It was a box office bout for the ages this past weekend as a full card of heavyweights duked it out for big screen supremacy. No fewer than six new films were vying for holiday movie goers' bucks while a svelte holdover put up a good effort but couldn't hit the big boys where it counted.
DC's go at putting the company back on track to relevance came up big with the superhero film, Aquaman rising to the top of the heap with a $67.4 million haul which is good enough for first place.
Another tentpole film going for gold this weekend was Disney's revisit to 17 Cherry Lane in the form of Mary Poppins Returns which brought in $22.3 million. While that total is certainly nothing to sneeze at for folk like you and me, Disney has to be a bit disappointed in the film's performance since it was projected to bring in upwards of $36 million. In addition, the film had a two day head start as it bowed on last Wednesday. {googleads}
Paramount Pictures followed closely behind Poppins tin third place with its Transformers entry, Bumblebee which only made $21 million, a number which undoubtedly stings since it is working on a budget of $135 million. Ouch!
Coming in the fourth slot was holdover Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with nearly $17 million in its second week of release. Rounding out the top five was Clint Eastwood's The Mule which managed a $10 million take.
In its seventh week of release was Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018) which finished in the sixth slot with $8 million which brings its total to more than $253 million.
J Lo's romantic comedy Second Act disappointed this past weekend with only a $6 million total in seventh place. But with a budget of a scant $16 million, the film is likely to end up in positive territory before all is said and done.
In the eight slot was another Disney film which upped its total gross to more than $162 million on a $4.5 million weekend take for Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Rounding out the top ten was another film making its debut this weekend and a film in its third week of release. Steve Carrell's Welcome to Marwen disappointed with a mere $2.3 million haul while the historical drama Mary Queen of Scots rose to tenth from seventeenth last week to barely squeeze past the $2 million mark with $2.3 million.
Here are the weekend Box Office Results for December 21-December 23, 2018:
| Title | Weekend | Total | Last Week |
| 1. Aquaman |
$67,400,000 | $72,100,000 | N |
| 2. Mary Poppins Returns |
$22,200,000 | $31,000,000 | N |
| 3. Bumblebee |
$21,000,000 | $21,000,000 | N |
| 4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse |
$16,700,000 | $64,800,000 | 1 |
| 5. The Mule |
$9,900,000 | $35,600,000 | 2 |
| 6. Dr. Suess's The Grinch |
$8,100,000 | $253,200,000 | 3 |
| 7. Second Act |
$6,500,000 | $6,500,000 | N |
| 8. Ralph Breaks The Internet |
$4,600,000 | $163,000,000 | 4 |
| 9. Welcome to Marwen |
$2,300,000 | $2,300,000 | N |
| 10. Mary Queen of Scots |
$2,200,000 | $3,500,000 | 17 |
