“Aquaman” held on to the No. 1 spot in North American theaters this weekend, giving AT&T Inc.’s Warner Bros. studio a second consecutive win on the final weekend of the year.

The DC Comics-based movie collected $51.6 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, Comscore estimated Sunday. That beat Box Office Pro’s forecast of $48.7 million and was enough to top Walt Disney Co.’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” which brought in $28 million to place second in its second weekend. That film was expected to register $26.2 million.

Two new movies came out in wide release. Annapurna debuted “Vice,” a satirical look at former Vice President Dick Cheney. It clocked in with $7.79 million to place sixth and fell short of a projection of $9 million. Sony Corp. released the critically skewered “Holmes & Watson,” which delivered $7.3 million to place seventh and missed a forecast of $11 million.

Key Insights

Warner Bros. has struggled this year in the face of strong gains by industry leader Disney, up 35 percent for 2018 heading into the weekend, and Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures, up 19 percent. AT&T’s studio had registered a 12.2 percent drop in receipts for its movies this year in North America. But Warner Bros. managed to deliver a couple of big hits besides “Aquaman” in “Crazy Rich Asians” and “A Star Is Born.”

Unlike superhero flicks, neither cost much to make, and the latter is a potential contender for the best-picture Oscar. This year’s big superhero films and sequels, along with a mix of family and adult fare, helped deliver record sales at the box office -- almost $12 billion in the U.S. and about $42 billion globally, according to Comscore.

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