Well, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is finally here and it arrived with a huge opening weekend. It’s already claimed the largest opening in the month of March with $166.1 million and the largest global opening for a comic book movie with $420M. Early reviews following special screenings had die hard fans praising the film but a majority of professional critics and audiences were less favorable with their reviews. At the time of posting this, it currently sits with a 29% approval at Rotten Tomatoes and a ho-hum Cinemascore of B amongst audiences.
Despite the negative feedback, BvS was able to pull in an impressive haul over the Easter weekend and Pamela McClintock of the Hollywood Reporter offers five reasons why.
1. DC’S TRINITY
Comic book fans have been predicting this since Warner Bros announced the movie three years ago - it’s Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman on the big screen together. Three of the most iconic heroes ever. The allure was too great.
"The opening weekend of Batman v. Superman was always going to be critic-proof — this is a film for fans of all ages of the iconic comic book characters," explains box-office analyst Jeff Bock. "However, the key element here is successive weekends, which will likely suffer greatly. As it stands, Batman v. Superman will likely drop like a rock in its second weekend. Easter was golden for Batman v. Superman, but the aftermath might be rotten eggs. Positive reviews would have eased the drop."
ComScore's (an internet analytics company) Paul Dergarabedian, adds, "For moviegoers, all the naysayers and negative reviews were like your annoying aunt who tells you to eat your veggies because they are better for you than that yummy candy bar. You know she’s right, but you will still want to eat the damn candy bar. The reviews at this point had zero impact. Putting these two iconic characters in a celebrity death match of sorts was a truly irresistible and compelling concept. The audience decided this one with their hearts and their gut, not someone else’s opinion. How could you not want to see this movie if you are a superhero fan?"
2. OPENING DAY-AND-DATE
Rather than opening overseas first, then reaching the states, (or vice versa), Batman v Superman opened everywhere at the same time, including China. That’s something tentpoles rarely do because of the difficulties of scheduling so many foreign markets. That’s especially true in China where Hollywood films open after the U.S. launch. BvS raked in $57.3M in the Middle Kingdom.
3. FANBOY FEVER
Exit polls conducted by comScore's PostTrak service on Saturday showed that fanboys made up a large chunk of the audience. More than 66 percent of ticket buyers were male, while 63 percent of the audience was between the ages of 18 and 34. No numbers on how many were repeat viewings. Older moviegoers, who are arguably more influenced by reviews, were more skeptical. Only 6 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 44, and only 3 percent over the age of 55.
4. A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS.
According to Bock and Dergarabedian, audiences were already finding their way back to theaters thanks to event titles like Jurassic World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Deadpool — Fox's irreverent, R-rated superhero movie that's made $745 million since opening back on Valentines Day weekend.
5. THE PERFECT RELEASE DATE
Remember when Batman v Superman was scheduled to open May 6th, opposite Captain America: Civil War? Warner pushed up its release date in order to avoid a showdown with Disney and Marvel's superhero mashup and it turned out to be a smart move.
There’s far less competition in Spring. Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, Warner Bros’ President of Worldwide Distribution says, ”It helped to be one of the big first films of the year, and going out earlier helped us get a day-and-date release in China,". She goes on to add "And in summer, we would have much more competition in the successive weekends."
BvS broke a number of records in its takeoff, including the biggest Easter weekend of all time, blowing past the $152.2M mark set by The Hunger Games.
Have you seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice yet? What did you think? Sound off below.