As Aquaman surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the last blockbuster of 2018, we also saw the first bomb of the new year in the Keanu Reeves science-fiction thriller Replicas.
The Kevin Hart-Bryan Cranston dramedy The Upside was the weekend’s big winner at the box office pulling $19.6 million. The film, which is a holdover from the now defunct Weinstein Company, exceeded the expectations of forecasters who only projected a $9 to 12 million weekend.
The Upside also bumped Aquaman from the number one1 position, which the superhero film has been holding for the last three weeks since its release. But that didn’t stop the James Wan-directed movie from crossing over the $1 billion mark for worldwide box office. It is the first Warner Brothers comic book film to do since 2012’s The Dark Knight. Warners has struggled with their interconnected superhero franchise based on DC Comics characters, so this is a strong win for them and will hopefully give creators on upcoming films a shot in the arm.
But the big disappointment this week came in the form of Replicas. Delayed for over a year, the film opened to a paltry $2.5 million, not even enough for the movie to crack into the top ten.
