Warner Bros. and DC Films movie Wonder Woman was one of the most talked about movie in 2017. The movie was the biggest grosser at the North America box office in the summer of 2017. The movie made over 411 million USD at North America box office alone.
The movie also established a number of the important new franchise across the world. The movie was one of the most critically acclaimed female-directed and female-starring movies.
DC Films have in the past made and released other solo superhero movies such as Spider-man which went on to leave its mark not just in US, but around the world.
Wonder woman also established a great new franchise which helped DC’s fortunes into the big consumer market. DC’s superheros like Spiderman, Batman and now Wonder woman have created their own demand in various consumer market. For eg. The gambling industry has created DC heroes themed online slots to attract people with varied interests.
However, the movie didn’t do so great in India. Why is that?
It’s not true that the movie didn’t do good only in Indian Market. Other than the US, Wonder woman couldn’t attract viewers in large numbers in most of the countries including UK, France, and China.
In India however, the movie was expected to do well as it was all over the Internet before it even released in the country.
Some analysts have blamed Indian audience for this under-performance of the movie. According to them, a female superhero was very new for Indian audiences and is unfamiliar to many people.
Another reason could be that wonder woman is not a popular superhero in India. It’s only after the movie became famous in the west, that Indian audience started talking about it.
Third, and the most important reason for Wonder woman failure in India is that the movie didn’t get enough screens to release on.
Audience from Delhi has said that the movie was available on less than 10 screens in its the first weekend in entire Delhi. Also, where the movie actually released, very few people actually showed up for it.
The movie also faced challenges from the distributor’s side. It is often seen that other than top franchise movies, other movies don’t attract distributors in large number.
It is often seen that when an English movie does better in big cities in India, it continues to do well in smaller cities. The same thing happened with Wonder Woman. Though the movie got much hype and praise, people didn’t actually turn up in the theatres.
Now, however, its time that we start accepting female protagonist oriented movies in India. In India, we respect young girls and consider them as deities but fail to actually empower them.
Women constitute half of the population, and it’s time to empower this other half section of society, and make them feel a true ‘wonder woman.’