Justice League Opens Below Expectations In The US

The newest Warner Bros. superhero movie, Justice League, opened on Friday and it was a big hit, bringing in $96 million in the US and Canada to open at No. 1, according to Entertainment Weekly. However, that figure is below industry predictions of around $110 million. Not only that, but Justice League is now the first of the five DC Extended Universe films to open with less than $100 million in the US. It’s behind Wonder Woman ($103.3 million), Man of Steel ($116.6 million), Suicide Squad ($133.7 million), and Batman v Superman ($166 million).

Despite all of that, $96 million is a huge figure and it’s just one piece of the pie. Justice League made $185.5 million from international markets this weekend, pushing its global haul to $281.5 million after just one weekend. The film reportedly had a $300 million budget.

What’s not great for Justice League is that its reviews landed all over the place, including poor scores. The film received a B-plus CinemaScore rating, which isn’t bad, but also not great. That rating is based on polls of movie-goers.

Justice League has a strong lineup of actors that includes Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Henry Cavill as Superman. Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Ezra Miller (The Flash), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), and Ciaran Hinds (Steppenwolf) also star in the film.

The No. 2 film of the weekend was Wonder, the drama starring Julia Roberts that made $27.1 million in the Friday-Sunday period. It was only projected to make around $10 million for its opening, so the actual results are quite impressive. The film picked up a very-good A-Plus CinemaScore rating, which suggests second-weekend performance could be strong as well thanks to positive word-of-mouth. From The Perks of Being a Wallflower director Stephen Chbosky focuses on a boy with a facial deformity (Jacob Tremblay) trying to fit in at school. Roberts plays his mother.

Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok came in third this weekend, making another $21.8 million, with Daddy’s Home 2 ($14.8 million) and Murder on the Orient Express ($13.8 million) rounding out the top five.

Below are the Top 10 movies at the US/Canadian box office for November 17-19, as rounded up and compiled by EW.

  1. Justice League — $96 million
  2. Wonder — $27.1 million
  3. Thor: Ragnarok — $21.8 million
  4. Daddy’s Home 2 — $14.8 million
  5. Murder on the Orient Express — $13.8 million
  6. The Star — $10 million
  7. A Bad Moms Christmas — $6.9 million
  8. Lady Bird — $2.5 million
  9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri — $1.1 million
  10. Jigsaw — $1.1 million

Recommended Reading