'Justice League' Fails To Meet Expectations With Underwhelming Opening Weekend Performance
Warner Bros. worst fears have been realized as "Justice League" fails to perform at the box office. The superhero ensemble film was unable to meet early predictions following an underwhelming opening weekend earning an estimated $94 million.
The film's opening weekend earnings were nearly 15 percent lower than the projected earnings of $110-120 million. Considering that it was also expected to be the high-water mark for the DCEU, the film's box office debut is definitely a big blow to the franchise which sought to duplicate the success of Disney-Marvel's interconnected franchises.
The film stars Gal Gadot stars as Wonder Woman along with Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as the Flash, and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. They were joined by Amy Adams, Amber Heard, Jeremy Irons, J.K. Simmons, and Willem Dafoe under the direction of Zack Snyder. Snyder was forced to exit the film following a family tragedy earlier this year handed over the reins to Joss Whedon.
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"Justice League" poses high stakes for Warner Bros. with its budget of over $300 million – a figure which was already bloated due to reshoots. However, despite the addition of Whedon, who previously directed two of Marvel's "Avengers" films, it seems that there was no saving the film from itself.
Cavill had previously stated that the film's dark themes were partly to blame for the poor performance, at least critically, of DCEU films. While the actor believes that the tonal and stylistic differences may have been admirable, he feels they didn't necessarily work for the subject matter or what the audience expects.
If it's any consolation for Warner Bros., the success of "Wonder Woman" did alleviate some of the pressure on "Justice League" to perform exceptionally well at the box office. Audiences also appear to have enjoyed the film, particularly foreign with the film's global opening pegged at $281.5 million.
