‘Wonder’ And ‘Coco’ Take On ‘Justice League’ At Box Office
There were big expectations from Justice League. After all, this much-awaited major film puts together the all-star superhero cast of Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg, the Flash, Superman, and Aquaman—characters that were played by Hollywood stars Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Henry Cavill, and Jason Momoa.
However, the film’s box-office bet wound up with a lackluster turnout on its opening weekend. According to The New York Times, it “collected a disappointing $96 million at North American theaters over the weekend, or 42 percent less than its franchise predecessor, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, had over its first three days in March 2016.”
On the brighter side, it’s stronger at the international box office, grossing $185 million on its opening weekend. Still, its total figure for a global opening is lower than the lowest expectations.
Despite Justice League’s B+ CinemaScore, it is expected to multiply its earnings this Thanksgiving weekend albeit not at as much as Warner hopes for. And unfortunately for the superhero film, the surprise hits from Lionsgate, Wonder (a story about a child with Treacher Collins syndrome), and Walt Disney/Pixar, Coco, (a story about a boy who went on a one-of-a-kind adventure that led him to the Land of the Dead), are threatening to eat up a big chunk of the family demographic.
Justice League made $38.8 million on its first day, while Wonder debuted to $27.1 million (which, according to The New York Times, is “triple what analysts had expected before its release") and Coco’s first-day earning totalled to $13.2 million.
The Warner Bros/DC film, which reportedly took $300 million to produce, lags behind the two films in terms of CinemaScore as they both earned A+. Rotten Tomatoes, the popular American review aggregation website for film and television, also had interesting reviews of the three films; Justice League only rated 41% while Wonder surprised with 85% and Coco wowed at 96%.
These figures are perhaps indicative of the moviegoing public's preference for the simpler heartstring-tugging movies with fresh plotlines over the predictably splashy action stuff that makes up a major film.
