We’re about three weeks away from the release of 2 Fast 2 Batfleck, also known as Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I think the film looks hilariously bad, but I don’t doubt it will make lots and lots of money. It’s going to need to make hundreds of millions of dollars just to break even. Just the production costs alone are staggering, but Warner Brothers is probably going to spend tens of millions on top of that just to promote it. My point? A lot of people have a lot riding on this and everyone feels sort of tense. Will the Batfleck’s self-destructive streak rear its ugly and Botoxed head? Will Henry Cavill impregnate a teenager? Will Zack Synder dissolve in a puddle of lens flares? So the WB really doesn’t need someone from the other Batman franchise saying words about how 2 Fast 2 Batfleck looks like a messy pile of dog poo.
Sorry, Ben Affleck — Morgan Freeman doesn’t seem all that jazzed about the highly anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. ET recently caught up with the 78-year-old actor — who played Lucius Fox in director Christopher Nolan’s iconic Dark Knight trilogy — and he told us he had his reservations about the upcoming blockbuster starring Affleck as Batman.
“You know, I’m happy for Ben, but I don’t know how that’s gonna work,” Morgan said bluntly when asked if he’ll see Batman v Superman.
Freeman also had a very good point — that it’ll be pretty tough to beat Nolan’s critically acclaimed take on the Batman franchise.
“The Dark Knight was almost it, you know? Pretty much IT,” he said. “Did you see Batman Begins? I don’t think you can beat that, my feeling.”
Obviously, Morgan’s co-star in the Dark Knight trilogy, Christian Bale, appreciates the loyalty!
“Right on for Morgan for saying no one will ever beat that, I very much like him,” Bale smiled when ET informed him of Freeman’s comments at the Knight of Cups premiere on Tuesday.
Personally, I’ve never felt like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was as “perfect” as the fan-boys wanted to believe. Did Nolan take the franchise to a new and interesting place? For sure. Is The Dark Knight the best film in the trilogy? Absolutely. But beyond the brilliant and interesting visuals, the actual storytelling was really lacking in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. Now, all that being said, Nolan’s trilogy will be the definitive take on Batman for years to come. Even if people are “okay” with the Batfleck and this film, people are still going to be like, “Yeah, but the Nolan trilogy though…”
Here are some photos of the Botoxed Batfleck on Tuesday in LA. Did he get a soda from Dunkin Donuts?!?! HAHAHAHA.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
We’re right there with ya, Morgy.
Amen.
Credit to Bale though, he’s been very smart and very careful with his comments.
I imagine Nolan is thrilled he is busy prepping his next film and doesn’t have to deal with the press. Although he’s good at being diplomatic too.
Look, this might be decent but Zach Snyder is a particular sort of film maker. The odds of it being pretty good are OK, the odds of it being spectacular are…not high.
This movie has been doomed ever since the headline “Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor”. Really?????
Undoubtedly, this movie will make a ton of money overseas…. but I can’t help but wonder how it’s going to do in the US. I love superhero movies, but I have zero desire to see this. I know many others who feel the same way. The Batfleck can’t act…. and after Bale and Keaton, I need a convincing batman. Also, his face is difficult to look at at this point in his life… he used to be such a pretty boy, too. It must be killing him.
Actually, Ben’s face looks good in The Dawn of Justice, which was filmed like a year and a half ago, I think he looks the most handsome he has in a long time in the trailer. He had grey in his hair instead of that black dye lately he has. His face was lean and defined.
It’s the movie he just finished filming which will have that face with too much filler in it and doughy looking, which will come out the end of the year..
Ben as Bruce Wayne on set.
http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/600_wide/wysiwyg_imageupload/1/ben-affleck-bruce-wayne-1.jpg
Dang, you’re right! He looks so pretty in that photo. What has he done to himself? Or is that just karma….
Yes, that’s the Ben that looked good! Lean, chiseled face and lower brow line.
Also, yes, Boston boy = Dunkin’ Donuts. 🙂
And Morgan isn’t dissing Ben specifically. He’s just saying he doesn’t know how anything can top the Nolan series, but of course, everyone will slant this their way – to an Affleck insult. Because it’s apparently the new fun thing to do.
