'Wonder Woman' is now the highest-grossing superhero origin movie of all time

• "Wonder Woman" is now the highest-grossing superhero origin movie of all time, with $821.749 million worldwide.
• It surpasses longtime chart-topper, 2002's "Spider-Man."

Finally some good news for Warner Bros.

The studio has cause to celebrate, as its hit summer movie "Wonder Woman" has passed 2002's "Spider-Man" to become the highest-grossing superhero origin movie of all time.

The movie based on the legendary DC Comic, starring Gal Gadot in the title role and directed by Patty Jenkins, edged passed Sam Rami's Sony blockbuster earlier this week, having now earned a worldwide total of $821.749 million. "Spider-Man" has a worldwide total of $821.708 million. This is obviously not counting inflation, in which case Spidey would still be ahead, coming in at over $1 billion.

But that shouldn't diminish the achievement by "Wonder Woman." The movie business is very different today from how it was 15 years ago. In the early 2000s, most of us had no idea how much streaming services would change our moviegoing appetites.

And we should also tip our caps to Warner Bros., which used the long-tail approach with "Wonder Woman." The studio kept it in theaters worldwide long after most superhero movie runs (partly to keep it in awards season talk), and that's a major reason why the movie is now number one.

This news couldn't come at a better time for the studio. Earlier this week, it was busy having to navigate the sexual misconduct allegations against director-producer Brett Ratner, who is a partner at RatPac-Dune Entertainment, a company that has financed many of the studio's recent successes, including "Wonder Woman," the fall hit movie "It," and Oscar favorite "Dunkirk."

Ratner has since announced that he's stepping away from his involvement in all Warner Bros. projects.

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