Re Rob Cain article:
1. Just saw this today and I'm a little upset.
Heres a major territory where Wonder Woman OVERperformed compared to its summer rival, Spider-Man: Homecoming:
United States and Canada: Wonder Woman - 50.2%; Spider-Man: Homecoming - 38.4%
Wonder Woman overperformed in North America because she's a CULTURAL ICON in North America and North America only. It did NOT underperform overseas. DC is not Marvel.
$408M overseas is wonderful for a DC - SOLO ORIGIN female-led superhero movie, but $412M domestic is nothing short of spectacular.
It goes both ways. Spider-Man: Homecoming, aka Iron Man 3.5, UNDERperformed in North America because... its not as good as Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and Iron-Man 3? Who knows.
2. Overseas, Wonder Woman is a brand NEW superhero, a female one at that. It takes a sequel (or two) to build BRAND LOYALTY. MARVEL has this down to a science; DC, not so much.
Lets look at some of 2017s biggest hits, overseas. The Fate of the Furious (Fast 8) grossed $1.2B worldwide (81.8% overseas); Despicable Me 3 1.0 B worldwide (74.3% overseas). Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales, widely dismissed as a FLOP earlier this summer, grossed $794M worldwide (78.3% overseas).
Wonder Woman was the biggest hit of the summer in part because theres little competition, thanks to franchise fatigue in North America. Overseas? What franchise fatigue? More like brand loyalty.
Wonder Woman isnt there yet, although $408M is pretty amazing for a DC franchise starter and bodes well for future sequels. Her time will come!
3. In North America, Wonder Woman is not just a comic book icon but a cultural icon. NOSTALGIA + Feminism is a potent combination. Remember little girls in Wonder Woman costume on Halloween when you're growing up? I do.
The Wonder Woman TV show ended in 1979, but fans had been waiting for years, decades even, to see their CHILDHOOD HERO on the big screen. It was Fandango's most anticipated movie of the summer.
We've had dozens of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc. movies over the last few decades. Imagine what its like to see your childhood hero on the big screen for the first time?
This is why women were crying in theaters, senior citizens showed up wearing Dianas tiara - and repeat business was extraordinary. Some of Wonder Woman's biggest fans are guys, but I guess they're not as emotional.
Common refrain on social media: "OMG I've been waiting since I was a little girl for a Wonder Woman movie! Thank you for bringing MY CHILDHOOD HERO BACK TO LIFE!!! She's so beautiful and badass!!!"
Overseas, theres little built-in demand for a Wonder Woman movie. Shes nobodys childhood hero. No long-time fans waiting for decades to see her on the big screen. Well, maybe a few. "Never heard of her," "unknown," "not big here," or "still can't digest a female superhero" is more like it.
Most importantly, its NOT a Marvel movie, which is why $408M overseas is pretty amazing.
4. Solo ORIGIN movies dont do as well overseas. It takes a sequel (or two) to build BRAND LOYALTY. The Dark Knight Trilogy is a good example. Again, DC is not Marvel, and remember Marvels success began with Iron Man. Its where DCs at right now.
Batman Begins
Domestic: $206,852,432 55.3%
+ Foreign: $167,366,241 44.7%
= Worldwide: $374,218,673
The Dark Knight
Domestic: $534,858,444 53.2%
+ Foreign: $469,700,000 46.8%
= Worldwide: $1,004,558,444
The Dark Knight Rises
Domestic: $448,139,099 41.3%
+ Foreign: $636,800,000 58.7%
= Worldwide: $1,084,939,099
Iron Man
Domestic: $318,412,101 54.4%
+ Foreign: $266,762,121 45.6%
= Worldwide: $585,174,222
Iron Man 2
Domestic: $312,433,331 50.1%
+ Foreign: $311,500,000 49.9%
= Worldwide: $623,933,331
Iron Man 3
Domestic: $409,013,994 33.7%
+ Foreign: $805,797,258 66.3%
= Worldwide: $1,214,811,252
5. Even though Cain's article proved my point - that WW overperfomed and SMC underperformed in North America, his comparison is faulty because it's incomplete and illogical.
