Worldwide Elektra made $13 million. Worldwide. I'll bet once they factor in advertising costs, they weren't all that pleased with its financial performance.
It did? It cost $100 million and made $82 million worldwide. How is that making a profit? Am I missing something?
x-Men Wolverine (arguably one of marvels most popular characters) did not set the world alight
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=wolverine.htm
It made $373 million on a budget of $150. A clear financial success, if anything but a box office juggernaut.
Perhaps, but it still made much more money than the female superhero movies did. $245 million on a $137 million budget.
And yet it still made quite a bit of money on a relatively low budget, especially for an R-rated film.
It still made a lot of money. $391 million worldwide on a budget of $270 million (much of which isn't actually for this movie, but tied to the failed SUPERMAN LIVES project).
Successful female lead franchises like Hunger Games and other relatively successful like Under World and Resident Evil should be enough proof. And none of those characters are Wonder Woman.
The Hunger Games is not successful because it is a female action/hero movie. It is successful because much like HARRY POTTER, it is an existing young adult property with a massive following prior to the movie. A built in general audience fanbase. Wonder Woman, despite being a known character cannot really boast that.
I'll agree that UNDERWORLD and RESIDENT EVIL are decent examples of a female "action/superhero" franchise that has made money. But they've still been the exception to the rule. And cashing in on the vampire/horror craze doesn't hurt.
That said, I would agree that given the superhero movie's popularity, now is probably the time to launch some female superhero franchises. I don't think you could really say that until fairly recently.