Not much change in the names of the festive box office top ten, with only two new releases challenging the hangers on from previous weeks. So the story is the numbers, with James Wan's Aquaman continuing to exceed expectations like a massive octopus at a giant drum kit.
The DC Universe underwater superhero epic, starring Jason Momoa as the titular Arthur Curry, enjoyed its second week at the top of the US chart, spearing another $51.6m, for an American total of $188.8m so far. But even that figure pales in comparison to Aquaman's worldwide gross, which now stands at a whopping $748.8m. That means it has already sailed past Justice League, Man Of Steel and Suicide Squad, has Wonder Woman ($821.8m) easily within its reach, and looks likely even to catch DC's current biggest worlwide hit, Batman V Superman ($873.6m). Given that Aquaman's US takings only dropped 24% from the previous week – compare that with 69% for Batman V Superman and 45% even for Wonder Woman – its trajectory towards the top looks unstoppable. DC's first billion-dollar win still seems more than possible.
The news was also great for Mary Poppins Returns. Emily Blunt's magic nanny added $28m to her US total, and floated to $173.3m worldwide.
Travis Knight's Transformers spin-off Bumblebee held on to the number three slot with a further $20.5m. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is hanging in there at number four with another $18.3m (swinging it over the $100m mark domestically). And the grey dollar kept Clint Eastwood in business, with The Mule, in its third week in the top ten, smuggling another $11.8m to secure fifth place.
Sixth and seventh place were a face-off between friends and erstwhile collaborators Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. McKay's political satire Vice was the winner there with with $7.8m and sixth place to Holmes & Watson's $7.3m and seventh. But that's still not a bad result for Holmes & Watson, given its critical drubbing and reports that Sony actually attempted and failed to offload it to Netflix after disastrous test screenings. If not quite victory from the jaws of defeat, it'll still be a relief for the studio.
Eighth was Jennifer Lopez comedy Second Act with a second week of $7.2m. Ninth was Wreck-It sequel Ralph Breaks The Internet with a further $6.5m. That one is currently on $175m in the US. And The Grinch will be cheered with another $4.2m, bringing it to $265m in the US alone and $469.3m wordwide. It's a Christmas miracle. Or something.