Warner Bros.’ 4th entry in the expansive DCEU, Justice League, got off to a great start at the box office over the weekend, taking in $13 million from Thursday’s preview screenings. The figure is above the Thursday tally for this summer’s Wonder Woman, which took in $11 million on Thursday, en route $38.2 million on Friday and a 3-day opening weekend of $103.3 million. This puts the Justice League opening weekend to make its landing anywhere between $110 million and $115 million, which is the low end of the box office.
This $13 million falls short of the $14.5 million Thursday tally two weeks ago from Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, which led to a great $46.5 million tally on Friday. The big difference between Thor: Ragnarok’s debut and Justice League is the Marvel movie was praised by critics with a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the second best reviewed Marvel movie after 2008’s Iron Man (94%). While the Justice League reviews were way better than Batman v Superman (27%) and Suicide Squad (26%), it marks a decline from the 92% rating of this summer’s Wonder Woman, which seemed to have helped Wonder Woman.
While Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad posted much bigger debuts, Wonder Woman surpassed the movies at the domestic box office, with $412.5 million which represents the second highest grossing movie behind Disney’s Beauty and the Beast ($504 million). Unlike Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman had posted more minimal drops from weekend to weekend. If Justice League wishes to have the same box office success that Wonder Woman had, the second weekend may be as important as the first.
Justice League has opened in 9 international markets on Wednesday and 38 more on Thursday, with its tally at $27.3 million. That figure does not include the “Day One flash estimate” of $15.1 million from China, where Justice League opened on approximately 21,000 screens. The tally will be the second biggest opening day in China, behind Batman v Superman.
Analysts estimate that it should take in $50 million in China. The Justice League’s opening weekend in the U.S. coincides with debuts in 18 international markets including China, the U.K., Spain, and Mexico. After the weekend, there are three more international markets for it to open in, with the Japan debut on November 23, Pakistan on November 24 and Lebanon on November 30.
There have been talks that the success of Justice League may determine the fate of other DCEU movies and Warner Bros. has a whole lot more riding on the movie. If it fails, it may mean that the DCEU will undergo serious restructuring. Deadline had broken the news of the Thursday box office tally.
