Aquaman has officially passed Wonder Woman at the worldwide box office, becoming the second highest-grossing film in the DCEU, when not accounting for inflation. This milestone comes just 12 days after Aquaman’s domestic release, and a little over a month after its release in key foreign markets.

While Aquaman received only mildly positive reviews from critics when it released, audiences have embraced DC’s latest sea-faring adventure film, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa. This has translated to huge box office numbers for the film so far, with some even speculating early on that Aquaman could be the first DCEU film to cross the billion dollar mark at the worldwide box office. Granted, that’s still not a total guarantee at this point, but given how well the movie held up in its second, holiday-fueled weekend (declining only 23 percent at the domestic box office and pulling in another $52 million) and how well it’s still performing in foreign markets, it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

Now, according to Variety, Aquaman has officially grossed over $822 million to pass Wonder Woman (which grossed $821 worldwide during its entire box office run) at the worldwide box office, and become the second highest-grossing DCEU film. It hit this milestone after a particularly impressive New Year’s Day gross of $16.78 million, which is the fourth-best box office gross for the holiday (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avatar and Meet the Fockers are the only ones ahead of it) again when not adjusted for inflation.

This impressive feat for Aquaman comes not long after it passed both Venom and Solo: A Star Wars Story at the domestic box office. It’s also important to point out once again that Aquaman has only been out domestically for less than two weeks, and it still has other foreign markets to come before its run is over. It’s very likely at this point that it passes Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’s $873 million haul to become the DCEU’s highest-grossing film yet.

To put it plainly, Aquaman is just the film Warner Bros. needed to get their DC universe back on the right track. If the film does, in fact, make a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, it’ll more than likely translate to higher interest in the studio’s next film, Shazam!, which is set to release in April. While Justice League may have been a big step back for the DCEU, financially speaking, Aquaman may have finally righted the ship for the comic universe, and perhaps it can start to compete with Disney’s highly successful (and critically well-received) Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the future. Fans will simply have to wait and see.

More: Aquaman Is The Film DC Needed (But Not What It Deserves)

Source: Variety

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