He looks so good as Bruce Wayne. I think that was the height of his attractiveness. I also liked how he looked in Argo. He’s been messing with his face too much.
JoJo, as I stated yesterday, Ben is his own worst enemy. He has offended so many different people-groups by a rather arrogant delivery of opinions that he portrays as being vastly superior to anyone else’s, i.e., Bill Maher, slave-owning ancestry debacle, stating he would not like someone just because they are a Republican, publicly dissing his visibly supportive wife more than once, the very public gambling issue, and his unfortunate persona of the JLo period which will be with him forever thanks to how public they were at the time. Any one of those, much less altogether, is going to create a picture of someone everyone loves to throw arrows at. He draws a great big circle (or in this case a big bright colorful phoenix) on his own back. Sadly, he has set HIMSELF up for some of the ridicule. He is no doubt talented, but lives so loud it gets lost in the noise. Damon was right – the less you know about an actor, the better an actor he is.
He looks very sexy as Bruce… rowr
I’m right there with you, Tegteg. I have seen almost all of the superhero movies out there and I have zero desire to watch this. Heck, I saw Man of Steel in the theaters – on a cheapie night, thankfully, lol – and I still don’t want to see this.
my god i loved michael shannon in that film. sexy Zod!!! more zod on CB please, and less of batfleck and his bloated chops.
I don’t know a single person who is excited for this movie. And it’s not a demographic thing – we were excited for Avengers 2 and we can’t wait for Civil War. But this film seems to keep the pretentious, serious tone of Nolan’s trilogy while looking no smarter than Transformers.
Ugh, after Avengers 2 I’m sticking with cautious optimism on Civil War. What an overstuffed, dull letdown Age of Ultron was. 🙄
What’s up with affleck these days? He looks truly awful.
That movie is gonna be soooo whack.
Not sure why I clicked on this except I’m confused as to why Batman and Superman would be fighting each other, since they are both good. Am also confused as to why I’m wasting time on this question when so many other questions are pressing on my mind – what is that strange clicking noise coming from the kitchen sink and how much will it cost to fix it being number one today.
Batman is not trusting and doesn’t really know Superman’s intentions. He’s worried that someone with that kind of power will be mankind’s end. And he’s basing it on all the damage he did while fighting General Zod from the last Superman movie. It was a comic book storyline, but I didn’t read it. My brother was into DC, but I was more of a Marvel girl myself.
How sweet of you to take the time to explain it to me. Thank you. ❤️
So the vigilante who resents Gothams attempts to set him limits wants a fellow vigilante limited? If the problem is that Superman can not be trusted with omnipotence shouldnt that mean that Batman should not be allowed access to the technology that makes him near omnipotent too? Is he going to be applying his omnipotent technology to destroy the omnipotent alien for being omnipotent?
I have a feeling this movie will lack all internal logic but lets wait and see.
Right there wit’cha, Naya!
-TheRealPinky
In the comics, Batman has always had protocols in place if Superman goes rogue to stop him. I’m starting to think that Batfleck has a stash of Kryponite to stop Supes in this movie.
I’m not holding out any hope it will be any good, but still going to see it.
That’s my confusion as well. Did Batman hit on Lois Lane or something?
@gnat love ur screen name and hope ur sink is a cheap, easy, quick fix😃
Personally I think Ben would make a better Bat Women, for if anyone else has noticed, he has man boobs, plus his never ending infinity for women. Or perhaps Robin, the perpetual sidekick to Matt Damon. Or finally, the Joker, since he seems to be the butt of so many of them, jokes, that is.
the problem is it’s ben affleck. he’s a terrible actor.
THIS +100000000000000
If things go as expected, Ben will have the honor of starring in both of the worst superhero movies of all time (well, maybe Green Latern could be tied with Daredevil).
It’s too soon for a Batman reboot, they can’t really introduce anything new, and it’s always going to draw comparison. Plus Man of Steel was SOOOO bad.
I love the Nolan trilogy, and don’t think the storytelling was lacking in Batman Begins at all.
