Why yes, youre getting another Wonder Woman update this 7 am. If youre tired of these updates, please come back in one or two hours (maybe two as Im taking the kids to camp this morning) for at least two unrelated articles. Im sure Ill eventually run out of gas on this subject, but traffic indicates a genuine interest and my kids are worth it, dammit. Anyway
As you know, Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.'s Wonder Woman passed a number of milestones yesterday. First, with $747 million worldwide, it is officially past the $745m worldwide gross of Suicide Squad. Now, to be fair, the supervillain caper didnt play in China, while the Gal Gadot adventure earned over $90m in that territory. But no matter, Wonder Woman is the biggest DCEU/DC Films earner in North America and the second-biggest behind Batman v Supermans $873m worldwide take.
The film has done so well, especially in North America, that I may have to pen a Justice League doesnt have to top Wonder Woman to be a hit post in a few months. Having passed the domestic total of Deadpool ($363 million sans 3D and with an R-rating), it is the second-highest grossing comic book superhero movie ever without Batman, Iron Man or Spider-Man. And with a running total now ahead of Walt Disney and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($368.7m versus $366m), Wonder Woman is all-but-sure to best the Marvel sequel to become the biggest domestic earner of the summer.
Heck, if it tops $410 million domestic, ahead of Spider-Man ($403m in 2002) and Iron Man 3 ($409m in 2013), itll be the third-biggest solo superhero movie ever behind Chris Nolans Dark Knight sequels. Now thats no guarantee, as right now we seem to be looking at a $390m domestic total. But heres the thing about the movie. It has continuously moved the goal post every day of its domestic release, from its $103.251m opening weekend (a whopping 2.71x multiplier, larger than any MCU movie) to its contentiously small weekend-to-weekend drops over the last six weeks.
The Patty Jenkins pic fell 43% in its second weekend, the smallest such drop for a major comic book superhero film since Sony's Spider-Man back in 2002. It fell 29% in weekend three, the third-smallest third-weekend drop for a $100m+ opener behind The Jungle Book and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In weekend four, confronted with Paramount/Viacom Inc.'s Transformers: The Last Knight, it fell 39% and then just 36% (over the holiday) in weekend five despite dealing with Universal/Comcast Corp.'s Despicable Me 3 and losing 529 theaters. This weekend, even with Sony's Spider-Man: Homecoming doing its thing (and another 313-theater drop), it fell 37%.
It has now earned a 3.56x multiplier, which is already the fifth leggiest $100 million+ opener ever, behind Finding Dory ($486m/$135m = 3.6), Toy Story 3 ($415 million/$110m = 3.77), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.6m/$247.9m = 3.78x) and Shrek 2 ($441m/$108m = 4.1x). And DreamWorks Animation's Shrek 2 opened with $21m via its Wed/Thurs pre-weekend launch. So once Wonder Woman gets to $392m, itll be the second-leggiest $100m+ opener and the leggiest that opened on a Friday. Its certainly the leggiest comic book superhero movie that didnt open on a Wednesday (or Tuesday) by a mile since Blade back in 1998.
As to whether it gets past Spider-Man or Iron Man 3 notwithstanding), its closer than I would have guessed even a week or two ago. Its $9.8 million sixth weekend was just behind Spider-Man and way ahead of Iron Man 3 ($10.3 million and $5.73m respectively) but with a larger drop (-28% and -31%) and a smaller 38-day total ($370m and $394m). Iron Man 3 wasnt the leggiest blockbuster of our age, so it was essentially done by end of its second month. Spider-Man had another $33m to go, which if Wonder Woman follows suit puts it over/under $402m.
So, yeah, the fact that were even talking about a $410 million total is a measure of its sheer staying power. Wonder Woman has not only been incredibly leggy throughout its run, but it has maintained these legs no matter the obstacle. Losing screens? Facing off against summer biggies? Facing off against kid-friendly summer biggies that are good or great? It doesnt matter, the DC Films picture has acted as if other movies werent even in the marketplace. To use a recent political rallying cry, Wonder Woman has persisted no matter the variables.
can it still reach $400m
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