BOYS, BYE. Wonder Woman is gearing up to lead the DCEU. Because, of course she is.
As reported by CBR.com, Wonder Woman made $3.9 million yesterday, bringing its domestic total to $325.1 million, allowing it to inch past Suicide Squad. By tomorrow, it’s likely that Wonder Woman will surpass Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.4 million) making Diana of Themyscira the Queen of the DCEU.
At least, domestically.
Wonder Woman has been breaking records left and right here in the States. And yet, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is doing less well overseas. As of yesterday, Wonder Woman has made $657 Million globally, so “less well” needs to be defined.
As THR explains, “Revenue in the U.S. and Canada accounts for $322 million, or 49 percent of the bottom line, compared with roughly $336 million to date internationally, or 51 percent of total revenue (hardly a poor showing). Still, in many cases a Hollywood tentpole collects 60 to 65 percent of its total take from the international box office.”
So, in this case, “less well” means “compared to other tentpole movies of its type that generally make more of their money internationally than they do in North America.” For example, Captain America: The First Avenger made 52% of its profit internationally. Deadpool made 54% internationally. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman has, as THR puts it, “vastly overperformed in the U.S, which is great, but also makes the difference between its domestic earnings and its international earnings more stark.
Wonder Woman being about a female superhero is certainly a factor in why the film has been received differently overseas. Russia’s Exhibitor’s Bulletin reported that, “Superhero movies with a woman as the main character are rather untypical, which has had some impact on the box office performance of Wonder Woman.” There’s also the fact that overseas audiences place more value on big-name Hollywood actors, so casting Gal Gadot, who was relatively unknown before this role, could also be contributing to the box office.
And what of our largest overseas market, China? Box office analysts there report that Wonder Woman isn’t well known in China expect to hardcore geeks. That, and movies from DC Comics haven’t been able to match Marvel titles there.
This is all very interesting, but what I really appreciate about all this is that Wonder Woman isn’t doing much worse than her male-led DC movies overseas. AND, American audiences have demonstrated that they want more films like Wonder Woman, perhaps indicating that studios wouldn’t need to worry so much about making money overseas if they deliver more films like Wonder Woman for the American movie-going audience to throw its money toward.
Give us what we want, Hollywood, and we will give you all our money.
(image: Warner Bros./DC Entertainment)
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