Three weeks ago, Justice League fell flat at the domestic box office.
Buoyed by a production budget in excess of $300 million, not to mention all those sky-high expectations, Zack Snyder’s hulking blockbuster opened to a measly $93 million in North America. And though Justice League continues to struggle on home turf, the DCEU mega-movie is performing markedly better overseas, where international markets have accounted for 65 percent of the movie’s lifetime total ($569 million).
As a matter of fact, according to figures posted by Deadline, Justice League has become the first DC movie to break $100m in China. The Warner Bros. epic reportedly opened on more than 21,000 screens in the territory – more than the India, France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan and the United Kingdom combined – and that number continues to climb.
It’s also a bigger haul than Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice ($95.7 million), Wonder Woman ($90 million) and The Dark Knight Rises, after Christopher Nolan’s trilogy-capper scored $52.7 million back in 2012. For the record, neither Suicide Squad nor The Dark Knight were ever released in China.
For the sake of perspective, Justice League‘s record-breaking haul in China is still just shy of Thor: Ragnarok‘s, after the Taika Waititi threequel blew past all expectations to notch a $53 million opening weekend in the territory. It’s since collected a total of $111 million in China, which, if nothing else, highlights the country’s importance for major Hollywood releases.
As for Justice League, it’s unlikely that the Warner Bros. flop will ever reach $750 million as initially thought. The star-studded epic is by no means an out-and-out failure, merely a missed opportunity that could’ve spent a little more time in the oven.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the box office numbers as time wears on, so stay tuned.
