Posted in: Justice League, Movies | Tagged: box office, disney, HRL, justice league, Release the Snyder Cut!, star wars: the last jedi, The Last Jedi, Warner Bros, wonder woman

Justice League Winds Down Theatrical Run, Failing to Beat Wonder Woman and Probably to Make a Profit

Published Sun, 24 Dec 2017 12:15:53 -0600

by Jude Terror

Last updated Wed, 14 Feb 2018 07:44:02 -0600

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The theatrical run of Warner Bros.'s flagship superhero franchise, Justice League, is winding down, with the movie dropping more than 1500 theaters this weekend, according to a report from Exhibitor Relations. As the chance to bring in major box office dollars comes to an effective end, Justice League has earned just $222 million at the domestic box office, almost $200 million less than Wonder Woman earned.

JUSTICE LEAGUE dropped over 1,500+ theaters this weekend and fell -76%, topping out w/ $222M domestic. Folks, that's $190M less than WONDER WOMAN and $5M less than Will Smith's HANCOCK–that's gonna sting for a bit.

— Exhibitor Relations Co. 2: Box Office Boogaloo (@ERCboxoffice) December 24, 2017

Other films that have beat Justice League, a movie which by all wisdom should have been as big as or bigger than Marvel's Avengers, at the global box office this year include Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, It, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Thor Ragnarok, Despicable Me 3, The Fate of the Furious, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. At the North American box office, the R-Rated Logan also tops Justice League, though Justice League could make up the $5 million difference before its run truly comes to an end.

Globally, Justice League's take will end under $700 million, which is below the level estimated to be required for the movie to make a profit, though, on the bright side, it will probably break even. It's also far below Wonder Woman's $821.9 million global take, calling into question which of these franchises is actually the centerpiece of the DCEU. Following the box office fizzle of Justice League, Warner Bros. enacted major shakeup of DC Films and will probably look to the critical and commercial success of Wonder Woman to set the tone for the future of the shared cinematic universe.

Justice League was ultimately hampered by editorial interference from Warner Bros., as well as years of bad press, poor reviews, and general divisiveness surrounding the DCEU. Meanwhile, as Warner Bros recalibrates the franchise, potentially allowing Batman and Superman to take a back seat to Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and something like 17 currently in-development Harley Quinn movies, some are wondering if we're currently witnessing the beginning of the same trend for the Star Wars franchise, as Star Wars: The Last Jedi has also been a divisive topic since its release. It remains to be seen whether Disney can find a way to bridge the divide between fans by the time the final episode in the sequel trilogy comes out in 2020, but the franchise will have a shot with the Ron Howard directed Han Solo in 2019.