Yeah, I think that’s the main problem in that it is just way too soon and that everyone is going to compare him to Christian Bale….and while Ben is okay he is going to come across poorly when they make that comparison. They really should have done some sort of Wonder Woman Superman pair up and use that as a springboard for the solo Wonder Woman film.
Agree that the problem isn’t the film making money but making enough money to cover the insane budget and advertising (even if companies are chipping in for airtime). Supposedly while the reported budget is $200 mi, it actually is $250-275 mil…..so it really needs to make a bare minimum of $600 mil (if one adds in ancillaries) and really more like $750 million (if one takes away the ancillaries). That’s a hell of a lot of money even for a superhero film and this one has some so so to negative buzz among the fanboys.
I think Ben is a f*ckwit but I do admit to feeling a tiny bit of empathy for him. If this bombs, everyone is going to blame it on him since he’s everyone’s favorite punching bag…and not Zack Snyder or Henry Cavill or so on.
@ Div:
“I think Ben is a f*ckwit but I do admit to feeling a tiny bit of empathy for him. If this bombs, everyone is going to blame it on him since he’s everyone’s favorite punching bag…and not Zack Snyder or Henry Cavill or so on.”
I don’t think it’ll bomb. There’s a lot of curiosity surrounding Wonder Woman, for instance. But I’m almost certain it’ll underperform — given the numbers people are discussing on this thread. A budget of 300 + million (maybe more)? Jesus Harold Christ on Rubber Crutches!!!
Agree that they’ll blame it on Affleck when they should criticize the writers, Snyder and Cavil’s absolutely lack of charisma.
I have a buddy at work who could care less about batman or superman but says he will watch it for WW
I doubt it’ll bomb too, but I don’t think it’ll make much money in profit. This movie was even more expensive than Avengers 2 and Star Wars, but people are not even half as excited for it.
The big problem I find is that Ben Affleck now has the ” Tom Cruise Effect” when it comes to his movies. I can’t watch a Tom Cruise movie without thinking of all the stories about his personal life that dominates the media. With Ben, you have his divorce or no divorce from Jennifer Garner, his affair with the nanny( she has been too quiet lately ) , the gambling, and now the midlife crisis complete with a new back tattoo, which his famous ex JLo has commented on. Ben has a lot riding on this movie
I think Ben is all about high stakes/risk… It’s stupid, buts it’s who he is
I think people are putting too much weight on his marriage ending and that scandal and JLo’s opinion of his tat.. which most people won’t see unless his shirt is off. I mean really. People who want to see this movie will; and they don’t care about his relationship with either of the Jennifers.
I read somewhere production costs were like $410 million (not including marketing, another $20-30 mil?) for bat v supe.
If that’s anywhere near true, taking Superman Returns as the benchmark – it cost $270 million for production, but it made $391 million worldwide in boxoffice the entire theater run. It was a decent success.
Can Bat-Supe make $600-700 million worldwide? Talk about an uphill battle. They need to hustle harder. Because no one wanted batfleck. And this superman has no charisma.
I’ve read two conflicting reports…one said $250-270 mil (just the production alone) and one said $410 mil (not sure if that was just production or not). Either way…insane budget.
, I’m thinking this one has to be more. They kept doing reshoots after reshoots. But 410 seems really really high. I think the studio has a lot riding on this movie, so they just threw money at it. But I guess we’ll hear the budget details sooner or later.
@Karen
Yeah, it’s probably somewhere in the middle…like mid $300s. It seems amazing though that studio took this insane gamble considering the last one was pretty blah both critically and commercially (I mean it was a success but Superman is one of the best known comicbook heroes….people were expecting it to gross close to a billion and it ended up grossing somewhere around $650 mil).
I just hope if this sucks it doesn’t make the public wary of the Wonder Woman film.
Reshoots plus publicity and advertising could easily eat up the balance between those two figures.
Whoa!! How is $391 million on a $271 million budget decent?? Let’s be generous and say the studio gets 60% of the box office (theaters don’t exhibit for free!). They haven’t even made back the budget! Maybe after DVD it breaks even but that was a terrible number for that movie.
