‘Aquaman’ Passes ‘Man Of Steel’ At Box Office As It Swims Toward $300 Million

Aquaman has swam past Man of Steel at the domestic box office as it closes in on $300 million.

The James Wan-directed DC Comics movie is the highest grossing Warner Bros. film since 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which was the last time the studio put out a billion dollar blockbuster. With Jason Momoa at its forefront, Aquaman took moviegoers to Atlantis for the first time, bringing in $291.638 million domestically, so far, and more than $1.02 billion worldwide (according to BoxOfficeMojo). Man of Steel took in $291.045 million domestically and finished with a worldwide haul of $668 million.

When the film popped the billion dollar mark, Momoa took to Instagram to thank fans, Wan, and Justice League director Zack Snyder who originally cast him in the part.

“Billion dollar underdog,” Momoa wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend. “From Baywatch to making what once was the most disrespected superhero into a billion dollar movie. No one gets to the top without the people that love them. My success is from my fans. All my aloha to everyone that had a hand in making this movie. Mahalo Zack for choosing me and mahalo James for creating this beautiful world.”

While a sequel to Aquaman has not yet been officially announced by Warner Bros. the word from behind-the-scenes seems to be that it is already in development following the first film’s success. While Wan is not signed on for that movie just yet, his experience and success with December’s movie might push him in the direction of getting onboard.

“I mean, liking the people I work with goes a long way,” Wan told ComicBook.com. “That was the reason why I came back when I did Insidious 2. But it’s a weird one for me, because I actually don’t know what I want to do next for the first time in my career. I felt like Aquaman ticked a lot of boxes for me. I want to do another action movie after Furious 7, I wanted to do a world creation film, and I wanted to do a superhero movie, and Aquaman literally ticked all of those boxes for me. And so right now, I’m in that sort of place of like do I kind of go back and do a smaller movie maybe as my next one, something a bit more intimate. Or if I can do a personal movie, but maybe it’s on a bigger scale. I’m not sure at this point.”

Aquaman is now playing in theaters worldwide.