Box Office: Aquaman 2 Is Highest-Grossing DCEU Movie Since 2018

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom swims past $400 million at the global box office.

By Cameron Bonomolo

After failing to make a splash at the Christmas box office with a $40 million four-day weekend, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has officially passed $400 million at the global box office. Aquaman 2 already lapped last summer's The Flash ($271 million) and has since passed Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam ($390 million) to become the highest-grossing DC Extended Universe movie since the original Aquaman, which earned $1.15 billion to become the highest-grossing DC movie ever in 2018. Globally, the Warner Bros. release stands at $412.7 million. 

The James Wan-directed Aquaman sequel added another $2.82 million over the weekend from 2,118 theaters (down from 3,706). It surfaced on digital platforms on Tuesday, giving fans the option to skip the theater and rent for $19.99 or own digitally for $24.99.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will finish its theatrical run with the seventh-best box office for the now-ended DCEU, which saw a string of back-to-back-to-back bombs with last year's Shazam! Fury of The Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle.

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. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023): $412 million
  8. Black Adam (2022): $390.3 million
  9. Shazam! (2019): $363.5 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

Aquaman 2 cost a reported $215-plus million, which includes rounds of additional photography but does not include an undisclosed amount for marketing.

"I was just disappointed for the moviegoers, because I thought the original script was great and the original cut — I saw a little bit of it, it was really good," Lundgren recently told ComicBook.com. "So I didn't see any reason to start reshooting and reshaping the story, which obviously led to disappointment in the moviegoers and not just me."

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 available to rent or own on digital HD.

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