialogue, and some of the characters are left lingering too long with nothing what-so-ever to do, but those can be overlooked by the tidal wave of roaring action. Aquaman is as buck-wild as Jason Momoa appears to be in real life. So just sit back, chug down some soda, snarf down your popcorn and hot dogs and enjoy one helluva deep sea ride.
Aquaman opens in the states on December 21, 2018.
Los Angeles Blue Carpet Premiere for Aquaman
IN OTHER WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Spiderman Tops, Ralph Breaks the Internet Drops and Mortal Engines Flops
1. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - Sony -$35,400,000
3. Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018) - Uni. - $11,580,000
4. Ralph Breaks the Internet - BV - $9,589,000
5. Mortal Engines - Uni. - $7,501,000
7. Bohemian Rhapsody - Fox - $4,125,000
8. Instant Family - Par. - $3,720,000
9. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - WB - $3,650,000
10. Green Book - Uni. -$2,780,000
The biggest surpise of the weekend box office is The Mule directed by Clint Eastwwod. This is also the first film Eastwood has starred in for a number of years. But the worst weekend box office bomb is Mortal Engines.
Mortal Engines is a beautiful CGI-laden mess of a film. The CGI is off the charts spectacular from a technical point of view, but the acting and the storyline left a lot to be desired. I was on-board when I saw that Peter Jackson was involved because I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Hobbit films were entertaining. But Mortal Engines has that "been there, done that" feel. It takes an excruciatingly long time to get to the central character's kinda, sorta backstories; why Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) is so focused on destroying this city; why is the rolling city of London so destructive, and basically to figure out...who are all of these characters and why are they important? If you've never read Philip Reeve's novel of the same name that this steampunk film is based upon, then you will be lost. By the time you arrive at understanding the storyline (if ever), you're fatigued, and then you realize there's another almost hour and a half left in the film, which irritates you even further.
Mortal Engines had so much potential to be a fantastic blockbuster, which could have spawned another must-see trilogy, however, somewhere between the idea and the execution, everyone from the writers on through to the director, got lost in their own reverence, forgot about what story they were trying to tell, and relied way too heavily on cliches and CGI. Thus, by the time the audience got to the supposed pay-off, most of us just didn't care. You would be well-served to wait until Mortal Engines gets to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or cable. That way, you can move past some of the most boring and trite dialogue, AND anticlimactic ending, in ME's side-eye giving dystopian world.
SYDNEY CHANDLER is a Los Angeles based freelance journalist, essayist, screenwriter and producer. Sydney has written and produced documentaries, features, shorts, TV dramas and comedies. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to find out what’s going on in her ever-changing, globe-trotting world.