Numbers for the Thursday previews of Wonder Woman are in, and it looks like a very promising start for the Patty Jenkins film. The film kicked off its opening weekend with $11 million, which is good for the third best Thursday preview of 2017, behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which opened with $17 million and Beauty and the Beast with $16.3 million on its way to $500 million overall. Last week, Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opened on Thursday with $5.5 million on its way to a $63 million opening weekend.
To put it in a broader perspective, however, it’s considerably less than some other DC Universe entries. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened with $27 million on Thursday on the way to $166 million opening weekend and Suicide Squad fetched $20 million on its way to a $133 million opening weekend. However, most DC movies tend to be front-loaded and flame out over the course of the weekend (especially, those with mediocre to bad reviews and poor word of mouth, which was the case especially with Batman v Superman). Movies with strong reviews and better word of mouth tend to do better. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2., for instance, parlayed that $17 million Thursday into a $146 million opening weekend.
Given the excellent reviews and positive word of mouth for Wonder Woman (85 percent are calling it “excellent” or “very good” according to Comscore), expectations are that it will continue to perform well over the weekend, especially with limited competition (last weekend’s Pirates of the Caribbean and Baywatch were huge disappointments, and this weekend’s only other new entry is the kid-targeted Captain Underpants).
It’s still too early to say, however, how the $11 million will translate over the weekend. Some are projecting a weekend opening in the $100 million range, while the studio is estimating a more conservative opening in the $80 million range. The estimates based on the $11 million Thursday opening are all over the place. Scott Mendelson at Forbes, however, suggests a range between $58 million and $122 million, depending on whether it plays more like a traditional DC movie or more like a Marvel flick, which typically aren’t as frontloaded.
In either respect, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are almost certainly looking at a big hit for DC.
Source: Variety