Batman v Superman May be Less Profitable than Man of Steel

In some respects, Batman v Superman has been a big hit for Warner Bros., making over $720.8 at the worldwide box office over the past couple weeks. In other respects, the film has been a huge disappointment for the studio.

After having the biggest opening ever for a DC movie, BvS dropped 69.1% in its second weekend. It now holds the records for the biggest Friday-to-Sunday box-office drop for a modern superhero movie and the largest Friday-to-Friday drop for a comic-book movie.

The film’s decline at the box office isn’t all that surprising, seeing how the critics hated it and most audiences weren’t exactly blown away either. It doesn’t help that BvS had a budget of $250 million and a huge marketing campaign. At this point, it may actually be less profitable than Man of Steel, which kicked off the DC Extended Universe in 2013.

Boomberg had the following to say about the film’s box office performance:

“Batman v Superman, one of the most expensive films ever made, is on pace to produce a $278 million profit for Warner Bros. once home video, TV and merchandise proceeds are tallied, according to SNL Kagan analyst Wade Holden. That’s less than the estimated $300 million the studio earned from Man Of Steel. It’s also evidence that Warner Bros. has more work to do to make its DC Comics division the unbreakable superhero movie business it needs. … To be as profitable as the lower-budget Man of Steel — and some of the more successful Marvel films, which generate 44 percent net profit on average — Batman v Superman would have to gross $1.15 billion worldwide.”

Whether Batman v Superman shows a profit or not, one thing is for certain: Warner Bros. needs to rethink their game plan if they want to keep audiences interested in DC movies.