While the critical reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is...mixed, there was one thing we could be fairly sure about: It was going to have a huge opening weekend. The only real concern was whether it would be big enough. If the film’s Thursday night preview screenings are any indication of what the weekend holds in store, Warner Bros. could be looking at even bigger opening weekend than expected.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thursday night audiences brought in $27.7 million to the US box office last night. That puts Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at number seven on the all-time list for Thursday night previews, just slightly ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which scored $27.6 million. It’s also the largest Easter weekend preview showing ever, nearly doubling up on Furious 7’s $15.8 million. This is in addition to the $7 million it’s already earned from audiences in other parts of the world on Thursday, as Dawn of Justice is receiving a nearly global simultaneous opening. It’s already screening in China, Russia, Germany, and Brazil as well as other countries.
The opening weekend box office has been looking good for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice so far. The film’s domestic estimates have recently been revised upwards from $140 million to $160 million and the film is expected to do $350 million across the globe by the time the weekend is up. It’s barely possible that Dawn of Justice could do even better than that. Avengers: Age of Ultron, the movie BvS just beat at the Thursday night box office, went on to earn more than $190 million in their opening weekend. Granted, that was during the more traditional summer season, but, as Star Wars: The Force Awakens taught us, any weekend of the year can put up summer numbers if the fan demand to see it is strong enough.
While many reviews of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have not been kind to the film, that rarely impacts an audience on opening weekend. Those who have been waiting for this movie for a long time will want to make their own judgements about the movie’s quality. Needless to say, there will be a lot of people going to the theater this weekend to make those decisions. The next question will be, will word of mouth from those fans be strong enough to keep the audience coming back.
Will you be contributing your cash to the opening weekend of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Let us know. If you already have, come to our spoiler section and let us know what you thought about it.
