Whatever your feelings were leading up to this movie, it seemed like almost a given that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would destroy the box office. The film is the first time that Batman and Superman, the two biggest and most well-known superheroes on the planet, were meeting on the big screen. That alone is enough to get butts into seats, but it seems that word of mouth can also be a strong factor. Unfortunately, the film did not get favorable reviews and the film's runtime and humorless tone were the final nails in the coffin. Its domestic run is officially over and we've got the final tally of how much money the movie made in America. Check it out.
This figure comes from the Twitter account of Gitesh Pandya, an editor for BoxOfficeGuru.com, who reports that the superhero film has made $330.36 million in America. Internationally, the film has made $542.3 million according to reports from Box Office Mojo. That gives Dawn of Justice a total figure of $872.6 million, just south of the coveted billion dollar mark that so many big blockbusters reach for.
All in all, this has to be really disappointing to the people who made this movie. It's funny to think this is a world where $330 million is considered a failure, but there's no question that the film should have made much more than this. It should be one of the most successful movies of the year, considering the Batman and Superman of it all.
You can point at a few things that kept Dawn of Justice from really connecting with audiences. The storm of negative reviews didn't help the movie and the fan war over its quality can't have left a good taste in anyone's mouth. The movie also had something of a pace problem. Even if you liked the Batman v Superman, you have to admit that acts one and two were cut to shreds, enough to warrant Warner Bros to realize the Ultimate Edition, boasting a three-hour unrated version of the film (the way it was originally supposed to premiere in theaters). This lead to some gaps of logic in the plot that didn't make sense to audiences. For example, how exactly Lex Luthor framed Superman for the murders in Africa.
This final total will probably justify Warner Bros. retooling of their slate of DC films and its behind the scenes adjustments. There is finally someone steering the ship in the form of Geoff Johns, the CCO at DC Comics, who will now head DC Films alongside Jon Berg. We've already seen a bunch of changes to some of the upcoming films. Suicide Squad went through reshoots to add more action, while Seth Grahame-Smith was replaced as director on The Flash with Rick Famuyiwa. There's also Ben Affleck - who was supposedly humiliated over the reception to BVS - becoming an executive producer on Justice League, with a slow phasing out of Zack Snyder.
Time will tell how many more changes are in store for DC Films, but it looks like the failure of BVS is pushing people in the right direction.
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