The weekly box office rundown has hardly provided much in the way of either shocks or entertainment over the last nine or ten months, with the theatrical business having been brought to its knees by the Coronavirus, and any sustained signs of recovery a long way away yet. The good news, though, is that Patty Jenkins’ superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 topped the charts with the biggest opening since Pixar’s Onward scooped $39.1 million during the first weekend in March. That being said, the numbers still aren’t great.
Obviously, millions of people would have decided to check the movie out on HBO Max instead, and the metrics of success have changed considerably throughout the global health crisis, so all things considered, a haul of $16.7 million is a definite win for Warner Bros. However, the first film exploded into theaters with $103.2 million, and at the start of the year, most insiders were predicting the sequel to blow past those numbers with ease.
Wonder Woman 1984 was released internationally on December 16th and has picked up almost $70 million from overseas territories, making it one of the biggest earners since COVID-19 came along and changed the world as we knew it. There are an awful lot of different circumstances and mitigating factors at play, but if you boil it right down to the basics, then you’d image that the executives in the boardroom will be pretty happy with the movie’s performance.
Of course, now the intrigue will turn to how many new HBO Max subscribers signed up on Christmas Day, which will give us a much better indication as to how 2021 is shaping up. Until then, though, WB can rest easy knowing that the Gal Gadot-led sequel is looking to be a success.
