In news that probably no one would have predicted a few years ago, Warner’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is on pace to end its theatrical run with a lower domestic box office gross than Fox’s low-budget, R-rated underdog Deadpool.
Despite breaking March records with a massive opening, Batman V Superman had one of the worst second week drops in box office gross — Hello darkness, my old friend. — which led to shifting release dates for other Warner movies (and may have contributed to one director bailing and another having to remind people he’s not quitting).
Meanwhile, Deadpool had the biggest opening for an R-rated movie, held the number one spot for three weeks, and held steady, ending its theatrical run as the highest-grossing R-rated movie worldwide. All that from a budget of only $58 million, compared to Batman V Superman‘s production budget of at least $225 million (not including the huge marketing costs).
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, Batman V Superman is about to end its theatrical run as the seventh highest-grossing superhero movie worldwide, not accounting for inflation, but it’s only in 11th place ($325.1 million) in North America, where Deadpool ($361.8 million) is still beating it. That’s not to say Batman V Superman failed financially. It’s likely to gross around $875 million compared to the $668 million Man of Steel earned. “This is a fantastic result, by any measure,” Warner’s Jeff Goldstein told THR.
Not everyone was as optimistic. Analyst Jeff Bock pointed out to THR that the film was “nowhere near Disney/Marvel in terms of critical reception and box-office prowess.” It currently has a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and not the greatest of reviews. It just makes us wonder what Batman and Deadpool would think about all of this…
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
