We're about a month away from the release of Wonder Woman and a lot of people are really concerned how the movie is finally going to turn out. Official reviews have not yet been released but some industry people have seen the film and one of them in now talking. John Shaw, the President of a motion picture consulting firm, has seen Wonder Woman and he has nothing but good things to say about it, comparing to another wartime comic book movie, Captain America.
There's not much nuance in the statement "exciting & entertaining in every way." That pretty much says it all. A brief look at John Shaw's Twitter feed where this comment was posted reveals that the industry insider posts a lot of comments about upcoming films, often with predictions of how the film's box office will do. While he never really says anything bad about a movie, he doesn't necessarily heap praise on everything in quite this way, so his comments can probably be taken as they are, though within that context.
His specific praise is for the effects and the characters. If we want to read between the lines, there could be a statement here that the plot could be weak. He doesn't make a comment about the story in any way. Still, if the characters are strong, and that can go a long way to helping to carry an audience through a story that's not necessarily that exciting. In the end, seeing Wonder Woman as a strong character is what a lot of people are hoping for, so every indication that's the case is a good thing.
The comparison to Captain America is one that certainly makes sense. Both are comic book movies that will be set during major global wars. We would expect some things about them to be similar. John Shaw mentions that Captain America: The First Avenger did $370 million at the global box office. It's not clear if he is implying that he thinks Wonder Woman will perform similarly. While $370 million would be a solid box office take, it would put the film far behind the rest of the DCEU as far as box office. Man of Steel is currently at the bottom of that list with a $291 million domestic take. It still broke $600 million globally. It's likely that Wonder Woman will surpass Captain America at the box office. Even if the movie doesn't set records domestically, it's global take will almost certainly be massive due to the characters' name recognition.
Of course, the other thing to consider in the comparison is that Captain America: The First Avenger isn't the most well regarded of the Marvel Studios films thus far. It's not the worst movie that Marvel has produced, it's still a good movie overall, it's quality is underrated in my opinion, but many didn't really get behind Captain America as a character until Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Still, it's clear that in the eyes of this viewer, the comparison is a very positive one. We'll find out for ourselves when Wonder Woman hits theaters June 2.
