Aquaman is a box office monster, thanks to female fans

Jason Momoa's new film Aquaman is a global box office smash hit and the Game of Thrones star's appeal to women is a major reason why.

The latest DC Comics Extended Universe (DCEU) film has already pulled in nearly US$750 million worldwide, including landing the biggest Boxing Day opening in New Zealand's history.

Audience survey service PostTrak found that the demographic most in love with Aquaman is women aged over 25, and that females made up 52 percent of the film's audience, reports Uproxx.

"Moms turned out in greater numbers than dads, 56 percent to 44 percent, and enjoyed Aquaman more, 91 percent to 85 percent. Women also graded Aquaman with an A- CinemaScore, a number that was equal to men," reports Deadline.

Warner Brothers, the studio behind Aquaman, is said to have capitalised on a viral meme among mothers who were keen to take children to the film in order to enjoy watching Momoa themselves.

Females drive Aquaman to enormous US$750 million global box office haul in less than two weeks.
Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures

"Similar to how Warners infused a sense of humour into their marketing for The Meg, they also had some fun with Aquaman, capitalising on Momoa's allure and initialising the social media trend #MOMSFORMOMOA," reports Deadline.

"As part of the stunt, mommy bloggers attended an advance screening with a surprise appearance by Momoa, complete with T-shirts and schwag. Partners for the event included Bustle and IMomSoHard."

Critically, Aquaman is faring much better than DCEU misfires Justice League and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but not quite as well as Wonder Woman.

Momoa's standalone movie has a 64 rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 55 on Metacritic.

In its first four days of release in New Zealand cinemas, Aquaman has pulled in a revenue of NZ$2.72 million.

Directed by James Wan and co-starring Temuera Morrison, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren, the film is currently playing at around 111 cinemas around Aotearoa.

Newshub.