Over the course of the last two weekends, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) has reigned supreme at the box office. Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman has taken all comers and emerged victorious at every turn. However, like all royalty, Diana's rule will eventually come to an end, and the numbers are beginning to suggest that Pixar's Cars 3 may steal her box office throne this weekend.
As the early figures start to roll in, it appears that the tide of the box office battle has begun to shift away from Diana Prince. With the third installment in Pixar's Cars franchise debuting in theaters this weekend on June 16, all eyes are on the latest Disney offering to steal the top spot away from Wonder Woman. The animated adventure is expected to earn between $55 million to $65 million (generally lining up with the earnings of previous entries), which should allow it to take the top spot as Wonder Woman's earnings dip going into its third weekend.
Even if Cars 3 beats Wonder Woman at the box office this weekend (which, per Variety, is expected to happen), it's still worth acknowledging how impressive Diana Prince's run has been thus far. Despite initially low projections -- relative to other recent DC films, that is -- Wonder Woman opened strong on June 2, and STAYED strong through two consecutive weekends. The female-fronted superhero even managed to trounce The Mummy, which brought in a measly $32 million during its domestic opening weekend. Tom Cruise can outrun quite a bit, but he couldn't outrun the DC heroine.
We should note that Cars 3 does not have a guaranteed shot at victory this weekend. Wonder Woman experienced a historically low Friday to Friday dip in earnings between its first and second weeks in theaters, so there's always a chance that it could maintain that momentum. Moreover, the Cars films don't necessarily perform very well with critics when compared to other Pixar franchises, with the most recent Cars movie widely considered the worst film in Pixar's library. Cars 3 is expected to win, but Diana Prince still has a fighting chance on this battlefield.
No matter which film comes out on top, I think it's safe to say that it's going to be a great weekend to go to the movies. Wonder Woman is currently in theaters, and Cars 3 will debut tomorrow on June 16. Check out our movie premiere guide to keep yourself up to date on the rest of the debuts set for the remainder of this year!
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