It just wouldn’t be Hollywood without directors of massively successful movies talking jive about other directors’ massively successful movies. James Cameron is the latest offender, offering up some boiling hot takes about Patty Jenkins’ summer hit Wonder Woman. Apparently, it wasn’t feminist enough for ol’ James.
Another weekend, another Weekend Box Office Report! While it won’t surprise you to find out that Michael Bay’s latest episode of Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots won the weekend, the specifics of that win come with enough asterisks to make even Barry Bonds blush. It was a terrible weekend for Transformers: The Last Knight one on continent and a record-breaking opening on another, which just goes to show how confusing this whole box office thing can be at times. Here’s the projected numbers as of Sunday afternoon:
If you only look at the surface numbers, this was a pretty predictable week at the box office. Wonder Woman did well, The Mummy did not, and everything else shook out accordingly. That being said, there’s some pretty interesting narratives emerging in the how and why of this weekend’s box office report. Let’s take a look at the rankings as of Sunday afternoon and dive into some of the specifics:
Wonder Woman just had a record-setting opening weekend. While everyone was at the theater watching her, the woman who plays the Amazonian princess, Gal Gadot, got into a back-and-forth on Twitter with the Asgardian God of Thunder over a question comics fans have debated for years: Who would win in a fight, Wonder Woman or Thor?
It may be the title of the movie but the words “wonder” and “woman” are ever spoken in Wonder Woman. Until an underwhelming fight between two super-beings brings the film crashing back down to earth, Wonder Woman often feels less like a superhero movie than a modern fable, about a strong but sheltered young woman who discovers the pleasures and perils of the wider world. It’s presented with strong visual style and abundant heart by Patty Jenkins, and played with oozing charisma by its two well-cast stars, Chris Pine and Gal Gadot as the (not-technically-named-) Wonder Woman.
So far the reviews of the DC Extended Universe movies have been ... uh, what’s the opposite of good? Bad. They’ve been bad. The first three movies — Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad — have an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 36. That is bad. The opposite of good. For sure.
While Wonder Woman fans might’ve been worried about the lack of advertising for the upcoming film, pundits were quick to tell audiences to relax, they’re coming, you just have to let them get to the other side of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It would seem the pundits are right: last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live with Wonder Woman co-star Chris Pine capped a week of new television spots, publicity photos, and interviews with the cast and crew. And now Warner Bros. has gone all out with a brand new trailer for Wonder Woman during tonight’s MTV Movie & TV Awards.