Weekend In Review: WONDER WOMAN Dominates, TWIN PEAKS Returns
Welcome to Weekend In Review, a new column we'll be running every Sunday afternoon here at Birth.Movies.Death. The premise is simple: a surface-level appraisal of the weekend's box office numbers, its various pop cultural happenings, and an open thread where we can all discuss what we're doing (and watching) on our days off. Our only request? Keep your comments spoiler-free, as not to ruin anyone else's weekend.
It was clear, long before this weekend arrived, that Wonder Woman was going to dominate at the box office. The only question was: how thoroughly would it dominate? $75M opening? $90M? With a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A CinemaScore, the sky seemed to be the limit.
Well, the dust is still settling, but early estimates have Warner Bros.' latest superhero launch coming in around $101M (that's a domestic estimate based on Thursday night through Sunday), a wee bit higher than some box office prognosticators had it pegged at. According to Deadline, this means Wonder Woman now owns the sixth-best June opening of all time, as well as the second-highest opening for any DCU movie (Man Of Steel's still the reigning champ at $116M). It's also the highest opening ever for a female director. Wherever Patty Jenkins is right now, I hope she's celebrating with much champagne.
Oh, and Captain Underpants came in second with about $25M.
In other news, Twin Peaks fans are gearing up for a brand-new episode of Showtime's revival, the first to go live since the first four episodes dropped during the show's premiere weekend. Some people (read: those blessed with self-control) were wise enough to space things out a bit, and to wait until last weekend to watch episodes three and four. The rest of us (read: those blessed with no self-control) binged those eps all at once and have been waiting not-so-patiently ever since for episode five.
On a personal note: the Birth.Movies.Death. staff is taking turns reviewing Twin Peaks as new episodes air, and I'm up to bat for episode five. I've been dreading the writing of that review all week, because a) I find the show to be essentially review-proof and b) trying to recap this show straight-up seems pointless. Oh, well! Whatever happens this evening, we'll have something for you on the front page either late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.
And, finally, looking forward to next weekend: Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy arrives on Thursday, the first volley in Universal's bid to relaunch the Universal Monsters in their own interconnected, Marvel-style universe. Word on the street is not particularly strong and the trailers left many of us wanting, but come on: it's an action-horror spectacular wherein Tom Cruise battles a Mummy.
Of course we're going to show up for it.
That about does it on our end, but how about you folks? Didja get to see Wonder Woman this weekend? If so, what'd you think? If not, what the hell were you watching? Excited to have a new Twin Peaks on the horizon? Have you already got your Mummy tickets purchased? We wanna know what you've been up to! The space below is yours to do with as you see fit (reminder: please refrain from spoiler talk), so go nuts!
