China Box Office: 'Aquaman' Makes $25M Opening-Day Splash

The Jason Momoa-starring superhero title set an opening-day record for Warner Bros., with effusive word of mouth across China suggesting growing momentum.

Warner Bros.’ DC superhero tentpole Aquaman made major waves on its opening day in China, the first important market where the film is released.

With a 86 percent share of the total market Friday, early data provided by the studio showed a RMB 169.5 million ($24.6 million) haul from approximately 30,500 screens, making it the biggest opening-day ever for a Warner title in China and the biggest-ever December opening day overall.

The film is also earning rave local reviews, scoring 8.4/10 from reviews aggregator Douban and 9.5/10 from leading ticketing app Maoyan, some of the highest scores of the year for a Hollywood film.

The buzz and big start both augur for a huge opening-weekend haul for the high-stakes superhero movie.

Warner Bros. decided to unfurl Aquaman first in China, followed by additional foreign markets next week, to get a jump on a crowded pack of year-end holiday films, including Mary Poppins Returns and the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee. Aquaman is set to debut in North America on Dec. 21, the beginning of the lucrative year-end holiday corridor.

Directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa in the titular role, Aquaman looks set to exceed earlier local estimates of a $60 million debut weekend at the Chinese box office, which would be the biggest start to date for a DC title in the territory.