‘Batman v. Superman’ opens with $424 million worldwide: sad or awesome?

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DC Comics apologists aside, most critics and audience members thought Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a terrible movie. But that didn’t stop anyone and everyone from going to see it on Easter weekend. On Friday, the film was already been tracked for a $180 million opening weekend domestically, and by Sunday, it had pretty much met that, opening with $170.1 million domestic, and $424 million worldwide.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shattered box office records, opening to an estimated $170.1 million domestically over Easter weekend. Not only did Zack Snyder’s superhero epic set a new record for the all-time biggest March opening, obliterating The Hunger Games’ $152.5 million, but Batman v Superman now stands as the sixth biggest opening of all time. It also squeaked by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($169.2 million) to earn Warner Bros.’ biggest opening ever.

Internationally, it added another $254 million for a worldwide total of $424 million — the fourth-biggest global opening of all time. Domestically, Batman v Superman didn’t manage to surpass its Marvel counterparts like The Avengers or Iron Man 3, but it did beat both globally, becoming only the fourth movie in history to cross $400 million worldwide in one weekend.

Ben Affleck’s Batman also dethroned Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million) and The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) as the biggest Batman and DC Comics openings ever.

Batman v Superman’s runaway success spells good news for Warner Bros. after a lackluster 2015, and the studio had several pricy flops last year, including Jupiter Ascending, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Pan.

[From EW]

Well… good for Warner Bros… I guess. The good news is that there won’t be mass layoffs at Warner Bros because everyone over there decided to spend money like drunken sailors on shore leave. The bad news is that some people will start to believe that this (unsustainable) business model has legs. And while it shows that the Batman and Superman names are enough to get people in seats, that doesn’t mean that the film will stand the test of time, you know? But it does show that people are excited for the Wonder Woman movie, and that the Justice League movie is going to continue happening unabated. The next big test for this core audience of teen and 20-something men who love dark-as-hell superheroes and sh-tty scripts? The Suicide Squad, which comes out in August. Sad Batfleck is in that too.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet, Getty.

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95 Responses to “‘Batman v. Superman’ opens with $424 million worldwide: sad or awesome?”

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  1. Shambles says:

    Ive actually heard pretty good things about this movie, though I won’t see it myself because I’m really sick of superhero movies. But I’ve heard Batfleck was the best part of the movie. I feel like a lot of people really want to hate this movie because they feel some type of way about Ben, but the fact is that critics and casual movie goers alike have said he was amazing.

    • Hudson Girl says:

      I took my little cousin (14 yrs old) and we both enjoyed it.
      Affleck was great- I preferred his Batman over Bale’s.
      The movie was long at 2 1/2 hours. We just planned for it by eating before watching. It’s a comic book movie, people need to relax and not expect an Oscar film.

    • V4Real says:

      The movie wasn’t bad at all, it wasn’t great but really good. Ben was awesome , Gal was ok and received applauses both times that I saw it when she appeared as WW. Henry wasn’t so wooden.

      I’m glad it’s making money. I was one of the people saying I don’t buy Ben as Batman now I’m eating crow. People let their dislike of Snyder and Ben poison them against the movie. I like Ben, there’s no reason for me to not like him as an entertainer. He rocked as Batman and he sort of looked a little like Ed Burns as Bruce Wayne.

      • Jegede says:

        @V4Real – Agree.

        The reaction has been excessive IMO.
        True, it’s not The Godfather, but it isn’t Heaven’s Gate either.

        Age of Ultron was rank but the same critics were orgasmic about that!

      • Tammy says:

        I have to agree & eat crow as well…I did not think Ben Affleck could do it but he did. His portrayal of Bruce Wayne and Batman was much better than Christian Bale. My favorite is still Michael Keaton but Ben Affleck really surprised me. Henry Cavill did much better in this film than he did in Man of Steel.

        The writing was chopping in parts and that’s what I didn’t like about it but overall the movie was good. I think people let their hate of Ben & Zack Snyder sway them too much.

    • evie says:

      We went to see it last night and all four of us (me, hubs, 2 teen sons) enjoyed it. Ben Affleck was really, really good at Batman and, like you Hudson Girl, I thought his portrayal was better than Bale’s. The movie had issues, no doubt about it. The pacing was off for me, and Jesse Eisenberg got on my absolute last nerve in his role, but I came out of there so ready for the Wonder Woman movie where before I could have cared less.

    • Anne tommy says:

      My daughter saw it and liked it, also thought Ben was good and Wonder Woman fine. She really likes Jesse Eisenberg normally, but felt that after an OK start he went OTT.

