Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom led a crowd of new releases at the box office on the weekend before Christmas Monday.

The DC and Warner Bros superhero sequel starring Jason Momoa earned an estimated US$28.1 million in its first three days of release in 3,706 locations in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. It is projected to have around $40 million in domestic ticket sales by Christmas Day.

Despite many new offerings — including the family friendly animated film Migration, the R-rated romantic comedy Anyone But You, the wrestling tragedy The Iron Claw, and a ghostly tearjerker in All of Us Strangers — this will go down as a quieter pre-holiday frame at the box office. Moviegoing audiences perhaps just had other priorities than going to the cinema.

It is never great for Hollywood or theatres when Christmas Eve falls on a prime weekend day, but the last time Christmas was on a Monday, in 2017, Star Wars: The Last Jedi dominated the four-day charts with US$71.5 million from its second weekend.

On Christmas Day, which often brings big crowds back to the cinemas, they’ll be joined by more new films, including the big budget musical adaptation of The Color Purple, Michael Mann’s racing film Ferrari and George Clooney’s adaptation of the rowing drama The Boys in the Boat.

All should get a boost between Christmas and New Year’s Day too, a traditionally lucrative time for movies.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is estimated to have cost around US$200 million to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs. Including international estimates at US$80 million through Monday, Aquaman is heading toward a US$120-million global debut.