{"id":132458,"date":"2017-11-19T22:59:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T03:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=132458"},"modified":"2017-11-19T22:59:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T03:59:58","slug":"justice-league-disappoints-in-us-with-96-million-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/19\/justice-league-disappoints-in-us-with-96-million-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Justice League’ disappoints in US with $96 million opening"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The big budget superhero mashup came in well-under expectations, which had pegged it for a $110 million launch in North American theatres. (Photo<\/a>: Justice League Movie\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES\u2014 Only in the modern era of superhero films could a $96 million opening weekend be considered anything less than impressive, but that’s the situation Warner Bros. and DC’s \u201cJustice League\u201d is in.<\/p>\n

The big budget superhero mashup came in well-under expectations, which had pegged it for a $110 million launch in North American theatres. If studio estimates hold it will also have the dubious distinction of being the lowest opening film in the DC Extended Universe.<\/p>\n

It has been a rollercoaster for the DC Universe since \u201cMan of Steel\u201d kicked off the comic book franchise in 2013, with films battling high expectations, critical reviews and the impossible standard of competing against the Marvel Cinematic Universe. \u201cBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice\u201d may have been a critical dud in early 2016, but it still opened to $166 million and went on to net $873.3 million worldwide by the end of its run.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice League\u201d comes on the heels of the widely well-received \u201cWonder Woman,\u201d the first DCEU film to score with both critics and audiences, and reunites Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman to fight a new threat facing earth while introducing new characters like Ezra Miller’s The Flash, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. \u201cJustice League\u201d didn’t impress critics, but neither did \u201cBatman v Superman\u201d or \u201cSuicide Squad,\u201d which still managed to earn $133.7 million out of the gates.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. is remaining optimistic about \u201cJustice League’s\u201d prospects, even with the lower-than-expected launch against a production budget that’s reported to be in the $250-$300 million range (which doesn’t include marketing expenses).<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have a higher expectation for the three days,\u201d said Jeff Goldstein, who heads up domestic distribution for Warner Bros. \u201c(But) this is a big vacation week and we have an opportunity to get a big audience to see us in a different pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstein said he is also encouraged by a few factors including the overall B+ CinemaScore, the fact that women, who accounted for 42 per cent of the audience, gave it an A- overall and that Saturday earnings were up from Friday’s.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly there is interest in the movie,\u201d Goldstein said.<\/p>\n

One film that did have a heroic showing this weekend is \u201cWonder,\u201d an adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s novel about a child with a facial deformity that stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay. The family-friendly drama opened in second place with $27.1 million against a $20 million production budget and could be on its way to becoming a sleeper hit. Lionsgate distributed the film, which was financed and produced by Participant Media.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you have a big superhero movie opening, a movie like ‘Wonder’ could be overshadowed, but it’s one of the brightest spots of the weekend,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore. \u201cThis could be a $100 million movie as people get the word out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney and Marvel’s \u201cThor: Ragnarok\u201d fell to third place in weekend three with $21.8 million, bringing its North American total to $247.4 million. \u201cDaddy’s Home 2\u201d took fourth with $14.8 million and \u201cMurder on the Orient Express\u201d landed in fifth with $13.8 million. Both are in their second weekend in theatres.<\/p>\n

Opening outside of the top 10, the faith-based animated film \u201cThe Star,\u201d from Sony’s AFFIRM label, took sixth place with $10 million. And both \u201cLady Bird\u201d and \u201cThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri\u201d continue to thrive in their expansions.<\/p>\n

The Thanksgiving holiday should not be discounted either in its potential to boost a film’s earnings, and the only, albeit formidable, competition will be from Disney and Pixar’s latest \u201cCoco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanksgiving is the perfect second weekend for any movie,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201cIncluding ‘Justice League.\u201d’<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

1.\u201dJustice League,\u201d $96 million.<\/p>\n

2.\u201dWonder,\u201d $27.1 million.<\/p>\n

3.\u201dThor: Ragnarok,\u201d $21.8 million.<\/p>\n

4.\u201dDaddy’s Home 2,\u201d $14.8 million.<\/p>\n

5.\u201dMurder on the Orient Express,\u201d $13.8 million.<\/p>\n

6.\u201dThe Star,\u201d $10 million.<\/p>\n

7.\u201dA Bad Moms Christmas,\u201d $6.9 million.<\/p>\n

8.\u201dLady Bird,’ $2.5 million.<\/p>\n

9.\u201dThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,\u201d $1.1 million.<\/p>\n

10.\u201dJigsaw,\u201d $1.1 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES\u2014 Only in the modern era of superhero films could a $96 million opening weekend be considered anything less …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":132465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34037,34038],"class_list":["post-132458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-justice-league-disappoints-in-us-with-96-million-opening","tag-justice-league","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}