Look at it this way. Lets say youre 61 and Im 57. Compared to you Im short, but compared to an average woman in the U.S., Im tall. Youre NOT representative of anything beyond yourself, and neither is SMH. Does that make sense?
In other words, the results may be completely different if you replace SMH with Batman Begins. All superhero movies are not the same. And, in general, Marvel movies do better than DC movies overseas.
6. Why not write an article about how SMH (aka Iron Man 3.5) UNDERperformed in North America?
SMH is the 6th Spider-Man sequel/reboot in the last 15 years and features not just Spider-Man but IRON MAN.
Spider-Man: Homecoming ($331M domestic)
Spider-Man ($404M domestic, unadjusted)
Spider-Man 2 ($374M domestic, unadjusted)
Spider-Man 3 ($337M domestic, unadjusted)
Iron Man 3 ($409M domestic, unadjusted)
Did SMH overperform overseas? Im not so sure.
Spider-Man is the worlds most profitable (by a mile) superhero in merchandise sales, way ahead of Iron Man or Avengers. Everybody knows who Spider-Man is. Its huge in Japan and China.
7. Wonder Woman was banned in three Arab-majority nations: Lebanon, Tunisia and Qatar. One twitter user stated that Cain wrote that article for political reasons... I wouldnt know, but lets set the record straight. The movie was to be shown in 15 theaters in Lebanon, 2 (!) in Tunisia. Lebanon is at war with Israel, who could blame them.
"The box office impact for Wonder Woman will be negligible... it only raises awareness for the film. This is all noise," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior box office analyst for comScore.
Hes right, of course: box office revenue from countries that banned Wonder Woman amounted to $471K, less than half a million, for Man of Steel, or 0.07% of its worldwide gross.
Even without the ban, a FEMALE-led superhero movie would have grossed next to nothing over there, lets be honest. Were not talking about the United Arab Emirates, one of the most modern and prosperous countries in the region.
8. No, Wonder Woman did NOT underperform in China. It grossed $90.5M in China vs. Man of Steel ($63M) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($97.7M) which is not a solo movie and featured two of the most well-known DC superheroes in the world.
Yes, China is a patriarchal society but moviegoers are used to female-led (or co-led) kung fu movies, it's no big deal.
Marvel movies do better than DC movies in China. DC is playing catch up but it takes time to build brand loyalty. As it is, Wonder Woman did well which bodes well for the sequels.
9. Marvel movies tend to do better overseas. That said, DC movies are popular in Brazil. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was Brazils #2 movie in 2016; Suicide Squad was #3.
DC movies also do well in Mexico and to a lesser extent, Southeast Asia. The cast went to Mexico and China to promote Wonder Woman back in May. The movie could have done better in India, but it wasn't released in Hindi, apparently, for some reason.
Why cant someone fight on our side for a change? asked a German fan, and hes right. My main problem with Wonder Woman is that war and fantasy dont mix. Worse, its set not in World War II like in the comics, but World War I. Everybodys partly to blame, not just the Germans. (You should be ashamed! You should all be ashamed!) And you wonder why the movie didnt do so well in Germany? Or other European countries for that matter.
10. Its better for a movie to OVERperform in North America than overperform overseas. This is not to say The Fate of the Furious (Fast 8) ($1.2B, 81.8% overseas including $394M in China) isn't profitable, are you kidding? Shareholders are interested in $$ not bragging rights.
On the other hand, if Fast 8 had grossed $200M less in China and $200M more in North America, profits would have been much higher.
Who doesnt love China? 25% is a lot better than nothing, and fans over there are so loyal. I wouldnt be surprised if they flew Fan Bingbing to the U.S. for a cameo in Wonder Woman 2.
Just kidding, but a diverse cast is important.
As for P&A costs, theyre written off whether the movie ended up grossing $400M or $300M in North America. With Wonder Woman theyre flying blind since this is the first female-led superhero movie in over a decade and who knows whats going to happen. Money well spent, thats for sure.
In any case, Wonder Woman is the biggest hit of the summer, 5th highest grossing superhero movie since 1978, 12th worldwide. And this is her FIRST solo movie! Take that!
