Originally published November 17, 2017. Updated April 18, 2018.
The sixth and final superhero movie of 2017 hit cinemas today, as Warner Bros. assembles its greatest heroes for the DC team-up movie Justice League.
It’s the second superhero movie we’ve had in recent weeks after Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, and according to THR, executives at Warner Bros. are apparently sweating over Justice League’s opening weekend, being concerned that it may fail to outperform its Marvel rival.
“If a B character from Marvel shut downs and outperforms the A team from DC, that’s an embarrassment,” the trade quotes an insider at the studio. “It’s going to be a stressful weekend for some [Warners] execs.”
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews of Justice League here and here.
Thor: Ragnarok opened to $122.7 million domestically, while Justice League is said to be tracking between $110 million and $120 million – although as we’ve seen on numerous occasions, tracking is often wide of the mark.
Warner’s last DC movie Wonder Woman debuted to $103.3 million earlier this year, although Justice League’s Thursday night takings were $2 million higher than the Amazon Princess’ solo debut, with the film grossing $13 million in North America last night.
Globally, Justice League has been tipped to pull in around $325 million from its opening weekend, and it is being reported that the movie will need to top $600 million worldwide in order to break even, given that it’s budget – including extensive reshoots – is said to have surpassed $300 million.
SEE ALSO: Marvel’s Kevin Feige “can’t wait” to see Justice League, asks fans “what are you fighting about?”
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
Justice League will reunite Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta and Robin Wright as General Antiope alongside J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) as Commissioner Gordon, Amber Heard (The Danish Girl) as Mera, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) as Vulko, Kiersey Clemons (Dope) as Iris West and Ciaran Hinds (Game of Thrones) as Steppenwolf.
