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Batman V Superman Takes A Dive With -70% Second Weekend
- Thread starter Malyse
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KonradLaw
Member
That's because of the insane costs and marketing. It's ridiculous to make movies that can't make huge money with even 700mln box office. And here we are with one that needs like a billion to not become a flop. Like..holly hell. That's just so crazy.
A Link to the Past
Banned
No, not everyone is a DC hater/Marvel fan. I want Marvel movies to fail too, mainly because I think they're doing less interesting things than they could be doing with them (Guardians of the Galaxy is a space opera film about superheroes while The Avengers is a superhero movie about superheroes for instance). In BvS' case, it's that AND they did the tone terribly. You can do a dark superhero movie, but you can also do it very poorly.
Good Job Bob
Member
Not like Affleck was really given a chance to explore that side of the character. I wanted to see more of the playboy Bruce we saw very briefly when he was caught snooping around by Lex's assistant.
Bad reviews and bad word of mouth are two sides of the same coin. A movie like BvS was going to draw out huge crowds opening weekend no matter what. People came out of the movie on Thurs and Fri with negative views, and that didn't stop people from seeing it Sat and Sun.
Manmademan
Member
The film was designed out of the gate with the assumption that it would do over a billion because why wouldn't it? Even the absolutely terrible ASM2 managed 700+ million. So that's what they designed the costs and marketing to assume.
it was perfectly possible to make a BvS that would be profitable at 700 million worldwide. DC/Warner just didn't do that.
element
Member
There were a handful of people who made predictions inline with this, including myself a couple times.
After seeing the movie it was clear that it was the type of movie that CAN'T attract general movie goers. It is 100% front loaded to the 'comic book audience', but even then the movie is such a train wreck that it doesn't attract people to see it multiple times.
What gives a movie legs is word of mouth and repeat business. Example someone sees it opening weekend and sees it again with 2 or 3 of their more casual movie goer friends. "Everyone is tell me that <movie x> is awesome, we are thinking of seeing on on Saturday? I know you saw it already, but interested in going?" or "Hey I'm going to see <movie x> because it is awesome! I know you aren't the biggest <insert genre> fan, but it is a really fun movie to watch! Wanna come?". BvS has none of this.
You are looking at it too black and white.
1. Box Office Take varies depending on region. It can vary from 50% in the US to as little as 20% in China. So even though you see 'making' big numbers that doesn't really translate to profit. Even if a film makes $900m the profits could potentially be lower than $150m. For level of investment, $150m really just doesn't move the needle at a company the size of WB.
2. BvS really will 'profit' even if it makes $700m to $800m, but in the grander scheme of slate scheduling, this was the foundation for potentially the next decade of films based in the DC Universe. For a launch film for your future slate to perform to anemic at the box office (even if profitable) puts serious concerns on the future movie slate.
That's just it, the DCEU needs someone who loves the characters & the world as much as Feige loves Marvel's characters & its world to spearhead the DCEU as a whole. My main concern is that, even if Suicide Squad turns out to be awesome (which I'm hopeful for), there's the chance that Justice League Part 1 will be in the same situation as BvS.
Mushroomer25
Member
Oh. That makes sense. Still would be nice if they actually said that during the show. Geez
I've always understood that the problems dealt with in Hell's Kitchen are simply too small scale to bother involving The Avengers. They're more concerned with global catastrophe and the logistics of handling other superhumans. (Though frankly, Killgrave could have become a global threat if he got in control of somebody like Thor)
What a meltdown.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Manmademan
Member
The issue with Kilgrave is that what he could do was so out there and impossible to prove that no one took the claims seriously.
That's just it, Purple Man was thinking too small. He could have just waltzed over to the New Avengers facility (probably by bus or taxi), took control of some heavy-hitters like Scarlet Witch, come back to Hell's Kitchen & have the place live up to the name.
Thor went back to Asgard, & I'm not sure if Vision could be affected by Purple Man's mind control.
KonradLaw
Member
Few years back DC wanted to make a series of lower budget (we're talking like 50-70 mln) movies about smaller characters like Deathstroke. Shame that got destroyed for the sake of bombastic uber productions.
LifEndz
Member
Yeah, some weird views of Superman. I'm not a DC reader, but doesn't Supes represent hope? In this, I got the idea that he was seen as a nuke that we had to destroy. I think Batman said something about if there's even a 1 percent chance of him being a threat he had to be put down.
crazyrabbits
Banned
It's another Superman Returns situation.
Frozenprince
Banned
You can make a profitable Batman movie without even thinking. WB/DC didn't just want a profitable movie, they NEEDED a franchise that they could lean on to make stupid money for the next decade plus in order to stay competitive.
KonradLaw
Member
The sad thing is that the first trailer for Man of Steel represents everything Superman should be about. It feels serious, even a bit somber, but also dignified and full of hope. Superman shouldn't be a funny movie, but it doesn't mean it should be sad. Instead it should feel inspirational.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Yup..just put Batman in the name
Movies are expensive, marketing is expensive, and studios don't get nearly all of the box office gross.
The movie is about denouncing that mindset; Batman is the wrong party in the conflict.
Of course, movie is really bad about telling that story. Like, really bad.
Manmademan
Member
Wouldn't have worked- outside of one of them just being inexplicably brilliant i.e. Deadpool or GOTG with once in a lifetime casting (deadpool again, Iron man).
