Wonder Woman exceeded all expectations this weekend, delivering an impressive $103.1 million opening at the US box office over the weekend, the largest opening for a female-directed feature. Warner Bros. on Monday revised its earlier estimate of $100.5 million. Internationally, it raked in $125 million. The global opening weekend total stands at an estimated $228 million.
The film vastly out-performed Sam Taylor-Johnson’s previous record holder Fifty Shades of Grey for top opening for a female helmer, which debuted with $85.1 million back in 2015.
At the top, Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot in the title role, went into the weekend boasting the best reviews out of the four films that have been released in the DC Extended Universe so far and the critical opinion definitely aided the film’s awareness as the buzz only continued to grow throughout the week.
Following an impressive $38.76 million Friday (including $11 million in Thursday previews), that buzz was no longer due to critics as audiences gave the film an “A” CinemaScore, pushing the film over $100 million for its opening weekend, the first female directed feature to achieve such an opening. It received an audience rating of 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes with the comment: “Thrilling, earnest, and buoyed by Gal Gadot’s charismatic performance, Wonder Woman succeeds in spectacular fashion.”
As far as female-led comic book adaptations are concerned, it has so far the largest opening with the second closest being Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell, which debuted with $18.6 million earlier this year. In fact, Wonder Woman delivered the 15th largest opening weekend for a comic book adaptation all-time. It’s the sixth largest opening among that group if you don’t count sequels. The $150 million Warner Bros. movie also launches the first film franchise featuring a female superhero after both Catwoman and Elektra performed poorly in the mid-2000s.
The film played to an audience that was 52 per cent female and 48 per cent male with 14 per cent of the audience being under the age of 18 and 47 per cent being over the age of 35.
Internationally, the performance was equally strong, as DC super heroine brought in an estimated $122.5 million from 55 markets, which includes a $38 million debut in China, bettering the openings for the likes of Man of Steel, Thor, The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Additional openings include the UK ($7.5m), Mexico (US $8.4m), South Korea ($8.5m), Brazil ($8.3m), Australia ($4.9m), Russia ($4.8m) and Indonesia ($4.7m). Still to come are openings in France next week, Germany on 15 June, Spain on 23 June and in Japan in August.
In second, Fox’s release of DreamWorks Animation’s Captain Underpants delivered an estimated $23.5 million, one of the smallest opening weekends for a DWA’s animated title. Internationally, it debuted in just eight markets where it brought in an estimated $740 thousand led by a nearly $300 thousand debut in Portugal.
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales appears to be sinking fast in US as it dropped 65.7 per cent in its second weekend, bringing in an estimated $21.6 million. The film’s US total now stands at $114.6 million. Internationally things look a bit brighter as it brought in another $73.8 million, pushing its global total over $500 million.
Disney also claimed the fourth spot this weekend with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with roughly $9.7 million for a global tally of $816.6 million, making it the fifth highest grossing worldwide release among the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Rounding out the top five is Paramount’s Baywatch, which dipped 54.1 per cent in its second weekend for a US total of $41.7 million. The film rolled-out to 31 international markets this weekend where it brought in $23.8 million, with now a global total of over $67 million.
(Figures as per Box Office Mojo)