“Bumblebee” Performs Better Than “Aquaman” & “Mary Poppins Returns” At Box Office?

The recent weekend box office battle was an interesting one with Aquaman, Mary Poppins Returns, and Bumblebee hoping to debut respectfully. Now that the dust has settled, turns out Bumblebee (a freaking Transformers movie) ended up, comparatively, performing a lot better than the offerings by Warner Bros. and Disney.

WB’s Aquaman was able to surf to the number 1 spot at the weekend box office with an estimated $67.4 million (the three-day weekend) for a total of $72.1 million which includes the $4.7 million it was able to make from pre-weekend Amazon Prime showings.

The latest entry in the DCEU is projected to make approximately $105 million over the first five days (ending on Christmas Day). With an ‘A-‘ CinemaScore and a 64% RT rating, as of writing this, it will be interesting to see how the Jason Momoa film is able to perform in the coming weeks.

Worldwide, Aquaman continues to be the number 1 release at the global box office for the third week in a row. It has grossed more than $91 million overseas with the global total standing at $482.8 million. It was able to make more than $232 million from China. Australians will be able to see Aquaman on December 26 with release dates for Italy and Japan set for January 1, 2019, and February 8, 2019, respectively.

Make sure to read our Aquaman review. While I found the story lacking, I greatly enjoyed the CG work.

As for Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, it came in second for the three-day after opening on Wednesday and brought in an estimated $22.2 million for the Friday-Sunday frame (a $31 million five-day cume). The Emily Blunt-movie also got an ‘A-‘ CinemaScore. The RT rating currently sits at 77% which isn’t great considering how Disney has been positioning it as an award’s contender.

Do read our review.

The demographic breakdown for Mary Poppins Returns wasn’t great either. I do think it might have performed better if the story was in a modern setting and featured a POC family.

Coming to Bumblebee, Paramount’s offering got third place with an estimated $21 million. It is surprising how easily it could have snatched the spot from Mary Poppins Returns. Bumblebee too got an ‘A-‘ CinemaScore along with an impressive 94% RT rating. I have a feeling the latest installment in the Transformers franchise is going to experience a very long run.

The highly enjoyable Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was fourth with approximately $16.7 million with a 53% second-weekend drop. Into the Spider-Verse is an amazing film and I hope it gets more love when it hits streaming. I still don’t know why Sony didn’t release it a week sooner than its original release date to give it a better fighting chance.

Icon Clint Eastwood continues making money with The Mule serving as counter-programming to the superhero fare. The movie has made an estimated $9.95 million during its second week and has a domestic cume of $35.6 million.

The Grinch continues to rake in money, too. By adding an estimated $8.18 million this weekend, the domestic cume now stands at $253.2 million.

New release Second Act came in seventh. The Jennifer Lopez starrer got a ‘B+’ CinemaScore and an estimated $6.5 million three-day weekend debut.

Welcome to Marwen failed to impress. With a ‘B-‘ CinemaScore, the Universal and DreamWork’s release only got a $2.35 million three-day debut.

Oscar hopeful Mary Queen of Scots collected around $2.2 million over the three-day as it expanded nationwide.

For more details, head on to Box Office Mojo.

What do you think of the box office performances? Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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