Marvel's strategy was pretty brilliant in that it allowed their lesser known properties to benefit from the audience built by their flagship characters.
Just throwing Ant Man, Black Panther, or Doctor Strange out to sink or swim without building the universe and world in advance and getting the audience invested would have been suicide.
There's no real shortcut to doing this.
Gordon Shumway
Banned
That trailer had me sooo pumped..
E the Shaggy
Junior Member
I'm sorry Mr. Snyder but we're going to need to take it...back to formula.
Frozenprince
Banned
If they just had one actual scene of the two of them debating their philosophies before they started throwing punches (the whole "Vigilantism is bad!" shit doesn't count since that's just Supes being a hypocrit) it would have saved a lot of the film.
You need Batman to actually talk to Supes before things go south to explain "This is why I think you're dangerous" and have well thought out counter points to make the experience compelling.
There really wasn't much thought put into the conflict other than "He's too dangerous!"
This gif is stupid, Batman often soars around Gotham.
WB expected this to hit 1B. Trying to say otherwise is ridiculous.
No studio spends that kind of cash expecting the film to gross 800M. This is Batman and Superman in the same film and one of the biggest films in WB history.
20 films have hit 1B over the past 10 years with 15 of those taking place over the last 5 years. 1B is becoming much more achievable with the ever expanding OS market.
No studio spends that kind of cash expecting the film to gross 800M. This is Batman and Superman in the same film and one of the biggest films in WB history.
20 films have hit 1B over the past 10 years with 15 of those taking place over the last 5 years. 1B is becoming much more achievable with the ever expanding OS market.
Already Torn
Banned
That's pretty great
I bet he's tired though, I'd be tired too.
Indeed. We just had Deadpool be a totally unexpected success. And furthermore, the very recent success of the TV/web shows have shown people are not tired of superheroes at all. DC just messed up big time.
Show your support and go to Deadpool (again), I'd say, if you want to support the golden age of comicbook films. And soon there will be X-men and Cap, both of which I sincerely hope will be a good watch.
And to those saying this will affect the success of coming superhero films negatively, I disagree. Comic book films have been there for quite a while now and survived the likes of Spiderman 3, Daredevil, Green Lantern, Hulk, all three Fantastic Four films, Superman Returns, Ghost Rider, the bad spectrum of the X-men films, etc. etc. And still people went massively to other (similar) films.
LifEndz
Member
Lol. This is spot on.
Frozenprince
Banned
WB/DC's strategy of stepping into an already established universe is a sound one. It's really the only avenue they had to take, and they could have (and STILL COULD) use it to tell really cool, interesting stories that Marvel simply can't because things aren't as established and are fragmented (not having X-Men or FF hurts this a lot).
The problem is they picked the absolute worst person to handle this start-up to their universe. It turned into a mess before they even got their feet off the ground because of it.
But the idea was a good one. And I still think if you get good creative minds on every other project (JL might be too late to save part 1), you can still save it. Because there is limitless creative possibilities now.
The problem is they picked the absolute worst person to handle this start-up to their universe. It turned into a mess before they even got their feet off the ground because of it.
But the idea was a good one. And I still think if you get good creative minds on every other project (JL might be too late to save part 1), you can still save it. Because there is limitless creative possibilities now.
I spit my drink, holy shit
This is so accurate, it hurts.
Kilgrave being small scale was fantastic. He kept out of the public eye and lived a life of luxury. Who needs that world conquering bullshit?
Frozenprince
Banned
I guess that makes sense. It gave Purple Man a bit a mystery within Hell's Kitchen since he didn't walk around sending heavy-hitters everywhere (which I enjoyed).
Snyder (and WB) went into this with a wrong headed approach and now it's backfiring. His vision was destined to torpedo this franchise from the start. I understand WB wanted to take a different approach than Marvel, but this isn't the way to do it. They desperately need someone at the helm of this universe who understand these characters.
Indiscriminately making every element of your universe dark, brooding, and depressing does not automatically make it more mature. Being 'different' for the sake of being different does not automatically yield a better product. This movie reinforced every negative opinion I had about Snyder's direction. It seems the movie going audience at large is now catching on too.
Indiscriminately making every element of your universe dark, brooding, and depressing does not automatically make it more mature. Being 'different' for the sake of being different does not automatically yield a better product. This movie reinforced every negative opinion I had about Snyder's direction. It seems the movie going audience at large is now catching on too.
Prophet Steve
Member
Oh right now I remember. I had to laugh in the theater when he scrolls through the email line by line.
Frozenprince
Banned
The logos are the best part.
Like, how the fuck does he have logos for them? Did Bruce spend like an hour in Photoshop making individual logos for these random CIA files he found?
The Omega Man
Member
I'll wait for the home release, at this rate it'll be out in a month or 2
A Link to the Past
Banned
Yeah, the thing with Kilgrave is
he was so limited in terms of power that he could have found himself easily taken out for taking control of Thor by one of the Avengers. And by the time that his power had grown great, he was so consumed by his desire to control Jessica Jones that he didn't even think about anything else.
5 hours later, I'm still waiting for that Superman I want to follow into the sun.
I personally like it when he hovered over every image on the screen in a counter-clockwise motion and all that happened was that the image zoomed in automatically if the cursor was over it.
Weren't the logos already there when he looked at it initially?
I'm guessing we're supposed to believe Luthor already named them all.
That was a movie made for trailers. Too bad that none of the themes floated in the trailer were even remotely successfully executed in the movie.
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