Aquaman Is DC's Highest-Grossing Movie Ever

DC Comics's movie arm has been attempting to duplicate the box office success of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises ever since the 2012 film made more than $1 billion worldwide. Though the company has made waves with hits like Wonder Woman, they've struggled to create a movie world to rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Aquaman, which arrived in theaters on December 21, 2018, has proved to be a huge win for them.

The film, which actually had the lowest opening weekend launch for a DC Extended Universe film, has continued to pull in moviegoers since its premiere and just became the comic book company's highest-grossing movie ever. As of this weekend, Box Office Mojo reports that Aquaman has grossed $1,091,669,197 worldwide, putting it just ahead of the $1,084,939,099 The Dark Knight Rises earned in 2012. As The Wrap reports, it's also the first film in nearly five years to cross the billion-dollar mark that wasn't released by either Disney or Universal.

Aquaman director James Wan reacted to the movie's success via a statement released by Warner Bros., which read:

"Firstly, massive LOVE and THANK YOU to the fans and audiences around the world. I'll forever be indebted to Jason [Momoa] for turning Aquaman into one of the coolest, cinematic superheroes ever, and becoming the gold standard for this character for generations to come."

Aquaman is Wan’s second billion-dollar film; his first happened was 2015's Furious 7 for Universal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's already a lot of buzz about a sequel.