Everybody likes a good rivalry. Whether it’s sports teams, video game systems, or cable channels, people like to see two titans duke it out claim dominance over the other. This is certainly the case with the never ending DC/Marvel conflict. Originally just pertaining to the comics, the rivalry has extended into TV and movies, with the studios attempting to produce more successful content than their competitor. This weekend Marvel took the cake, with Captain America: Civil War beating two different Batman movies at the box office.
Forbes recently compiled the statistics for Captain America: Civil War’s box office performance for its third weekend of release. And while The Angry Birds Movie is giving Civil War a run for its money in theaters, the combined domestic and international earnings are kicking some DC ass.
Currently, Civil War has earned $347 million domestically. This sum has just edged out its competition with DC’s own superhero clash movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which brought in $328 million. So in addition to garnering more positive critical response, Civil War has also beaten Batman v Superman in regards to cold hard American cash.
Captain America: Civil War is also giving another critical darling a run for its money. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy has been regarded as possibly the best comic book films of all time. However, Civil War has just surpassed the total gross of The Dark Knight, with its whopping $1.053 billion. All is not lost for DC, though, as The Dark Knight Rises is still beating out Civil War with its $1.084 billion international earnings.
While Captain America: Civil War has beaten out some DC records, comparison between the two isn’t exactly fair. Civil War is the culmination of eight years and 13 films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Moviegoers and comic book fans have invested a great deal of time and money to see each character fleshed out, so obviously they’d have a vested interest in seeing nearly every major character duke it out in an airport.
Conversely, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was only the second serialized DC film, and was essentially the launching point for the DC Extended Universe as a whole. While fans were eager to see Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman together on screen, it didn’t have quite the high stakes that Civil War did. Moviegoers went into theaters wondering what they were going to see, rather than seeing years of films cumulate into a boiling point.
Of course, the quality of films and their critical reception surely affects their overall success. While Captain America: Civil War was praised as being one of the best superhero movies of all time, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received a much colder reception. On the other side, The Dark Knight trilogy garnered a ton of praise, which is probably why The Dark Knight Rises still has the international box office pull to fight back against Marvel’s juggernaut.
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