The first ever meeting of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman on the silver screen has finished its North American box office run after almost three months in theaters. Box Office Mojo reports that Batman v Superman ended up grossing $330,360,194 during that time domestically. The worldwide tally ended at $872,663,631.
Despite the early negative reviews of the film, Batman v Superman’s box office run is certainly no slouch in the blockbuster world, and will rank among the highest of 2016. However, it should be noted that 50% of the film’s domestic run was made during its opening weekend.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the second film in WB’s ambitious plan to take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the DC Extended Universe. 2013’s Man of Steel, while originally intended to be the start of a trilogy of Superman films, inadvertently became DC’s version of Iron Man to kick off the DC Universe. With lukewarm box office numbers and mixed critical responses, DC fast-tracked a cinematic universe of its own and put their money maker, Batman, into the immediate sequel.
While the film was successful in expanding DC’s cinematic universe by taking us to Gotham City and introducing new characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor all while paving the way for the Justice League, many felt it was too rushed and crammed for one 2.5 hour film. While Batman v Superman did do a lot of things well such as great interpretations of Batman and Wonder Woman by Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot respectively, as well as being a visually stunning film, it also had its faults such as shoehorning in the Justice League “cameos” and an overly morose Superman, to no fault of Henry Cavill who plays the character great with the material he is given. The negative critical reviews and mixed word of mouth from fans did not give the film the momentum it needed to have legs in its theatrical release.
The R-Rated Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition will be released later this month digitally on June 28th and on Blu-ray on July 19th. The next film up in the DC Extended Universe is Suicide Squad, which hits theaters on August 5th.
