Wonder Woman Defeats the Competition
Warner Bros. Pictures’ superhero movie Wonder Woman debuted in first place over the weekend (June 4-6) with a $103.25 million opening, making it the third movie to debut with nine digits this year along with Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Wonder Woman exceeded all expectations and was the largest opening for a female-directed feature, vastly out-performing the previous record holder Fifty Shades of Grey, which debuted with $85.1 million in 2015. Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot in the title role, the movie went into the weekend boasting the best reviews out of the four films that have been released in the DC Extended Universe. And as far as female-led comic book adaptations are concerned, it is by far the largest opening as the second closest is Paramount Pictures’ Ghost in the Shell, which debuted with $18.6 million earlier this year.
In fact, Wonder Woman delivered the 16th largest opening weekend for a comic book adaptation of all-time. It is the sixth largest opening among that group if you don’t count sequels and the sixth largest June opening of all-time. Looking ahead, given the strong word of mouth, it would be no shock to see it deliver $300 million domestically or at least very close to that figure.
Wonder Woman‘s audience was 52 percent female, unusually high for the male-driven superhero genre. Compared to other superhero origin films of recent years, it begins higher than some and lower than others: 18.1 percent above Doctor Strange and 6.5 percent above Guardians of the Galaxy, but 24.1 percent below Deadpool and 24.8 percent below Suicide Squad. Its release represents a much-needed rebound for Warner Bros., which is coming off one of Hollywood’s biggest financial losses of the entire decade with May’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Twentieth Century Fox’s animated Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie started in second place with $23.85 million, the lowest DreamWorks Animation opening since 2013 and ranks 26th of the studio’s total films, but about in line with pre-release expectations.
The animated comedy based on the popular children’s book series stars voices of Ed Helms and Kevin Hart. Compared to other recent DreamWorks animated films, it posts the lowest debut since Turbo in summer 2013. It starts well below other recent DreamWorks hits like The Boss Baby, Trolls, and Home, instead opening comparably to moderate earners like Storks and Ice Age: Collision Course.
Fortunately, the studio made the film for a fraction of what it cost to make previous titles, such as Rise of the Guardians, which was made for $145 million and only opened to $23.7 million before just barely topping $103.4 million domestically. So, should Captain Underpants holdover well things might not look so dissatisfying, but with Cars 3 and Despicable Me 3 just around the corner it is going to need to hustle.
The previous weekend’s leader, Wat Disney Studios’ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is sinking fast and took third place with $22.09 million. It fell 71.9 percent, the largest second-weekend drop among the five Pirates of the Caribbean films, “beating” the 61.5 percent decline of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 took fourth place with $9.84 million, while Paramount Pictures’
The top 10 films this weekend earned $178.97 million total. That is 33.7 percent above the $133.96 million earned by the top 10 last weekend. It is also 13.8 percent above the $157.2 earned by the top 10 on the same weekend last year, when X-Men: Apocalypse led with $65.7 million.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | — | Wonder Woman | $103.25M | $103.25M | 1 |
2 | — | Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie | $23.85M | $23.85M | 1 |
3 | 1 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Lies | $22.09M | $115.10M | 2 |
4 | 2 | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | $9.84M | $355.58M | 5 |
5 | 3 | Baywatch | $8.74M | $41.97M | 2 |
6 | 4 | Alien: Covenant | $4.12M | $67.34M | 3 |
7 | 5 | Everything, Everything | $3.30M | $28.28M | 3 |
8 | 7 | Snatched | $1.32M | $43.85M | 4 |
9 | 6 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul | $1.29M | $17.89M | 4 |
10 | 8 | King Arthur: Legend of the Sword | $1.17M | $37.18M | 4 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.