LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) Step aside, Star-Lord. As of this weekend, “Wonder Woman” is officially the highest-grossing summer film at the domestic box office. With $389 million, the DC Comics movie from Warner Bros. has passed the previous leader, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” ($387 million). “Guardians,” though, has “Wonder Woman” beat on a global level with $860 million versus $779 million so far.
“Wonder Woman” is also now in second place for 2017 overall behind only Disney’s remake of “Beauty and the Beast.” Warner Bros. is reaping the benefits. With this weekend’s successful launch of “Dunkirk,” the studio has tallied over $1 billion at the domestic box office the seventeenth consecutive year that Warner Bros. has done so.
“Wonder Woman,” directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot in the titular role, has been as close to an unmitigated success as a movie can be, having launched to $103.1 million during its opening weekend. The film was praised almost unanimously by critics, earning it a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Plans for a sequel are murky, but one is definitely in the works. In a June interview with DC film universe chiefs Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, Variety revealed that Jenkins was already working on a script for a second installation.
Although “Wonder Woman” has certainly been Warner Bros.’ power player, the studio has also seen positive receipts from releases earlier in the year including “The Lego Batman Movie” ($175 million domestic) and “Kong: Skull Island” ($168 million domestic). Next up, the studio has two horror plays with “Annabelle: Creation” and “It,” followed by major releases later in the year “Blade Runner 2049” and “Justice League.”
