‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Adds $3 Million as Weekend Box Office Sinks Back Below $10 Million

With the pandemic dragging on and vaccine efforts falling behind schedule, the total domestic weekend box office once again fell below $10 million with “Wonder Woman 1984” leading the charts with $3 million to reach $32.6 million in domestic grosses after its third weekend.

Between widespread closures in Europe and lower-than-expected performance in China, the DC blockbuster has now grossed just $131.4 million worldwide. That’s well behind the $207 million grossed by fellow Warner Bros.’ release “Tenet” to this point in its theatrical run, which came back in September when Europe and many other key overseas territories had more theaters open and better containment of COVID-19.

Elsewhere on the charts, Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Croods: A New Age” passed $125 million worldwide after adding $1.8 million domestically in its seventh weekend and $3.3 million overseas, giving it a global total of $127 million. Oscar hopeful “News of the World” is third on the charts with $1.24 million grossed in its third weekend, giving it a total of $7.1 million.

The meager grosses being earned in the pandemic box office are expected to continue ebbing away over the course of January and are not expected to get any kind of tangible bump until February when dramas like “Nomadland” and “Judas and the Black Messiah” are expected to hit theaters in hopes of building Oscar buzz. Theaters and studios are clinging to hope that the box office will be able to begin the recovery effort this spring should vaccination efforts progress enough under the incoming Biden presidency, but health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have warned that the U.S. may not be able to achieve herd immunity until September.

More to come…