"Batman v Superman" Still #1 as it Earns $680M Worldwide

[JamesG]

Batman v Superman Dominates the Box Office, Opening Over $420 Million Worldwide
by Brad Brevet
March 27, 2016


Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ruled the box office this weekend, both in international and domestic markets, bringing home an estimated $424.1 million worldwide. The record-breaking performance saw the film set a new domestic March opening weekend record and it also serves as the largest domestic opening for Warner Bros. ever.

And while the clash of superhero titans was doing it's thing, Universal's counter-programming release in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 also performed well as did Roadside's Hello, My Name is Doris and Bleecker Street's Eye in the Sky.







With an estimated $170.1 million, Batman v Superman topped the March opening weekend record previously held by The Hunger Games at $152.5 million. Should estimates hold, and WB seems to be confident they will, this also tops the $169.1 million Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 opened with in 2011, making it the largest domestic opening for the studio.

This is also the largest Easter opening, topping the $147.1 million brought in by Furious 7 last year as well as the largest opening for a film based on a DC Comics property, a record previously held by The Dark Knight Rises at $160.8 million.

But this weekend's records are one thing, how the film will hold up is another.





Heading into the weekend the swath of negative critical reviews were a major focus as the film now sits at a 29% rating on RottenTomatoes and no film with a rating lower than 63% on the site had ever opened over $150 million.

Clearly Batman v Superman bucked that trend as it is now one of only five live action films to have ever grossed over $100 million on opening weekend with a RottenTomatoes rating lower than 30%. So does this say something about critics, about films with baked in audiences... or both?

From an audience perspective, Batman v Superman received a so-so "B" CinemaScore with a "B-" coming from males, which made up 62% of the audience, and "B" from females. Audience members under the age of 18, however, scored it an "A-", which brings our attention to next weekend.

Recent films such as Avengers: Age of Ultron and Man of Steel saw 59.4% and 64.6% second weekend drops respectively. It's also worth noting a large drop should be expected no matter what, if only because $27.7 million of Batman v Superman's opening came from Thursday previews.





From a historical perspective, a second weekend drop around 62% is a safe bet at this time, and anything better than 60% would show the film is holding well in the face of odds that would otherwise suggest it was in trouble over the long run.

Speculation aside, it won't be until we see how far it drops that we can get a good grasp on just how big it may go, but its success doesn't rely wholly on its domestic prospects as it also got off to a very strong start overseas.





The film brought in an estimated $254 million internationally this weekend, giving it the fifth largest international opening weekend of all-time. The global opening of $424.1 million is the fourth largest of all-time.

As will be the case domestically, how well the film performs next weekend in all these territories will be of vital importance when it comes to determining just how big a hit this will end up being. At this point, it looks as if Batman v Superman will become the 25th film to cross $1+ billion worldwide as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the only film to open with over $158 million domestically and not cross the $1 billion mark worldwide.







Speaking of worldwide success, Zootopia continued its impressive performance both domestically and worldwide as the Disney animated title dropped only 37.7% this weekend, taking second place with as it added another $23.1 million domestically.

Internationally the film added another $42.5 million as its worldwide cume now stands just shy of $700 million at $696.7 million.







Coming in third with an estimated $18.1 million, Universal's My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 finished just as expected, pulling in a solid $5,784 per theater average from 3,133 theaters. The film scored an "A-" CinemaScore, which will likely help propel it to a $55+ million run, if not higher.

Last year The Intern opened with $17.7 million and went on to gross over $75 million. The average for films opening in this range with an "A-" CinemaScore is $64.6 million.

This is nowhere near as large as the worldwide sensation that was the first film, but if it can manage to capture any of that magic perhaps it will perform even better than the averages suggest.







Also of note this weekend is the expansion of Hello, My Name is Doris in 488 theaters and Eye in the Sky in only 123 theaters as both found their way into the top ten.

With an estimated $1.7 million, Doris took ninth place with a $3,486 per theater average and Eye in the Sky finished tenth with $1 million and a $8,140 per theater average.







As for new limited releases, Magnolia's Born to be Blue brought in $47,340 from three theaters for a $15,780 per theater average; GKIDs' April and the Extraordinary World played in one New York theater and brought in $12,101; and Sony Classics released I Saw the Light into five theaters where it brought in an estimated $10,093.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4171&p=.htm









March 25-27, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $170,100,000
2. Zootopia $23,138,000 / $240,547,409
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 $18,120,000
4. Miracles from Heaven $9,500,000 / $34,127,249
5. The Divergent Series: Allegiant $9,500,000 / $46,605,496
6. 10 Cloverfield Lane $6,000,000 / $56,010,797
7. Deadpool $5,000,000 / $349,472,050
8. London Has Fallen $2,926,000 / $55,614,857
9. Hello, My Name is Doris $1,700,925 / $3,268,689
10. Eye in the Sky $1,001,204 / $1,723,311

[irehtman]

It was #1 in North America, but did not do well outside of America, but there are some problems revealed and one of them was actor Jesse Eisenberg who does not act like a real mature person to play Lex Luthor.