    • Mimi says:

      I went with my hubby and son and all three of us enjoyed it. It probably won’t be earning anyone an Oscar, but it was pretty cool. And the few seconds of screen time that Jason Momoa got was a huge plus for me lol.

    • Tandy says:

      I haven’t seen it either and won’t because it looks like something I’d hate, but I’m hearing the same thing from people I know, that Ben and Wonder Woman are the only good parts about it.

    • Trillion says:

      The things that were cool about this movie, IMO: 1. It’s not at all like the formulaic superhero movies we’ve been accustomed to in the past 15 yrs or so. I go to pretty much all of them, and they are super predictable in terms of scripts, story lines and visuals. This movie diverts from that formula STRONGLY. It’s more like an Italian movie from the 70’s. Once you give up the linear lines and decide you’re going along for the ride, it’s much more fun. 2. Jessie Eisenberg (hope that’s his name) is an excellent Lex Luthor and has the juiciest role role in the movie. 3. It’s ambitious and expects a lot from the audience. It’s challenging. 4. Holly Hunter!

  2. mom2two says:

    Shame that WB will not learn from the reviews and try to do something that makes future installments with these characters better. Just about anyone I talked to that saw this movie told me to skip it. My friend did say Ben was good as Batman and the best thing that could happen to him is writing and directing his own Batman movies with no help from Zach Snyder.
    I saw the previews for Suicide Squad and it looks awful. It probably will be a hit though.

  3. Sam says:

    It opened all over the world at the same time so it’s number are going to be way higher than any other super hero movie. But let me ask you this. In the states it’s going to open between $165M and $170M. Deadpool opened at $135M , is rated R and had no 3D. You’re trying to tell me that Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are only $30M more popular than Deadpool? Okay.

    • Hudson Girl says:

      I saw Deadpool in 4D which is more $$$.
      It also was shown in Imax which is close to double some regular movie prices $$$

      Also, there were tons of teenagers (and a few kids- I know!!) in my theater showing. Some parents just don’t care about R movies. I don’t either, normally. But, there was one scene where even I covered my 14 cousin’s eyes.

      • Sam says:

        Batman v Superman opened in IMAX as well as 3D. So I don’t see what your point is. My point was that without 3D ticket prices Deadpool opened only $30M less than BatmanvSuperman and Batman v Superman had 40% of its ticket sales in 3D.

      • V4Real says:

        But like Hudson Girl said. Teens and kids who haven’t made it to those teenage years went to see Deadpool. The R-Rated didn’t matter to a lot of parents. It still had a large audience.

        Saying BvS only made 30 million more is like saying The Yankees only scored 1 run more than the Red Sox and they had Jeter and that’s why they won. It doesn’t matter, a win is a win and clearly BvS beat Deadpool at the box office.

      • Lorelei says:

        I don’t think in a money in versus money out comparison BvS comes out winning. In the opening weekend (in the US) BvS made about 40% of its budget while Deadpool made approximately 230% and Deadpool did not open all over the world simultaneously.
        BvS is not a flop but so far it’s not a big winner either, we need to see if it has legs in the next weeks.

      • V4Real says:

        That changes nothing. BvS still did better opening domestic weekend than Deadpool. I wasn’t talking about if it made it’s gross back. I was talking about which movie performed better opening weekend (domestically) BvS wins. As you can see that’s what the OP Sam was talking about, the domestic sales.

      • jammypants says:

        Well Deadpool was also rated R. Having a PG-13 rating is usually a bigger advantage for BvsS. If anything Deadpool performed BETTER than expectations because it’s a new franchise, mostly unknown to the general mass before release, had a 10+ pre-production hell, stars box office poison (just being honest about Reynolds pre-Deadpool), and rated a hard R.

        Batman and Superman were more established successful brands, fell into the PG-13 age brackets (wider audiences), directed by someone who’s had a few successful (though shitty) movies at the box office, promised several huge franchises out of the box.

        Yes no competition, but by looking at the breakdown, I feel the underdog, Deadpool, did rather well for itself.

    • Sam says:

      In terms of tickets sold Deadpool sold more tickets. So while BvS made more money it just shows that the general public is not interested in DC the way they are with Marvel characters. Batman and Superman are DC’s most popular characters and yet their movie sold less than Deadpool’s. That’s a problem going further with Warner Bros especially since the last two films have gotten mixed reactions.

