Aquaman 2 Laps The Flash at Global Box Office

The Flash is faster — but Aquaman has legs. Warner Bros.’ Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom turned the tide on DC’s box office woes to take in $272.6 million worldwide, surpassing The Flash‘s total gross in just 12 days in theaters. Flash finished its 10-week theatrical run with $266.5 million worldwide at the global box office, the sixth-best finish of the now-discontinued DC Extended Universe. James Wan and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman sequel is still an underperformer — the 2018 original remains the highest-grossing DC movie at $1.14 billion — but its global haul has already earned more than box office bombs Shazam! Fury of the Gods ($132.1 million) and Blue Beetle ($128.7 million) combined. 

Aquaman 2 could overtake Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson as the much-hyped anti-hero, to end the DCEU on a relative high note. That movie earned $390 million worldwide; if the King of Atlantis can leg it out to $400 million, that would make Aquaman 2 the highest-grossing DCEU movie since the first Aquaman in 2018. (The Batman, which grossed $765.9 million globally in 2022, is set in a separate continuity and marked DC’s best box office since the R-rated Joker earned $1.07 billion in 2019.)

DCEU Box Office Worldwide

1. Aquaman (2018): $1.143 billion
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016): $872.3 million
3. Wonder Woman (2017): $817.6 million
4. Suicide Squad (2016): $745.7 million
5. Man of Steel (2013): $667.9 million
6. Justice League (2017): $655.9 million
7. Black Adam (2022): $390.3 million
8. Shazam! (2019): $363.5 million
9. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023): $272.6 million
10. The Flash (2022): $266.5 million
11. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020): $201 million
12. The Suicide Squad (2021): $167 million
13. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020): $166.3 million
14. Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2022): $132.1 million
15. Blue Beetle (2022): $128.7 million
    

Warner Bros.’ upcoming DC slate includes Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4, 2024), James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy (July 11, 2025), and The Batman Part II (October 3, 2025). Among the announced DC Studios movies without release dates are The Authority, the DCU Batman reboot The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and Swamp Thing. 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — starring Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman — is now playing only in theaters.