Wonder Woman continues to put up huge numbers after its $100 million opening weekend. While that impressive opening weekend was less than what Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Squad put up in their opening weekends, Gal Gadot’s superhero film is clearly holding much better and outpacing both in its second weekend with $57 million (compared to the $51 million of BvS and the $43 million second weekend of Suicide Squad). It’s currently playing similar to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, which like Wonder Woman, opened with around $100 million, continued apace in its second weekend with $52 million, and ended its box-office run with $281 million, which seems well within reach for Patty Jenkins film, which has already earned $205 million in 10 days and dropped only 45 percent in its second weekend. Three hundred million seems an almost sure thing now.
Jenkins, by the way, broke the record last weekend for biggest opening weekend for a female director. Next up: The highest grossing film all-time for a female director. Jenkins probably won’t capture that title (Jennifer Lee currently holds it for co-directing Frozen), but she should easily take the number two spot, surpassing the Wachowskis (The Matrix Reloaded with $281 million) and Vicky Jenson, who co-directed Shrek ($267 million). Jenkins does already have the title for highest grossing movie from a solo female director , surpassing Catherine Hardwick’s Twilight ($191 million). Should Jenkins direct the Wonder Woman sequel, as is expected, the combined grosses of the two movies could also put her within striking distance of the highest grossing female director of all time. That title is currently shared by the Wachowskis ($714 million), followed by Nancy Meyers ($615 million), Betty Thomas ($563 million) and Nora Ephron ($514 million). Two Wonder Woman movies plus Monster should put Jenkins in the $600-$625 million range.
Meanwhile, the news wasn’t so hot for Tom Cruise. The Mummy was meant to launch Universal’s Dark Universe, but it’s gotten off to a weak start stateside. The film earned a crummy $31.5 million over the weekend, despite the $350 million Universal put into production and marketing. The movie was reviled by critics (18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and disliked by audiences, who gave it a B- CinemaScore — a miserable grade from audiences. It’s not a very good movie; it’s a jumble of genres that Tom Cruise simply could not hold together and it does not bode well for the future of the Dark Universe, which is expected to release Bride of Frankenstein directed by Bill Condon in February 2019.
The one saving grace for The Mummy may be its worldwide box office, where it has put up roughly $140 million. That’s actually better than Wonder Woman opened internationally last weekend, and ranks it as Tom Cruise’s best ever international opening. Cruise does remain a far bigger star internationally than in America. Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow and the last two Mission Impossible films earned about 70 percent of their box office take from global markets, but he’ll need to do even better than that if The Mummy is to earn back its costs.
Elsewhere, there were two other new releases this weekend, but neither were big factors at the box office. A24 had high hopes for its horror film It Comes at Night, but despite great reviews — 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — the Joel Edgerton film could only muster around $6 million for its opening weekend. It’s less than expectations for the film, but as it only cost $5 million to produce, A24 should come out of this in the black, even though a terrible D Cinemascore won’t help it much in theaters.
The other new entry is Megan Leavey, based on the true story of a military dog handler and her bomb-sniffing dog. I actually took a flyer on this movie over the weekend, and it’s a much, much better film than one might anticipate, as the reviews have borne out (it’s sitting at 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). Unfortunately, it only made $3.8 million, but good word of mouth should help it perform modestly well when it is released for home viewing.
The holdover picture looks like this: Captain Underpants scored another $12 million ($44 million cume) in its final weekend of release before Cars 3 blows it out of the water next weekend. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales quietly earned $10 million to bring its total to $135 million domestic (along with $400 million worldwide). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues to hum along, adding $6 million in its sixth weekend at the box office; Baywatch came in at number seven with $4.2 million, as it limps across the $50 million mark; Alien: Covenant added $1.6 million to bring its total to $71 million (plus $107 million worldwide); and Everything, Everything rounds out the top ten with $1.59 million and $31 million total.
Next weekend sees a very crowded box office try to dethrone Wonder Woman. Cars 3 has the best shot at doing so (despite slowing interest in the series domestically). Rough Night, the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me and the Mandy Moore shark movie 47 Meters Down all look to take a piece of the box office pie, as well.
(Via Box Office Mojo, Deadline)
