‘Aquaman’ Passes ‘Venom,’ ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ at Box Office

Aquaman continues its swim to box office success for Warner Brothers, passing three popular genre movies starring characters from DC Comics’ closest competitor. Thanks to $6+ million Thursday night, the Jason Momoa-starring film has now passed Sony’s Venom as well as Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok at the box office.

Now having grossed over $866 million worldwide, Aquaman is Warner Brothers’ second-highest grossing movie in the DC Extended Universe behind Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film will float to the top of the list this week as it only trailers Batman v. Superman by just over $7 million as of this writing.

Out of the three aforementioned movies starring Marvel-based characters, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 was the highest grossing, hauling in $863.8 million worldwide. The Guardians 2 total places it eighth on the list of highest-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragarnok (2017), on the other hand, is ninth on the MCU list with a total box office haul of $854 million.

Sony’s Venom finished between the two Marvel Studios movies, totaling nearly $856 million in box office receipts. While the Ruben Fleischer-directed project had a lukewarm performance at the United States box office ($213m), it performed exceptionally well overseas. In its opening weekend in China, Venom earned an astonish $107 million.

Heading into its third weekend at the box office, Aquaman is expected to win the weekend again as it faces little competition from any new releases. Sony’s Escape Room horror flick — Daredevil alum Deborah Ann-Woll’s first role in a post-Daredevillworld — is the lone wide release of the week.

Though Aquaman is sure to be the highest-grossing DCEU worldwide, the film does still face challenges domestically. Currently last in box office earnings domestically, the movie will slip into fifth place this weekend, overtaking Justice League ($229m). It remains to be seen whether or not the movie has enough legs to carry it past Batman v. Superman ($330m), Suicide Squad ($325m), or Man of Steel ($291m). As of now, it appears Wonder Woman‘s $412 million domestic box office total will be enough to keep it as the highest-earning DCEU movie stateside.

Aquaman is in theaters now. Upcoming DC films include Shazam on April 5, 2019, Joker on October 10, 2019, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.