After watching Disney assembled Marvel’s Avengers to blockbuster success, Warner Bros. finally got its act together for Justice League [JLEAG], uniting DC’s greatest superheroes Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, and oh, Superman. The Man of Steel has been missing from the marketing campaign due to his (spoiler alert) demise in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which opened to $166 million. Unfortunately, most moviegoers found that film too dark and grim. Subsequently, Justice League endured a troubled production with Joss Whedon taking over for Zack Snyder to retool a significant portion of the final PG-13 rated film. Fortunately, Wonder Woman proved to be a crowd-pleasing hit this summer, opening at $103.3 million on its way to earning over $412.5 million. Advance ticket sales for Justice League are pacing ahead of Wonder Woman, though there’s no mention of Suicide Squad, which opened to $133 million last August. Reviews are trending negative, but that won’t dissuade the fanboys from seeing how Justice League brings back Superman for themselves. Opening in 4051 theaters, Justice League could hit $126 million.
With the DC superheroes entering the box office battle, Thor: Ragnarok [THOR3] looks to drop close to 60% in its third weekend to about $23 million.
Lionsgate counters with the PG-rated Wonder [WONDE] based on a bestselling book. Julia Roberts [JROBE] and Jacob Tremblay [JTREM] star in the feel-good drama with a timely anti-bullying message. Organized group outings should help Wonder reach $16 million from 3096 theaters.
Despite being a family-friendly film, Daddy’s Home 2 [DDHM2] as a sequel in a competitive weekend could fall 50% of its debut to $15 million.
Murder on the Orient Express [MOTOE] performed better than expected, but could lost 50% of its steam to around $14 million due to a similarly crowded marketplace.
Sony hopes to get a head start on its animated competitors by releasing The Star [TLAMB] five weeks before Christmas. However, that means most families will likely wait rather than rush out to see the PG-rated nativity story. Descending in 2837 theaters, The Star could capture $13 million.
That’s the whisper on the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): JLEAG, THOR3, WONDE, JROBE, JTREM, DDHM2, MOTOE, TLAMB