So last week, Batman v Superman was released to less-than-stellar reviews. Critics were fairly hard on the film and, from some of the message boards/Facebook/Twitter/etc., people who went to see the film agreed.
Part of the vitriol responses I think comes from Superman fans/critics not liking Man of Steel, which I can understand. I, personally, enjoyed Man of Steel. The reasoning for some of the decisions Zack Snyder made in the film totally made sense to me for the movie. *Side note: I also though Zack’s interpretation of Watchmen–specifically the ending–was better than the comic book, and I loved the comic book.
So on to this weekend, Comic Book Resources shared that the second weekend of release for Batman v Superman had a 71% drop in ticket sales. What’s more surprising is that this weekend the movie wasn’t going up against another big release. So where are all the fans?
I want to see the movie but am planning on going later this week but it does speak volumes that two iconic characters such as Batman and Superman (as well as a plethora of others, apparently) can’t win out a second weekend yet Deadpool (another movie I haven’t seen yet. I know, I know!) can just keep truckin’ along to become the highest grossing R-rated movie. There hasn’t been a comic book based movie to have that type of drop in ticket sales since X-Men Origins: Wolverine and that movie was a crap fest. Does that mean though that BvS is too or are the fans taking the critics’ words as gospel?
Now I think that BvS will continue to make money, and I know I’m especially excited for the Director’s Cut/Super Cut/whatever-the-cut-they’re-selling-it-as-now Cut, but what does this movie’s initial success and subsequent drop-off say about the possible future of the DCEU? Suicide Squad looks fantastic but they’re already doing reshoots because all the one-liners and jokes in the movie were shared in the initial trailers. And I truly hope that WB/DC aren’t trying to play the catch-up game with Disney/Marvel because they flat-out can’t. Their characters, their comic universes, are built completely different and to rush out material is simply a disservice to DC’s characters.
But what do you think? Are you surprised by this drop-off in ticket sales for the movie or was it justified/expected? Is DC rushing to catch-up to Marvel?
*First comic book post – gotta say I’m pretty excited about it.