'Justice League' Has a Decent Opening Night
by EG
It's starting to look like Warner Bros' DC movie universe is a solid money maker, but not nearly on the scale of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. Justice League, the centerpiece of the DC universe thus far, debuted on Thursday night to $13 million in ticket sales. That's a bit ahead of the preview take of this summer's DC film Wonder Woman and a bit behind that of last month's Marvel release, Thor: Ragnarok.
It's important to note, however, that Thor was not considered to be in the forefront of Marvel's Avengers-centric franchise, and Wonder Woman did increasingly big business as a result of stellar word of mouth. Justice League, in contrast, comes to theaters with considerably more negative reviews than Wonder Woman did, a fact that does not bode well for JL's staying power.
Justice League flew to $13 million in Thursday-night previews for a projected $110 million-plus domestic debut.
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment's long-in-the-making superhero mashup — teaming Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash — opened slightly behind Disney and Marvel Studio's Thor: Ragnarok, which pulled in $14.5 million in previews two weeks ago on its way to a $122.7 million domestic debut.
Justice League, however, did beat previews for fellow DC pic Wonder Woman, which earned $11 million on its way to a $103 million opening this summer. In terms of the three other titles in the DC Extended Universe, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted to $166 million domestically in 2016, while Suicide Squad took in $133.7 million that same year. The DCEU series kicked off in 2013 with Man of Steel's $116.6 million debut.
Playing in 4,501 theaters, Justice League stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Amy Adams, J.K. Simmons, Jesse Eisenberg and Willem Dafoe. The movie is also unfurling internationally for an expected global launch upwards of $325 million. In the first two days of its international rollout, it's collected $27.3 million, including $18 million from the 38 markets where it launched on Thursday. In China, it posted midnight sneaks of $1.3 million, on part with 2016's Dawn of Justice.
Earlier this year, Zack Snyder turned over directing duties to Avengers helmer Joss Whedon to deal with a family tragedy. Whedon penned the Justice League script with Chris Terrio. The movie has divided critics, and currently sports a rotten 37 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The story picks up after the events in Snyder's Dawn of Justice, as Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team to defeat a new villain.
Read the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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