Wonder Woman Is Best-Reviewed DC or Marvel Superhero Film

CBR

Wonder Woman Is the Best-Reviewed DC Film Since The Dark Knight

By Kevin Melrose

Published May 31, 2017

With a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Wonder Woman is standing above both Marvel and DC's superhero films.

UPDATE (3:15 p.m. ET): Wonder Woman has been "Certified Fresh" by Rotten Tomatoes, with a 95 percent rating from 98 reviews.

Two days before its wide release, Wonder Woman is on a course to become one of the best-reviewed superhero movies ever, surpassing The Dark Knight and the entire output of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The latest release in Warner Bros.' fledgling DC Extended Universe has lassoed a 97 percent rating (up 1 percent from Tuesday) on Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates professional reviews. Of the 76 cataloged on the website as of this morning, just two are considered negative.

With that 97 percent rating, Wonder Woman towers above earlier DCEU releases Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (28 percent), Suicide Squad (25 percent) and Man of Steel (55 percent), and inches past Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (94 percent), widely considered the gold standard by which all other DC Comics-inspired films are measured.

For further comparison, Marvel Studios' best-reviewed film, 2008's Iron Man, has a 94 percent rating; Pixar's beloved The Incredibles is "certified fresh" at 97 percent.

Many more reviews will be added to Rotten Tomatoes as Wonder Woman rolls out in theaters worldwide, which will of course likely affect its rating, one way or another. However, it's important to note that these overwhelmingly positive assessments may help to inoculate the Patty Jenkins film against the kryptonite of previous DCEU installments: massive dropoffs in ticket sales in the second weekend of release, attributed to negative reviews and poor word of mouth. Batman v Superman plunged 81 percent in its second Friday; Suicide Squad fell 79 percent; and Man of Steel tumbled 71.5 percent. If Wonder Woman can avoid that second-weekend pitfall -- and that early buzz indicates that it can -- the film could have legs.

Pre-release tacking for Wonder Woman has been all over the place, with the latest estimates pointing to a domestic opening weekend of between $65 million and $75 million. However, Forbes predicts the film could open much stronger in North America, paving the way for it to end its worldwide run in the $700 million range.

Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers … and her true destiny.

Opening Friday nationwide, Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Lucy Davis, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner, Saïd Taghmaoui and David Thewlis.