Wonder Woman was projected to be a hit, but the box office predictions continue to rise going into opening weekend. If the opening night numbers are any indication, those numbers will only get higher as the days go by.
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The Patty Jenkins-helmed film had a stellar preview night on Thursday, hauling in $11 million in the US alone. If you were wondering, that set a new record.
Wonder Woman now has the biggest preview night of any film with a female director. And, to be honest, it wasn’t even close.
The previous record-holder was Fifty Shades of Grey, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. Shades debuted to $8.6 million on Thursday night, so Wonder Woman easily took the title with over $2 million to spare.
That feat is incredible, but it’s not the only success story of the night for Wonder Woman. The film also debuted higher than many other superhero origin stories.
Marvel Origins
Wonder Woman stomped out some of Marvel’s celebrated origin stories after that big Thursday night haul. Movies like Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger weren’t even close.
Doctor Strange, Marvel’s highly-anticipated foray into the world of magic, only nabbed $9.4 million on its preview night. Ant-Man was well below that with $6.4 million back in 2015.
Some of the bigger Marvel characters debuted even lower than that. The First Avenger only hauled in $4.4 million, while Thor managed $3.4.
What Beat It?
Wonder Woman came extremely close to beating Guardians of the Galaxy at the Thursday night box office, but fell just short.
The Marvel space adventure grabbed $11.2 million on its preview night, finishing a couple hundred thousand above Wonder Woman‘s haul.
While Wonder Woman definitely defied expectations, and debuted to an incredible Thursday night, it’s still far short of the big box office busters.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens gained an incredible $57 million on its preview night, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 came in at $43.5. Batman v Superman was the highest-earning superhero film on a Thursday night with $27.7 million.
The one thing to remember here, is that Wonder Woman only had a couple of showings at each theater last night, as do most preview films. However movies like Harry Potter and Star Wars had screenings every hour, well into the night.
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Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.
Joining Gal Gadot in the international cast are Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner and Saïd Taghmaoui. Patty Jenkins directs the film from a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and Geoff Johns, story by Zack Snyder and Allan Heinberg, based on characters from DC Entertainment. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston.
The film is produced by Charles Roven, Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder and Richard Suckle, with Rebecca Roven, Stephen Jones, Wesley Coller and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with RatPac-Dune Entertainment, an Atlas Entertainment/Cruel and Unusual production, Wonder Woman.
