Why DC will dominate the future few years [by few I mean from 2020 up until 2025].
This probably sounds like a joke to the thousands of MCU loyalist here that have used Rotten Tomatoes for their winning argument here for 5 years now. What I mean by dominate is purely related to hype and anticipation. Whatever people will have you believe, DCU and MCU aren’t doing something that much different. Both studios started their shared universes to lesser Box Office success and the same type of audience and critics scores. And to be very specific when I say audience scores I mean iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, when I say critics scores I mean Rotten Tomatoes.
Now do not confuse a movie aggregate score for the actual 1 out of 10 score. I would even go as far and compare their pre shared universe attempts to launch with Green Lantern and Hulk , both movies made around the 220 Million worldwide gross and both movies are not included in the franchise. Currently the critics score for the DCU is 5.85 and MCU stands at 6.9, the difference is 1 point. You can make fun of Justice League [terrible movie] , but at that point in time in their early phase Marvel were making Captain America TFA and The Incredible Hulk, which aren’t that great too. Batman V Superman was accused of many things done wrong and most of them fit Iron Man 2 too as well. Anyway, leaving critics averages in %, the rest is a pretty close race, DCU first 5 movies have grossed 3.76 Billion compared to MCU’s first 6 for 3.8 Billion.
Why I think DC is bringing the heat. First off, Marvel is probably going to retire some of its heavy hitters like Iron Man, who has been part of so many movies in the past 10 years that I think we have pretty much got the hang of it by now. He has in Captain America and Spider-man, had 3 movies on his own and did 3 Avengers movies with another one coming next year.
That’s 9 movies in 10 years, it’s almost as we are seeing him every year, Captain America, Thor are closing in on him, so those are the main hitter that might go soon. What is Marvel left with Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and a final Guardians movie? Ok, sounds nice, but let’s break it down. Homecoming came out and with a sizeable Iron Man presence did not beat many of the previous movies adjusted for inflation, also the character since 2001 has had 6 movies so far coming in steady, with another coming next year featuring D list villains, since the A listers have been over used or are being developed by Sony as solos that aren’t connected.
Sounds a bit messy. On the other hand Ant-Man seems to be only relying on the fact that it’s a part of the MCU, two movies later the franchise hasn’t been able to become more than a sit com situated in a super hero franchise. Captain Marvel looks to be promising so far, but I am more inclined to believe Brie Larson will not be the next big Superhero franchise leader. Doctor Strange 2 isn’t something I am personally waiting for after the first movie inserted 30000 jokes that could have been skipped and showed us more Ditko inspired moments and mind-blowing FX. Anyway, he has a chance to become bigger if the 2nd movie does something original and unseen. Panther 2 would probably the biggest hit out of all these solo outings, not because of something else, but because politically correct media will praise the sit out of any form of the movie.
All in all we are in for some lesser known characters that will be fighting for ring leader after your main stars leave, the leader will dictate the tone of the new Avengers and as much as I hate to say it, at this point marvel desperately needs the X-Men inserted here as a life line for some story telling.
Furthermore, on the other hand we have a crazy looking Aquaman movie taking place underwater, never been done before by any movie in that aspect, with a great director and cast. We are getting a totally 360 tone wise Joker movie with Oscar winning cast members, that really doesn’t care about sequel’s. A 100 % female centric R rated BOP movie with a solidified Harley Quinn presence sounds like a easy fast win, smaller budget, great box office odds.
Then we have the sequel to the original female box office hit Wonder Woman 84, this movie really has a chance of doing some records and will be a hit anyway you look at it. We are also waiting for production start on The batman by one of the most exciting directors out there that made me watch 2 movies with monkeys way more intense that most other stuff out there and walk out a fan. Not to mention that so far word on the street is Batman isn’t going to feature many cross-universe references and that’s the best way to go about it. Then we have what is probably going to be a fun Flash solo movie focused on his own adventures, and not relying on world building.
All these movies can have sequels, so for the foreseeable future we are stacked with Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad-esque movies and then if and when a script and a director comes along we can get a Superman movie, Supergirl movie, Batgirl movie, not to mention that Shazam , which is coming next year and looks super fresh can cross paths with Black Adam sooner than later. Yes, surely Avengers 4 will be a hit and make money and things of that nature, but besides that I don’t think the MCU has much more left to show us, where DC feels like its starting now and is ready to whip out the big guns, The days of blaming Zack Snyder for low scores are done, let’s see how long can critics bash DC for things that are no longer present.
And since so many of you are triggered when you hear DC is winning, please go ahead and bash me in the comments, I know that all you want.
All in all, here is some trigger assumptions;
Aquaman – I predict worldwide gross between 700 Million and 950 Million;
Shazam – I predict total between 650 Million and 800 Million;
Joker – I predict this movie will take around 690 Million max if the studio releases it as an indie;
Birds of prey – I predict this movie will gross between 700 Million and 900 Million;
If Aquman hits these numbers, that will bring the unofficial DCU phase 1 [6 movies to a total of 4.5, 4.7 Billion total, which compared to 3.8 Billion isn’t that much worse]
Now hit the comment section to inform me how inaccurate this is.