Aquaman movie stays strong with $51.5M in second weekend

Aquaman easily retained its reign in North America for the second weekend in a row, dominating box office charts with $51.5 million from 4,125 locations.

That marks a decline of just 24 percent from its opening weekend of $72 million and brings the DC superhero tentpole past $188 million in the states.

Since it’s a busy time of year for moviegoing, “Aquaman” will likely cross $200 million by New Year’s and could become Warner Bros.’ biggest film of 2018.

Overseas, the movie, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa, has surpassed $560 million.

There was enough holiday cheer at multiplexes to spread the wealth.

Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” held the No. 2 spot with $28 million, a solid uptick of 28 percent to take ticket sales just shy of $100 million.

Globally, the musical has amassed $173 million.

Paramount’s “Bumblebee” landed in third place again, picking up $21 million from 3,550 venues, a small 3 percent drop.

The “Transformers” origin story with Hailee Steinfeld has made $67 million through Sunday.

Meanwhile, a pair of Christmas Day releases — “Vice” and “Holmes and Watson” — are neck in neck for sixth place.

The former, Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic, generated $7.8 million for a domestic haul of $17.7 million.

That’s a middling result for a movie that cost Annapurna $60 million to produce before accounting for marketing costs.

The latter, “Holmes and Watson,” a comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, brought in $7.3 million during the three-day stretch and $19.8 million since Tuesday.

The good news, for the comedy at least, is its Rotten Tomatoes score has jumped from 0 percent to 9 percent.

The bad news is Columbia Pictures shelled out $42 million to make the absurd take on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Not falling far behind is STX and Jennifer Lopez’s “Second Act.” The romantic comedy saw a gain this weekend, up 11% with $7.2 million for a domestic cume of $21.7 million.

DreamWorks and Universal’s “Welcome to Marwen” continues to have a bleak holiday, dropping to No. 14 with $2.23 million in its second outing.

Robert Zemeckis directed the drama starring Steve Carell as a man who attempts to overcome his PTSD. It’s made just $7.7 million, branding it as one of this year’s biggest flops.

The movie, based on the 2010 documentary “Marwencol,” carries a $40 million price tag and stands to lose the studio over $45 million when marketing and distribution costs are considered.