Batman vs. Superman pulled in $27.7 million in ticket sales opening night, beating Furious 7’s $15.8 million 2015 Thursday Easter weekend opening to set a new record. Despite the initial box office win, the reviews have been less than stellar. Click above see Ben Affleck turn into Sadfleck when asked about the poor ratings.
With a production and marketing budget topping $400 million, the pressure is on for this to be the mammoth success Warner touted with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series.
According to WaPo, “Analysts say any gross less than $800 million to $1 billion will mark not just a disappointment for the film, but a potential failure to launch for the entire franchise.” Both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
The movie currently sits with a big green splat of 30% approval by critics on the review aggregating site RottenTomatoes. In other words, the longevity of the film is not looking so good.
A few pull quotes from the reviews:
“Holy CGI mess, Batman!… Bam! CGI defeats ‘Batman v Superman.'”-QCityTimes
“One of the worst superhero movies ever made. It is worse than Batman & Robin. It is worse than Catwoman. It is worse than last summer’s Fantastic Four. A lugubrious experience that squanders every ounce of promise.” -TheAisleSeat
“They’re like two celebrities having a Twitter fight, and while some of it is written with humour, most of it feels leaden – not just because the writing is monotonously earnest, but neither lead is capable of pulling it off the page and making it bounce.” -TheEx-Press
“A boring, confused film swollen with self-importance.” -Uncut Mag
“It’s like putting your head in a beehive for two and a half hours.” -EricDSnider.com
“RIDDLE me this: how do you put three of the greatest comic book superheroes of all time into one big-budget movie and still make a mess of it?” -TheMercury
“Incoherent, tedious and largely devoid of wit.” -DailyMail
“Thematic carelessness is on constant display, which wouldn’t loom as nearly so large a problem if Snyder’s film didn’t advertise its aspirations to Moral Seriousness in almost every plodding, humorless frame.” -The Atlantic
“While it’s one thing to take superheroes seriously, it’s another to drain all the fun out of them.” -SaltLakeTribune
“Stick to the trailer.” -SkyMovies
SkyMovies may be right. If you’re of the mind to save yourself the ticket price and avoid going into debt over a theater soda and snacks, then just enjoy the trailer below…
#AdamWestForever