If this one doesn’t make a billion it has underperformed. Period. Yes I know that is insane but that is the reality of these movies now. The last Spider-Man made $700 million worldwide, didn’t cost as much, and was considered such a failure by the studio they dumped everyone and started from scratch. Insane? Yes, but also the new reality.
I agree, that is dismal. They must have been projecting a gross around the 1 billion mark given that Superman is the premier superhero. I dont think their merchandising went well either. This movie is riding on Bens Batfleck and I dont see it delivering either.
Because it’s not. I work in a movie theater on the side and while pre sales have been good, they haven’t been great for a movie of this magnitude. When I talked to my manager about it he pretty much said its a combination of several things. One is that the public isn’t sold on this movie yet and two Deadpool. Warner Bros won’t admit it publicly but privately they’ve acknowledged that the success of Deadpool is hurting them at the moment. But I won’t go far as to say that considering the fact that there has been negative buzz leading up to the film. It’ll make money its first weekend, believe me. But if it’s bad and all signs point to that it’ll have the opposite effect of Deadpool…as in it’ll just tumble and fall flat on its face. Think Man of Steel.
I don’t like the new batman costume, it almost looks like Iron man….Iron Bat.
Snort
I have the feeling it’ll burst if Affleck farts.
Coffee all over the screen! Hilarious!
1 – Why don’t we get comments from the WORST Batman ever, George Clooney?
2 – The best movies were the Tim Burton’s ones.
1 – Because there’s a considerable chance Batffleck will replace Clooney as the worst Batman ever. So…we’re kind of waiting.
2 – Agreed. Michael Keaton is also the best Bruce Wayne/Batman.
@Eve
1 – Let’s hope there are no nipples on his suit.
2 – Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer are just the best.
Don’t forget Danny DeVito — I cried when he died and the penguins took him away.
@Eve And there was Christopher Walken, let’s just call the best Batman movie ever.
That is the Dunkin Donuts 99 ice tea!!!!
It does look like the iced tea although it could be iced coffee, if he drinks it black. Dunkins doesn’t sell soda in cups.
That’s what mine has looked like with melted ice. yummmm
Soda?! Pshhhhh…. This Boston girl can tell you that’s our state beverage – iced Dunks (coffee)! We drink it year round.
Especially on the coldest days of the year. It’s required or something.
That’s a great line – “I don’t know how that’s gonna work.” Affleck looks bad and what an @ss. I kept thinking of those comments he made towards Jennifer Garner and their marriage while accepting awards. She’s good to get out while she can.
If I just compare from the trailers I have seen of this film, the Nolan flicks look like Citizen Kane. This is awful and will not do well.
I think people need to wait and see. All these predictions on the film being bad. I’m not a fan of these movies in general. And I don’t go to see them in theater; but it is just strange to me how social media has become the trashing ground for films. Sadly films are being destroyed before they are seen. That hurts everyone in the long run.
People were doing the same thing with Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds.. that turned out to be quite successful. Let a film actually open and be viewed by the public before it is deemed a failure.. OLD concept but it should be the standard.
Ben does everything with his supposed ex wife, they’ve both ruined their previously lovely faces with the same awful surgeon since the split announcement. They should sue. And then leave each other and move on to new relationships that will leave them to busy to stare in the mirror and wonder how much more damage they can do. Ugh….
There’s something about seeing someone, even unlikeable Ben Affleck, try really, really hard… you just kind of hope it works out for them enough to keep it from being a massive embarrassment. Like, nobody wants this to be a success for him because he’s terrible and his head would get all gross because of the ego bloat, but I dunno, maybe if it broke even quickly but then didn’t do much more beyond that… somehow. What I’m trying to say here is that it would be really nice if Ben Affleck went back to doubting himself and then undid all the botox and weird face stuff and just maybe became a nice guy. And didn’t ruin Batman. Is that too much to ask?
I own 9 movies all of them are trilogy sets, Nolan’s Batman triology being one of them (Star Wars — Original IV, V, IV, & Indiana Jones minus the Shia LaBitch one). These are the only DVDs I have ever purchased because I do watch them over and over again from time to time. They are my classics. This Batman mess with Affleck I refuse to even entertain even if it comes on cable.
