For almost any other movie that doesn’t bare the names Marvel, DC, or Star Wars, a $96 million weekend at the box office is something to celebrate. Even for movies that cost around $100 million to make, such a performance would suggest a profitable movie with marketing factored in to boot. And yet the plain fact is thatJustice League’s $96 million take this weekend is a deafening disappointment, one that now maps out a extremely perilous road for whatever the future of the DC cinematic universe had planned for next.
The movie, directed mostly byZack Snyderwith some assistance fromJoss Whedon, reportedly cost $300-350 million to produce if one counts marketing costs and reshoots into the overall bill. If that number is even vaguely correct, the movie has failed to make up even a third of its budget in its opening weekend, leaving over $200 million to be made up between decreasing weekend grosses and whatever the foreign box office has to offer. The latter option might just be the thing that saves the movie but with Pixar’s hotly anticipatedCocohitting domestic theaters in three days, that’s looking like its only real hope at this point.
Of course,Justice Leaguewas not the only opener this weekend.Wondercame in second place to the DC behemoth with $27 million, while Thor: Ragnarok continued its red-hot streak by bringing in some $21.7 million to come in at third. Below that wasDaddy’s Home 2, which brought in $14.8 million in its second frame to place fourth and seemed to confirm that we’re all just going to forget the last ten years ofMel Gibson’s actions in the name of a few bad jokes.
Depending on how Oscar contenders likeDarkest HourandCall Me By Your Namedo next weekend, this might be our last weekend withDaddy’s Home 2, as well asMurder on the Orient Express, which came in at fifth with $13.8 million. Justice League, on the other hand, will likely remain in the top five untilStar Wars: The Last Jedidescends on the box office. Even if the rest of the year was completely open, however, it’s unclear if this would help DC’s latest catastrophe get free of its own fiscal quicksand.
Here’s the top five for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
1. ‘Justice League’
$96,000,000
2. ‘Wonder’
$27,050,000
3. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
$21,786,000
$247,382,170
- ‘Daddy’s Home 2’
$14,800,000
$50,576,447
- ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
$13,800,000
$51,728,362