I knew Jesse wasn't the right choice, but now is a good time to get actor Hugo Weaving to play that mature Lex Luthor character on the upcoming sequel permanently.

[JamesG]

Batman v Superman Drops Big While Crossing $680 Million Worldwide
by Brad Brevet
April 3, 2016


The steep second weekend drop suffered by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will receive the bulk of attention this week and rightfully so as it is the fifth largest second weekend drop for a film that opened over $100 million.

That said, the superhero feature maintained the #1 position and has now crossed $680 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Disney's Zootopia continued its impressive run while the weekend's widest new release, God's Not Dead 2, fell well short of its predecessor.







Heading into the weekend, it appeared Batman v Superman was looking at a drop anywhere from 58-68% and it ended up settling in on the wrong side of those expectations. The film's estimated $52.3 million signifies a 68.4% drop (62.1% if you take into consideration its $27.7 million in Thursday previews last week).

This is the fifth largest drop of all-time for a film opening over $100 million, topped only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's 72% drop and a trio of Twilight films dropping 69-70%.



In fact, the film's second weekend plummet is on par with last year's Fantastic Four, which dropped 68.2% in its second weekend, ultimately delivering a multiplier of 2.18. That said, Fantastic Four received an even worse reception than Batman v Superman, receiving only a "C-" CinemaScore compared to BvS's "B" and a 9% RottenTomatoes score compared to Batman v Superman's 29%.

Should BvS also finish with a 2.18 multiplier that would still result in a domestic run of $362.8 million, enough to rank in the top 30 all-time.



Internationally, Batman v Superman added an estimated $85 million this weekend as its worldwide cume now climbs to $682.8 million. From a worldwide perspective, the film has already surpassed the entire global returns from films such as Man of Steel ($668m), Thor: The Dark World ($644.6m), Iron Man 2 ($623.9m) and Iron Man ($585.2m) on the all-time list where it currently ranks #84.

All that said, while it looked like the film might become the 25th to ever cross $1 billion worldwide, its chances at crossing that mark aren't looking so good any longer.







In other weekend news, Disney's Zootopia continues its impressive run, dropping only 16.7% in its fifth weekend in release, resulting in a second place finish. The animated feature brought in an estimated $20 million as its domestic cume now sits at over $275 million, well on its way to becoming only the tenth animated film to gross over $300 million at the domestic box office.

Internationally the film added another $30 million as its worldwide cume currently sits at $787.6 million, ranking 56th on the all-time chart.







In fourth place we find one of the weekend's two new wide releases, that being the sequel God's Not Dead 2, which was unable to surpass the opening weekend of its predecessor despite the fact it opened in 1,639 more theaters. The film brought in an estimated $8.1 million, well below even the most pessimistic of expectations.

The weekend's other new wide release was Freestyle's Meet the Blacks, which finished in eighth with a respectable $4 million from 1,015 theaters.







Elsewhere, Eye in the Sky expanded into 1,029 theaters and saw a 334% bump as it brought in an estimated $4 million. Roadside's Hello, My Name is Doris also went wide this weekend, playing in 964 theaters, where it brought in an estimated $2.3 million.

Paramount kicked off the release of Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! into five theaters on Wednesday and bumped that up to 19 this weekend where it brought in an estimated $323,000 for a $17,000 per theater average.







Warner Bros' expanded release of Midnight Special into 58 theaters brought in $581,000 for a per theater average of $10,017.

Sony Classics' release of Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead served as the weekend's per theater champion, bringing in $122,751 from four theaters for a $30,688 per theater average.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4173&p=.htm









April 1-3, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $52,385,000 / $261,457,793
2. Zootopia $20,000,000 / $275,939,310
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 $11,130,000 / $36,493,730
4. God's Not Dead 2 $8,104,321
5. Miracles from Heaven $7,550,000 / $46,822,927
6. The Divergent Series: Allegiant $5,725,000 / $56,384,724
7. 10 Cloverfield Lane $4,750,000 / $63,563,060
8. Meet the Blacks $4,086,000
9. Eye in the Sky $4,055,000 / $6,149,542
10. Deadpool $3,500,000 / $355,108,934