Just when you thought there were no more worlds to conquer, Warner Bros.' superhero blockbuster Wonder Woman keeps discovering new achievements and climbing higher up the 2017 box office ladder. Unless it surprises everyone by crossing the goalpost early via unexpectedly robust international weekly ticket sales and far-larger-than-expected Thursday domestic sales, Wonder Woman will finally hit the $800 million mark this weekend. And get this -- it's not even done opening in new countries around the world yet.
Source: Warner Bros
Official Wonder Woman solo poster for Warner's "Justice League"
Wonder Woman enters this weekend with somewhere north of $799 million in global receipts, meaning it's less than $1 million away from hitting the $800 million number almost nobody predicted prior to opening weekend. I was bullish on the film, predicting an opening of at least $100+ million and a final tally in the $700+ million range, but even I was reluctant to predict a worldwide cume in excess of $800 million when it would require weekly holds unlike anything we've seen in the genre before.
Yet here we are, on the cusp of a remarkable $800 million total box office by close of business Sunday. And what makes this victory all the more sweet for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment is the fact Wonder Woman isn't even finished with its release yet -- we are still a week away from opening weekend in Japan, where the film should add another $10-15 million if it performs at the level of the previous DCEU movies. Should the Amazon Princess show the same theatrical power in Japan as it has everywhere else, then it might make a run at $20 million or more, in theory. But rest assured, a finish in the $812-817 million range (which includes the last few dollars eked out in existing markets, plus Japan's hypothetical average contribution) is magnificent and more than enough to put smiles on everybody's faces in Burbank.
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Source: Warner Bros
Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison in Warner's "Wonder Woman"
Meanwhile, just as we are able to talk about the final tallies as Wonder Woman prepares to wrap up its tremendous theatrical run, the film is just weeks away from the start of another revenue-generating marathon. With a Digital-HD release on August 29 and a street date of September 19 for the Blu-ray/DVD, get ready for another run of articles documenting Wonder Woman's domination of the home entertainment market. Expect reports of Wonder Woman putting up domestic sales and rental figures exceeding those of previous DCEU releases, which already performed very good on the home market (with combined domestic Blu-ray/DVD/Digital-HD sales of at least $300 million, not to mention international sales figures, plus global rental revenue).
People will spend years writing analysis of what went so right for Wonder Woman in a year when many other franchises and would-be blockbusters floundered. But the truth is, it's a simple case of great creative talent making a fabulous movie that was marketed to perfection and which spoke to viewers who felt underserved and who appreciated the newness, the uniqueness, and the hopefulness of Wonder Woman's storytelling.
Source: Warner Bros
Lilly Aspell as young Diana with Connie Nielson as Queen Hippolyta in Warner's "Wonder Woman"
The Oscar campaign for Wonder Woman will undoubtably win it consideration in several categories, and whether it actually winds up a contender for Best Picture and Best Director, it will definitely get some Academy love in certain technical categories and maybe even a nod for the screenplay. But I'll have more about 2017's superhero films' Oscar prospects in an upcoming article, so stay tuned for that.
Wonder Woman becomes only the eleventh superhero movie in history to pass $800 million at the global box office, the eighth in history to pass $400 million domestically, only the second 2017 film domestically to pass $400 million, and the fifth 2017 film to top $800 million worldwide.
Source: Warner Bros
Our hero in action on the streets of London in Warner's "Wonder Woman"
For Warner, the film's success is especially important in a historical sense. It is the eighth highest-grossing film in the studio's history, outside of the Harry Potter franchise. For fun, here's a quick look at Warner Bros.' top 16 highest-grossing movies of all time...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2The Dark Knight RisesThe Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyThe Dark KnightHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five ArmiesHarry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixHarry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceHarry Potter and the Goblet of FireHarry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsBatman v SupermanInception
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find ThemWonder Woman
Notice the list is dominated by Harry Potter, then there are Hobbit movies and Batmanmovies, and then there's Wonder Woman andInception. Think hard about the brands that are ahead of Wonder Woman on that list. Depending on how well it performs in Japan, Wonder Woman will probably pass Fantastic Beasts, and has a shot at topping Inception. If and when one or both of those things happens, it will have serious implications -- Wonder Woman will have beaten two Harry Potter films, and came up just 5% behind a movie about Batman and Superman (yes, Wonder Woman is in it too, but she's got relatively small role and the clear dominant leads in the story and the title are Batman and Superman).
Source: Warner Bros.
Wonder Woman, Batman, and the Flash in Warner's "Justice League"
With Justice League just around the corner with a more prominent role for Wonder Woman again, she becomes a huge value-added asset in selling that picture and pleasing audiences. Consider the box office of Batman v Superman, and ask yourself what added value there is in the story having been additionally rewritten to some extent by Geoff Johns (who also did work on the Wonder Woman screenplay) and Ben Affleck, and then having more scenes and rewrites from Joss Whedon, the man who made the record-setting Avengers movies. Then consider Whedon is now finishing the movie in the director's chair.
My point is, the potential for Justice League to ride Wonder Woman's box office coattails, build on her major role in the film, and please audiences again with a fun (which isn't a dirty word), uplifting, exciting superhero team-up, and to complete the redemption of the DCEU in the eyes of critics and mainstream audiences is growing stronger every day. And make no mistake, Wonder Woman will have played a big part in that success. She is instantly becoming for the DCEU what Captain America became for the MCU (with Batman being basically the DCEU equivalent of Iron Man, then, in terms of initial branding power), namely a breakout character who exceeds everyone's early expectations and wins over hearts and minds.
Source: Warner Bros
Poster For Warner's "Wonder Woman"
As I noted earlier, Wonder Woman will appear in the Flashpoint movie (with a planned release in 2020) assuming everything goes as planned (meaning there are contracts to negotiate). She'll be joined by other teammates from the Justice League, but I'm reluctant to name them just yet since there's still some issues that have to be worked out and mentioning the plans will inevitably lead to an avalanche of other questions and inquires that are frankly not going to be settled until probably after Justice League'srelease.
And we'll be seeing Wonder Woman in her own sequel in December 2019. The follow-up movie is currently being penned by Geoff Johns, while director Patty Jenkins is in final negotiations to return as director.
Consider that if Justice League hypothetically waited to release in Summer 2018 (which I personally think would've perhaps been a good move, with July being a perfect spot for it), we'd see Wonder Woman in a DCEU movie every single year from 2017 through 2020. Regardless, it's going to be a busy four years for Gal Gadot as Princess Diana of Themyscira. And it'll be an exciting four years for fans who loved Wonder Woman and can't wait to see her in action again. We'd have definitely seen more of the character in these other films, but there's no doubt the breathtaking $800+ million box office run assured those new appearances would be far bigger and perhaps sooner than otherwise expected.
