Box Office Report: ‘The Mummy’ Bombs, ‘Wonder Woman’ Soars


At the box office this weekend, The Mummy squared off with reigning champ Wonder Woman… and lost. As a full disclosure, industry executives were estimating that The Mummy was going to fall in a lower range at the domestic box office, but it still fell short of its upfront calculations.

From data compiled on Box Office Mojo, it is apparent at this point that Universal’s planned Dark Universe of films, which includes The Mummy, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dracula and others, will not find the golden dollar nor the key to success that Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has enjoyed.

With The Mummy picking up an embarrassing $32 million over the weekend in the Unites States, it is clear that despite the star power Tom Cruise brings to the film, it was never destined to perform well at home.

By comparison, the remake of The Mummy is, in fact, the second go at the franchise with Brendan Fraser taking the lead role in the 1999 reboot of the popular monster film. Nearly 18 years ago, that same film debuted at $43 million. Some might think that the difference is negligible, but you need to consider the adjustment necessary for inflation. It went on to gross a total of $155 million in the United States and $415 million worldwide. The sequel to the Brendan Fraser film also outperformed the original, raking in $202 million in the United States.

There is, however, a saving grace to having Tom Cruise in The Mummy. Even though the film has officially bombed at the domestic box office, it has soared overseas and pushed the box office returns well over its production budget. It cost $125 million to make the film and has taken in $141 million overseas.

Tom Cruise is a big name star, but his movies have not been the biggest box office hits at home. It is overseas where he gets most of his mojo, at least at the box office. In total, The Mummy has brought in $174 million with 81 percent of that gross coming from foreign markets.

Debuting at number one again on the box office chart is the big DC success story of the year, Wonder Woman. The film has far exceeded industry expectations and it is on par with the 2013 release of Man of Steel, in terms of box office success.

Bringing in $57 million this weekend at the domestic box office in its second week, the film has now repeated as the reigning champ. That includes knocking of the newcomer Mummy on the list by nearly $25 million, which is impressive, to say the least.

Wonder Woman has also performed very well overseas, raking in $230 million in its first two weeks. Combined with its domestic box office haul of $205 million, Wonder Woman has totaled an impressive $435 million over the past two weeks and shows no sign of slowing down.

The production budget for Wonder Woman was returned in its first weekend of worldwide box office receipts. It cost a staggering $149 million to make the film, but the cash seems to have been well invested.

Rounding out the top five slots at the box office this weekend are Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie($12.3 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales ($10.7 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($6.2 million).

The second installment for Guardians of the Galaxy has had a really impressive box office run now with $366 million domestic and $828 million worldwide. Even though the movie is winding down now that is has been in release for six weeks, it still posts impressive returns at the box office and fans really seem to enjoy the Marvel film.

[Featured Image by Universal Studios]

Share this article: Box Office Report: ‘The Mummy’ Bombs, ‘Wonder Woman’ Soars
More from Inquisitr