Can Tom Cruise and ‘The Mummy’ Battle Down ‘Wonder Woman’s Box Office Glory?

Last week, movie fans saw history made as Wonder Woman conquered the box office, pulling in record numbers for a female-directed film, starring a female superhero. Now, with this coming week, we’ll see Tom Cruise’s new movie The Mummy hit theaters, leading to an interesting cultural showdown at the cineplex.

Right now, the zeitgeist is buzzing with girl power pride, as the geek sector is buzzing with new hope for the DC Comics’ superhero movies. With Cruise and The Mummy, we’ll see a classic male action star trying to help launch an entirely new cinematic universe for Universal Pictures, a Dark Universe of classic monster characters, played by A-list actors like Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem and Russell Crowe.

So which paradigm will win out? The new age of female-led blockbusters, or the classic action star, carrying classic movie monsters on his back? According to estimates…

THR reports that The Mummy‘s opening box office has been downgraded, from around $40 million to about $35 million. Comparatively, Wonder Woman is expected to take in $50 million in week #2, a modest 50% drop from week one.

It’s not that surprising really: Wonder Woman overwhelming positive critical reception (highest rated Superhero movie on Rotten Tomatoes) and positive word-of-mouth amongst viewers (“A” Cinemascore) give it easy leverage over The Mummy. The fact is, even as a kick-off of the Dark Universe franchise, The Mummy is still essentially a reboot of a franchise that few wanted to see again – with a star (Cruise) who doesn’t necessarily light up the box office like he used to. Given that Wonder Woman and The Mummy have the same type of summer movie appeal (big action blockbusters), it’s also only natural that moviegoers pick one or the other, instead of doling out funds for both.

In our own user rankings, The Mummy currently holds a 3.79/5 anticipation rating (tell us how excited you are for the movie, HERE!); while Wonder Woman has a 4.41/5 ranking (rate that film yourself HERE!).

The Mummy opens in theaters on June 9th; Wonder Woman is currently in theaters everywhere.

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers, Universal Studios