It's official: Aquaman is the biggest DC Extended Universe movie ever

James Hibberd
Aquaman just became the biggest DC Extended Universe movie

Aquaman, the much-mocked underdog superhero, long dissed as the one who merely “talks to fish,” leads the highest-grossing D.C. Extended Universe movie at the global box office.

Aquaman has just passed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in worldwide ticket sales.

As of Saturday, the Warner Bros. release has grossed $887 million since its release last month, edging out Batman v Superman‘s cumulative $873 million.

The King of Atlantis has been helped enormously by overseas interest, with international sales responsible for 75 percent of the film’s revenue — a significantly greater percentage than the other DCU titles (China leads the way, where Aquaman has grossed a whopping $279 million to become the country’s second-biggest superhero film of all time behind Avengers: Infinity War). In fact, if you only look at international popularity, not domestic, Aquaman is the biggest DC Universe movie — not just the Extended Universe — so even more popular than The Dark Knight overseas.

The James Wan film already shot past 2017’s Justice League ($657 million) during its first week of U.S. release, then surpassed 2013’s Man of Steel ($668 million), then 2016’s Suicide Squad ($746 million) and then, earlier this week 2017’s Wonder Woman ($821 million). At this rate, Aquaman should be the first DCEU movie to cross the $1 billion mark.

Domestically, Aquaman probably won’t be the biggest DCEU title, with Wonder Woman and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice topping that list.

Next up for the DCEU is Shazam!, which comes out April 5.