'Wonder Woman' breaks box office record with $100.5 million debut

IANS Monday, 05 June 2017 10:24:46 AM

Washington : "Wonder Woman" of Warner Bros. topped box office in North America with an estimated $100.5 million debut weekend, making the Patty Jenkins-directed superhero film the biggest ever opening weekend for a female director.

The latest DC Comics superhero movie, starring Gal Gadot, is the first big-budget superhero movie with a female lead to be directed by a woman, Xinhua reported.

The previous record-holder for top opening for a female director was Sam Taylor-Johnson's "Fifty Shades of Grey" which debuted with an $85 million weekend in 2015.

Overseas, "Wonder Woman" also won the weekend with $122.5 million from 55 markets for a global cume of $223 million.

"A perfectly cast Gal Gadot in the lead role coupled with a great release date, killer marketing campaign and above all a great movie that has both critics and audiences buzzing on social media, contributed to this better than expected result," said movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore

ComScore/Screen Engine's PostTrak shows that audiences gave the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and the audience split was 52 per cent female and 48 per cent male.

Fox's PG animated superhero movie "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie" was a distant second place, bringing in an estimated $23.5 million in its opening weekend.

The animated family-friendly action adventure based on the children's novel series "Captain Underpants" by Day Pilkey. Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" moved to the third place with an estimated $21.6 million.

The fifth installment of the "Pirates" franchise has earned $386.6 million to date internationally for a global total combined with North America of $501.2 million.

Disney and Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" landed in the fourth place with an estimated $9.7 million, bringing its five-week total to $355.5 million in North America and $816.6 million globally.

Paramount's "Baywatch" finished fifth with an estimated $8.5 million in its second weekend.