Speaking of box office…Deadpool — a much, much, much less famous “superhero”, an R – rated, with a relatively modest budget movie (58 million dollars, not counting marketing, but I doubt it was anything near to Man of Steel’s) is close to beat Man of Steel’s domestic box office.
http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/deadpool-2016
http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/movies/superman-man-of-steel-2012
P.S.: Key words for Deadpool’s success: excelent word of mouth and repeat viewings. I wanted to see Deadpool again immediately after having seen the first time but I was, as usually, broke. Now I’m waiting for a friend so we can watch it again next week.
I have zero desire to see this film. Even though I was impressed with Henry Cavill as Superman with Man of Steel…for some reason seeing the trailers doesn’t appeal. The hubby will have to go without me, i’m superhero/supervillian tired now!
I agree with Freeman. TDK was pretty much the pinnacle of superhero movies for me. Sometimes I think of what we could’ve gotten if Heath had not passed away because the plan was for more of the Joker in Nolan’s movies. Either way I didn’t need a new Batman but I get why they recast. Bale and Nolan were done and DC wants to build a universe that compares to the MCU.
Agree. TDK, I think, is one of the greatest of all time. I left the first time planning on seeing it again. Everything about that film was perfect.
The Dark Knight was brilliant. I saw it twice.
I’m looking forward to Batman vs. Superman, though.
I’m going to see the film. I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan, and I’ve liked Ben Affleck ever since he was in so many of Smith’s early films. I’m gonna give Ben benefit of doubt. He just may rock Batman.
The Dark Knight Rises > Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. The best thing about the Dark Knight was Heath Ledger’s performance and Anne Hathaway did a really great job as Catwoman in DKR.
Bat fleck will probably do well in states where Trump polls well.
I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t significantly under-perform. We’re three weeks out and the only people I’m seeing who are pumped for it are the ones excited to see it fail. Usually by now we’d be getting ‘leaks’ about how amazing it is, people would be getting hyped, and there’d be cautious excitement at least. But the vibe I’m getting is ‘yeah ok, whatever’.
Compare to Marvel’s Civil War, or even an unknown quantity like GoTG, there’s just no buzz surrounding this film. Part of Marvel’s success is down to the fact that they get people who wouldn’t normally be into superhero films/blockbusters into the cinema, and so far I can’t see this film attracting such a wide audience.
One person, Anthony Breznican, who got into the free screenings tweeted this after seeing the movie.
“I’m not the critic, so I won’t review BvS. I’ll say I prefer a troubled Superman and thought this delivered. It surprised me, too. 🙂
“I loved that it took things people didn’t like about Man of Steel and jiu-jitsued them into being part of the story
“I gotta go write, but last things I’ll say about seeing #BatmanvSuperman. (Personally, I was happy.) ”
His bullet points about the movie:
“1. If you loved Man of Steel, you’ll love BvS.
2. If you loved Man of Steel, but not the end — BvS may redeem that.
3. If you hated Man of Steel and the whole grim, dark thing, okay, probably not for you.
4. Wonder Woman is fearsome.
5. There’s a moment between Batman and Superman that will make even the most cynical eye tear up a little.
6. Fans will have a lot to discuss (and fight over).”
Edit. Anthony Breznican is the senior writer for Entertainment Weekly who reports on all these types of movies. The above were just initial first impressions of the movie after seeing it.
The definitive take on Batman is The Animated Series. Kevin Conroy will always be the definitive Batman and Mark Hamill will always be the definitive Joker.
PS. Batman Begins is the best movie in the Nolan trilogy.
I don’t know how Affleck is cast in anything. He has no screen presence. If it wasn’t for his Oscar win with Damon for their screenplay, would he (or they) be anywhere? Both of them are meh in terms of screen presence and acting ability.
You’d have to pay me to see Affleck in anything.
The only reason I watched Gone Girl was because a friend of mine rented the DVD – and I hated it.
It already made its money back in product placement. And it’s not going to be bad. It will be the best comic book movie you ever had the chance to see in your lifetime doofus!