As expected, the DC Extended Universe kicked off on a high note. But despite negative reception from critics (29% on Rotten Tomatoes), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice still brought in massive crowds, earning a much huger-than-expected $170.1 million, for a huge $40,099 per-venue average from 4,242 locations. That ranks as the sixth-biggest opening weekend of all-time, trailing only Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, both Avengers films and Iron Man 3. It also is the biggest March opener, the biggest Easter opener, and the biggest opening ever for a movie outside of the summer and holiday seasons (The Hunger Games was the previous record holder with a $152 million start). Unadjusted for inflation, Dawn of Justice opened higher than both The Dark Knight ($151 million), The Dark Knight Rises ($161 million), and if the estimate holds, will edge out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II ($169.2 million) to become the biggest opening weekend in distributor Warner Bros.' history.This opening clearly was fueled by massive fan interest in seeing these two titans duke it out on the big screen. With the negative reviews and the mixed reception director Zach Snyder's previous effort Man of Steel received, one does wonder if this movie could have gone higher without those disadvantages. But, Warner Bros. is still very happy with this debut, and when you kick off a cinematic multiverse with an opening number topped by only 3 other superhero movies, you're off to a heck of a start. Batman v Superman also topped Deadpool's $136 million start, showing that there's a wider audience interest for PG-13 superhero flicks (not discounting the huge amount of money that movie has made either though).
Audience reception was better than critics, but still somewhat down-the-middle with a "B" CinemaScore. How that affects the movie's staying power is a major question mark. There isn't anything out for major studios next week, and the first real competition for the flick won't arrive until Disney's The Jungle Book remake on April 15. A heavy drop should be expected though with the seemingly mixed reception, though. We should get a better idea next weekend about how high Batman v. Superman will fly domestically at the box office.
Overseas, the film exploded with $254 million from just about every territory in the world. With $424 million worldwide, Batman v. Superman had the 4th-biggest global launch in history behind Star Wars, Jurassic World and Harry Potter's final movie, and the 5th-largest overseas opening. This was helped by a very good $57 million start in China and $21 million start in the U.K. This kind of start shows that the superhero pic is very likely to finish above $1 billion worldwide, only the 25th movie in history to do so.
This is all good news to Warner Bros., who is launching a film universe with this movie (Suicide Squad is nearly complete for an August release, while Wonder Woman is set for June 2017 with the first of a two-part Justice League about to start filming for a November 2017 release). The budget here was an undoubtedly risky $250 million, more than most blockbusters. Add to that a massive amount of marketing, and Warner Bros. and DC were in need of record numbers this weekend. Well, the gamble paid off. Warner Bros. was predicting a $120-140 million start.
Batman v. Superman wasn't the only movie in theaters this weekend, however. Disney Animation continued bringing in audiences for their latest animated smash Zootopia. The critically-adored toon was off 38% in its fourth weekend to $23.1 million, for a huge $240.5 million, passing the final grosses of Tangled and Big Hero 6 over the last week. Zootopia is on track for a finish above $300 million domestically, and will have no more real competition until fellow Disney pic The Jungle Book opens. Overseas, it continues to roar, with the film about to pass $700 million with Japan left to open. The possibility is getting stronger for two $1+ billion earners worldwide in the Spring season alone.
Meanwhile, the other new release did very decent numbers in the face of dueling superheroes. Comedy sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 pulled in $18.1 million in third place, for a very decent $5,784 per-venue average from 3,133 locations. Arriving 14 years after the first movie was a surprise blockbuster at $240 million, 2 was still able to pull in a solid audience despite the competition and the negative reviews (25% on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences liked it ("A-" CinemaScore), and there isn't much competition for older audiences in the coming weeks. This may have good legs, but it would be outrageous and ridiculous to expect this to hold anywhere near as well as its predecessor, which truly hooked itself into the mainstream. Distributor Universal produced this for $18 million (which was matched on a single weekend), and they were thinking of a low-teens millions debut.
Easter weekend featured a tie for fourth place between last weekend's openers. The Divergent Series: Allegiant and Miracles from Heaven are both estimated at $9.5 million. The third installment in the YA trilogy badly took a hit from the superheroes, falling 67%. Its' at a disappointing $46.6 million gross in 10 days, and while it will benefit a bit from Spring Break this week, probably will finish with only just a little bit over half of Insurgent's $130 million final gross. Worldwide, its at a little over $100 million so far from most territories.
Miracles fared a lot better, and was off a decent 36% from last weekend. Jennifer Garner's faith-based flick (which I'm seeing tomorrow) is at a solid $34.1 million gross in nine days and will hope to continue to hold well in the coming weeks (though God's Not Dead 2 won't help matters when it comes out on Friday). 10 Cloverfield Lane followed with a 52% drop to $6 million, for a very decent $56 million gross in 17 days. Look for a finish near $70 million for the well-received thriller.
The biggest surprise of the weekend, however, was Deadpool shockingly holding its ground in the face of the Caped Crusader and Dark Knight. The R-rated cesspool was off just 38% to $5 million, for a huge $349.5 million gross in seven weeks of release. Its' about to pass American Sniper for the 2nd-biggest R-rated movie of all-time in the U.S., while its $746 million worldwide total passes The Matrix Reloaded as the biggest R-rated film of all-time worldwide,
London Has Fallen was down 57% in the face of the superhero battle to $2.9 million, for an OK $55.6 million pick-up in 24 days. Two limited releases round out the Top 10. Hello, my Name is Doris expanded to nearly 500 locations, and earned a decent $1.7 million. One of the final roles for Alan Rickman, war drama Eye in the Sky, earned $1 million from 123 locations (and the victor of per-venue averages, $8,140 vs. $3,486).
And that's it for this post. Hope all had a great Easter weekend! Next weekend the only major release is the wildly-anticipated God's Not Dead 2, which is tracking for an opening in the mid-teens millions, a huge start for a Christian movie. But, Batman v. Superman will easily remain on top. We'll see how things pan out next weekend. :)
