‘Batman v Superman’ box office results dive in second week
Warner Bros.’ “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” flies high atop the box office for a second week in a row, but a significant drop in revenue could mean trouble for the caped crusaders.
The DC Comics film pulled in an estimated $52.4 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, well below analyst expectations of $60 million to $65 million. That is a 68% week-to-week drop in sales. Typically, major franchise films do post steep second week drops, partly because most hard-core fans flock to theaters when movies debut. But expectations for “BvS” were more around the industry average of 60%.
Last year’s hit “Furious 7” and 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” for example, both dropped about 60% week-to-week. Granted, they each received an “A” grade from audiences, according to polling firm CinemaScore. “Batman v Superman,” comparatively, received an average grade of B.”
Fan turnout may have slowed more than normal due to the overwhelmingly negative reviews by movie critics and poor word of mouth. According to Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ executive vice president of distribution, however, the decline in ticket sales was a part of the studio’s distribution plan.
In addition to the film being released on Easter weekend, it opened Thursday at 6 p.m., as opposed to the typical Thursday show time of 9 p.m. This allowed for two showings of “Batman v Superman,” as opposed to just one, which alone brought in $27.7 million. Such numbers helped the film set its record-breaking $166-million debut.
“By doing such massive numbers, the following week you’re going to have to take a drop,” Goldstein said. That’s why the studio’s second week performance projections were between $50 million and $55 million, he added. Not only did they expect it to drop but they also anticipated the lack of direct competition after the holiday to bode well for the picture’s moneymaking potential.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore, agreed with Goldstein’s assessment of the drop, saying that it shouldn’t draw too much alarm.
“On the surface, it looks like a bigger than normal drop, but when you dig deeper, it’s about on par when [films like this] open so big,” he said. “The bigger they open, the harder it is for them to retain the momentum.”
Dergarabedian added that the dive is only reflective of the fact that the holiday bump in sales is absent. Additionally, he said, with the international market holding the lion’s share of the film’s global gross, whatever effect negative U.S. critic reviews may be having, the international gross makes up for it.
The Zack Snyder-directed action movie, starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, has an estimated $681.3-million global gross, more than $421 million of which is from outside North America. As such, “Batman v Superman,” which cost $250 million to make, sets up Warner Bros. well for a series of future movies based on DC Comics characters to compete globally with Disney’s Marvel Studios. Upcoming DC films include “Suicide Squad,” “Wonder Woman,” “Justice League” and “Aquaman.”
This week saw two new releases added to the cineplex, Pure Flix’s “God’s Not Dead 2” and Freestyle Releasing’s “Meet the Blacks.” Neither, however, landed in the week’s top three spots.
Disney’s “Zootopia” took second place, pulling in $20 million in its fifth week. The animated picture boasts a cumulative domestic gross of $275.9 million. It also now stands as the 12th highest grossing animated release globally with $787.6 million.
In third place was Universal’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.” In its second week, the follow-up to Nia Vardalos’ 2002 surprise hit pulled in $11.1 million in the U.S. and Canada. That brings the film’s gross to date to $36.5 million.
“God’s Not Dead 2,” the sequel to the 2014 indie Christian hit from Pure Flix Entertainment, garnered $8.1 million for a fourth-place finish, coming in just below analyst expectations of $8 million to $12 million. Such a performance is a solid result for the low-budget picture and provides further evidence of the market for faith-based movies.
The original “God’s Not Dead” opened with $9 million and ended up with $60.7 million in sales — a profitable result for a picture that cost just $2 million to make.
Fellow new release “Meet the Blacks,” a low-budget parody of “The Purge,” made $4.1 million in its debut. Starring Mike Epps and directed by Deon Taylor, the picture came in below its $5-million projections.
Rounding out the top five was Sony’s “Miracles From Heaven” with $7.56 million in its third week. That brings the Patricia Riggen-directed picture’s total domestic gross to $46.8 million.
On the limited-release front, Paramount’s “Everybody Wants Some!!” opened Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles, and in six other markets Friday. Playing at a total of 19 locations, the film sequel to Richard Linklater’s 1993 “Dazed and Confused” earned an estimated $323,000 for the weekend with a gross-to-date of $371,000.
Sony Pictures Classic also released the Miles Davis biopic “Miles Ahead.” In just four theaters, the film written and directed by (and starring) Don Cheadle pulled in $122,751 for a very strong per-theater average of $30,688.
Get your life! Follow me on Twitter: @TrevellAnderson.
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