'Wonder Woman 2' will allow heroines to go where few have gone before

Once Wonder Woman raked in $103.2 million domestically it's opening weekend, a sequel seemed like a slam dunk.

But, as I'll get to, history shows it wasn't.

Which is why Wonder Woman 2 being officially announced and given a release date of December 13, 2019 is welcome, outstanding news.

When you consider there have been 74 films total, in the history of Hollywood. featuring an action heroine, the odds against a sequel for any of them are rare.

Of course, there have been a few. Here are the only eight action heroine franchises to date, with a brief summary for each:

The Hunger Games – With four films from 2012-2015 that generated $1.45 billion domestically and $2.9 billion worldwide, this is the most popular action heroine franchise by far. However, a complaint by many is that Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen doesn't really do much, but is instead part of a love triangle and used as a symbol. Which partly explains why the concluding two-film Mockingjay finale saw the box-office dip pretty dramatically.

Divergent – There have been three installments of this franchise, which stars Shailene Woodley as Tris. The first two installments, Divergent in 2014 and Insurgent in 2015, were successful, generating $150 million domestically and $130 million domestically respectfully. However, 2016's Allegiant barely made more it's entire domestic run — $66 million — than the previous two installments did their opening weekends. in response, Lionsgate has shelved the concluding chapter, which is kind of a bummer.

Charlie's Angels  – People tend to forget this franchise, which starred Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. Although only Liu is taken seriously as an action star, the first Charlie's Angels grossed $125 million in 2000, which earned a sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, which earned $100 million domestically in 2003.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – With both star Angelina Jolie and the character on which the film is based at the peak of their popularity, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider grossed $131 million domestically in 2001. This success green lit a sequel, but the horrid reaction of critics and fans was crushing and it less than 50 percent its opening weekend and finished with only $65 million its entire domestic run.

Miss Congeniality  – Yep. Sandra Bullock qualifies as an action heroine here, even though comedy makes up a large part of the franchise. The first film was a well-received hit in 2000 and grossed $106 million domestically. For some reason, it took five years for the sequel, 2005's Miss Congeniality:  Armed and Fabulous — which didn't do so fabulous, only $48 million domestically, ending the franchise.

Alien – The first four films in this series — which technically now has eight — were centered around Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ripley character. Using inflation-adjusted numbers, the $78 million Alien made domestically in 1979 would be the equivalent of $279 million today and you get a sense of how huge this franchise was. Aliens made the equivalent of $204 million today, while Alien 3 did not resonate nearly as well, with the equivalent of $118 million. When Alien Resurrection brought Ripley back from the dead, it still failed to inject life back into the franchise, as the installment grossed the equivalent of $92 million today.

Underworld –  This much-maligned franchise has produced five films that have generated a combined total of $252 million domestically. All but one of the installments of the franchise, which started with the original Underworld in 2003, have starred Kate Beckinsale as Selene, the unquestioned head of the franchise. The one prequel that did not star Beckinsale starred Rhona Mitra.

Resident Evil – This critically skewered franchise has managed to rake in $271 million from six installments — all of which have Milla Jovovich as the unquestioned lead.

To put a Wonder Woman 2 in even greater perspective, Wonder Woman has grossed more domestically by itself than any of these other franchises combined, save for "Hunger Games", and "Alien" is the only other one to have it's franchise sell more tickets than Wonder Woman has by itself.