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| This photo. Nuff. said. Source: DeviantArt user GOXIII |
Two of the biggest movies of 2016, Deadpool from Marvel/21st Century Fox and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice from DC/Warner Brothers, just ended their domestic run in the box offices. Without me saying a word, which movie do you think would have been the clear winner between the two. If you were to say BvS, you would be correct…in theory, for the simple reason that BvS has the two biggest names in comic books (Batman and Superman) in the same movie at the same time, with the addition of the on-screen debut of Wonder Woman (bringing the Trinity together). But in reality, that’s not what happened. Deadpool closed their domestic run with $363 million. Batman v Superman finished their run with $330 million. That’s right, you heard me a movie with a small budget domestically outdid what SHOULD have been the biggest movie in not just 2016, but in YEARS by about 33 MILLION DOLLARS. If I were DC/Warner Brothers, I would be concerned.
I went to see Deadpool and enjoyed it a lot. It stayed true to the Deadpool character and didn’t make things so complicated. Definitely not for kids, so parents, this is one superhero movie that you DON’T need to let your children see…not until they get older. On the flip side, I did NOT go see BvS for my own personal reasons (which started WAY before the critic backlash). I will not be comparing the movies as it would be comparing apples to oranges and hamburgers to pizza. I’m just trying to wrap my head around why BvS, despite the money it did make ($872,662,631 is the final total worldwide), didn’t do as well as it should have been based off brand name alone. Wait…I might have just answered my own question…Warner Brothers were hoping that the names that people grew up with (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) would be enough to get people to spend a lot, which they did…during opening weekend, which wasn’t a surprise. But then the critics came a-knocking and non-critics posted about it and the next weekend (while it did remain at the top of the box office) it plunged to a 50% drop in sales, the biggest two-weekend drop for any superhero movie ever. When you also have the embargo lifted literally a couple of days before the movie drops rather than a couple of weeks (which is the norm), that’s usually not a good sign. I mean, why would you wait so long to have the embargo lifted knowing that this was going to be a much-anticipated movie that people would like to spend the money on and actually FEEL like they are getting their monies worth? Another thing…there are some hardcore DC fanboys that are convinced that Marvel paid them off to publicly diss BvS. Yeah…so I guess they paid them to diss the Fantastic Four movie (which is a Marvel movie), then huh? Did they ever think that the critics were born members of the DC Universe and actually had to put their fandom aside and call the movie for what it is…a MESS (according to what I’ve read, not seen for myself)?! If a movie is good…it’s good. If it’s not so good…then guess what?! It’s not so good. Simple as that.
I’m not hear to give any advice to Warner Brothers on what they need to do to have a successful DC Cinematic Universe. Personally, I hope they do, but they need to make some serious internal changes. Like I stated before, a superhero movie that’s rated R (smaller demographic) and had a small budget did better in the states than a big-budget movie that’s rated PG-13 (bigger demographic) that featured the biggest superhero names of all time. That’s cause for pause to me. This can be fixed, though. They have movies lined up for the next few years that can change DC for the better (Suicide Squad later on this year, and Wonder Woman next year is a big one), but they need to understand the audience better and how to put on good superhero movies that bring EVERYONE together (adults and kids) or Marvel is going to remain the king of superhero movies for a long, long time.
To read more about how Deadpool and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did in their final days of their domestic runs (and how they compare to their worldwide runs) click on the links below, which both belong to Comicbook.com:
Deadpool: http://comicbook.com/marvel/2016/06/19/deadpool-ends-its-box-office-run-with-363-million/
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: http://comicbook.com/2016/06/18/batman-v-superman-finishes-box-office-run-with-330-million/
