A rough translation of Warner Bros.’ Current Marketing for Batman v Superman: Bad reviews? Bring it on! We’re the home of bad superhero movies, and you can’t stop us! [Maniacal laugh] People will keep on buying tickets no matter what. They can’t help themselves! [Maniacal laugh] They just can’t get enough of the loud things going boom, the punching and the kicking, the nonsense dream sequences and the versions of Batman and Superman whose facial expressions make it look like they each spend the entire movie caught in the middle of the word’s most difficult shit [Maniacal laugh] But, no, seriously, you people will buy anything we sell you with these two characters.
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Do you hear this fellow film fans? Now is not the time to cowtow to WB tyrants as they count their money and delight in having backed into the first truly critic and audience-proof superhero movie in history. There have been poorly reviewed superhero movies before, and there have been superhero movies audiences didn’t like.* But there has never been a Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. No movie this disliked has ever made this much money!
This injustice cannot stand. They must be stopped. Superhero movies are many things, but they’ve been never been Transformers. That’s what Batman v Superman is, and where the rest of the DC Cinematic Universe might be heading.
Rise up, friends. Post your best angry Picard meme:
The battle of Batman v Superman v Audiences has only just begun. We all lost last weekend, but we can forge ahead this weekend. Stop this black hole of a movie. Don’t let it have a big second weekend.
How can we achieve such a lofty goal? Picket theaters? Set up shop inside theater lobbies and warn off any curious ticket-buyer? Establish a self-help line for those who are thinking about seeing Batman v Superman?
Um, wow. Those are some extreme options you’re throwing out there. I was just thinking we’d write sarcastic blog posts, and then dovetail into a summation of a recent THR article debating just how far Batman v Superman might fall this weekend:
Early Friday returns suggest the Warner Bros. movie could earn anywhere between $58 million-$60 million from 4,256 theaters in its sophomore outing, a decline of 64 percent-65 percent, more than marquee superhero movies including Avengers: Age of Ultron (59 percent) and The Dark Knight (53 percent) but on par with Snyder’s previous film, Man of Steel.
Some industry observers suggest that a weekend decline of anything less than 70 percent is acceptable. They also note that blockbuster Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 actually tumbled 72 percent in its second weekend, while The Twilight Saga: The New Moon slipped 70 percent. Both movies were fan driven and hence front-loaded.
Warner Bros. also dismisses any concern, pointing out that Batman v. Superman has already earned $554 million globally and that it’s continuing to do healthy business after breaking a number of records in its first weekend, including nabbing the best March opening of all time domestically and the No. 1 superhero debut at the worldwide box office.
Basically, no matter how far it drops WB will spin it into a positive, likely bragging about all the other superhero movies it will have leapfrogged in total domestic gross. But if you are someone who’s rooting against the film a drop of 70% would feel like some kind of validation. However, as a reminder Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was similarly disliked by audiences (according to CinemaScore) and critics (according to RottenTomatoes), and it merely went on to be one of the 15 highest grossing films of all time to that point.
How far do you think Batman v Superman will drop? Are you rooting for or against it? It’s pretty obvious which side of that particular divide I fall on.
* Mandatory pause to acknowledge that some people actually like Batman v Superman.
Source: THR
