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Batman V. Superman Sets Box Office Record: But It’s Not A Good One

By Anna Johansson
Published on: 06:20 PST, Mar 30, 2016

Critics predicted that Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice would break box office records, but the turnout wasn’t exactly what they were expecting. They broke box office records all right, but not all the records were positive.

It’s important to note that DC’s newest film did net the seventh largest opening weekend of all time in the box office, but it broke another record that’s not so good: the record of worst audience drop-off over a weekend for any superhero movie in the history of box office records.

On Monday, Warner Bros. studios released the opening domestic weekend gross for Batman V. Superman at $166.1 million. It’s the second biggest opening for Warner Bros. film, coming behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, which made $169 million.

It also broke the record for biggest opening-weekend figure for pre-summer sales with the largest opening in the month of March and Easter weekend. These are several small records, but that’s about where the good praise ends.

Forbes shows that the revenue from the box office dropped a surprising 55 percent between Friday and Sunday, and 38 percent between Friday and Saturday. In other words, viewers went to see the film and didn’t tell their friends to go or return for a second viewing.

Ben Affleck's debut wasn't quite as successful as the producers may have hoped. It's hard to replace an actor like Christian Bale in the role of Batman when his predecessor has been identified with that character for so long. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images]
Ben Affleck’s debut wasn’t quite as successful as the producers may have hoped. It’s hard to replace an actor like Christian Bale in the role of Batman when his predecessor has been identified with that character for so long. [Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images]
The drop in box office revenue could turn out to be very negative for the makers of the film. It cost $250 million to produce, not counting the marketing, promotion, and advertising spent on the movie, which will no doubt be twice the cost of production. Throughout the world, it’s grossed $468 million so far, meaning it needs several more million to go before the producers break even.

There’s not too much worry that the film will be profitable, however. It’s still young in the box office, and it’ll no doubt reap the rewards before it goes on DVD and Blu-ray and after.

In addition to the money disappearing, the good ratings also shrunk dramatically, as evidenced by Rotten Tomatoes’ user ratings. When the weekend began the “tomatometer,” which is a percentage based on audience reviews and ratings, gave the film a 47 percent, but by the end of the weekend, it had dropped to 29 percent.

The ratings also dropped on IMDB over the weekend, going from an 8.0 on Thursday to 7.4 by the end of the weekend. The Guardian also gives it 2 out of 5, and Metacritic 44 percent. These reviews are well under what critics predicted. Viewers must have taken the weekend to log their negative reactions to the film.

Critics have been divided on the reviews for the film. Some jump to the defense that fans were disappointed that Christian Bale opted out of playing Batman for the film, replaced by Ben Affleck, so that’s a big reason that the film didn’t perform so well. They argue that some would have liked it if they were to give Ben a chance. Some are also arguing that the wildly successful Marvel films have corrupted critic reviews, even though the two worlds are extremely different.

Henry Cavill, the actor who plays Superman, has taken to defending the film, despite negative reviews all over the internet. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Henry Cavill, the actor who plays Superman, has taken to defending the film, despite negative reviews all over the internet. [Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]
Others argue that it was anti-climactic and the conflict between Batman and Superman resolved too easily. They also claim that there was far too much going on throughout the plot to keep track of everything and feel the true meaning of the film.

Fans had various reactions to the film as well. Some loved it and others struggled to see the point. Here are some of the reactions on Twitter this past weekend.

https://twitter.com/lLOVEGOTHGIRLS/status/714934186168070144

https://twitter.com/rhealeefern/status/714640879701635072

The mixed reviews aside, the film has still grossed a pretty penny over the weekend, despite one of the worst weekend box office records in history.

[Image via Bryan Bedder/Getty Images]

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