  4. fashionista says:

    The movie was terrible although affleck was good as Batman. I can’t stand him but I grudgingly admit his performance was strong and he even looked hot in some scenes. How either happened, I do not know. Superman (whatever his name is) is such a bad actor that even with his shirt off, I just wanted him to disappear. The story line made no sense. Wonder woman was played well by Gadot but had absolutely no reason to be in this film.

    • Scarlet Vixen says:

      I haven’t seen this yet (and probably won’t til it comes out on dvd) but I saw “Man of Steel” and thought it was awful & Henry Cavill was litetally one of the worst actors I’ve ever seen. But, then I went back and watched the series “The Tudors” and he is amazing in it–sexy, charasmatic, deep. What is it about playing Superman that sucks the life out of Henry Cavill??

  5. Hejhej says:

    I enjoyed it a lot and plan on seeing it again. I’m glad it didn’t flop. I can see the flaws it in, but I also think the critism has turned into a thing, which I find kind of unfair.

  6. Trixie says:

    “this core audience of teen and 20-something men”

    Uh…. I’m a 20-something WOMAN and I enjoyed Batman v Superman.

    It wasn’t the best movie ever, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. It had a lot of great elements: Ben Affleck was a good Batman; Gal Gadot was great as Wonder Woman (the best part of the movie for me); Jesse Eisenberg was the best Lex Luthor on film to date (seriously, all the other ones have been garbage). I even liked Henry Cavill as Superman. The main problem the film had was how the individual story lines were woven together. But the core elements were good.

    • Mia4s says:

      Jesse Eisenberg was the best Lex Luthor on film to date

      I am aghast! You’re serious? His performance was horrid. I’m in the “wasn’t that bad” camp but he was garbage! Some kind of discount Heath Ledger attempt with no motivation and zero menace. His attempts at humour didn’t land, his ticks were annoying, not interesting. Terrible, terrible performance. If WB changes nothing else, he should be gone.

    • Emma - The JP Lover says:

      @Trixie, who wrote: “Jesse Eisenberg was the best Lex Luthor on film to date (seriously, all the other ones have been garbage).”

      You really think Jesse Eisenberg was a better Lex Luthor than Gene Hackman?

    • Amanda says:

      agreed, I hate the stereotype that superhero movies are for teen boys/young men. I am also a woman in my 20s who loves superhero films, and I liked this movie a lot.

  7. LookyLoo says:

    I liked it. There, I said it. 😀

    • V4Real says:

      I’m glad you didn’t listen to the critics as well as people on this site and judged it for yourself.

    • velcrodots says:

      I liked it too. Got chills when Wonder Woman appeared for the first time. My butt is gonna be back in the cinema for her solo film, that’s for sure.

  8. Magnoliarose says:

    I’m really not surprised it did well and for the sake of the Wonderwoman movies I’m glad it did. It will make a hefty profit because of the theme but I hope they learned a lesson about budgets.
    I think some wanted it to fail because of Ben and probably Henry the adolescent, but there are so many other people involved whose careers would have been negatively effected.

  9. Nancy says:

    Sad or awesome? Don’t get the question. Comic books are the life blood to many people and some thought (or hoped) it would fail. Not a chance. Generally speaking, when critics pan it, fans love it. I didn’t see it, but knowing my husband as I do, I’m sure I will. The biggest tragedy is…is Daryl dead????? Oh please no. Sorry I digress….

  10. Sam says:

    I can’t believe there are people who are like “so many people wanted to see it fail because of blah blah blah.” No. The movie wasn’t good. Was it Green Lantern terrible? Absolutely not. But when you spend $250 million and three years making this movie, that’s the result you put out? The movie was a disorganized mess. Yes Ben Affleck was great. Yes Wonder Woman was great. But the story wasn’t and the whole point of a great movie is that it tells its story in a cohesive manner with substance. Even those who loved it said there were parts of the plot that didn’t make sense and that the movie at times dragged. And lastly, the fact that it’s reception has been mixed from fans and was critically panned by critics doesn’t bode well for the Justice League and that’s were Warner Bros needs to take a long hard look at with regards to bringing back Zach Snyder for the Justice League.

    • it's like you know says:

      They should definitely change directors. Zack Snyder’s films are beautiful disasters. All glossy and lovely, with very little substance.

      And… Didn’t Joss Whedon separate from Marvel? Get him. Hahaha.

    • Liz says:

      Too late. Snyder is already starting JL 1. My guess is he got himself a sweet multi picture deal and if WB wants to break it, it’ll cost em. I just can’t believe with all the people saying the editing is SO bad that anyone could call that a good film. Sorry but bad editing does not = a good film! And these are NOT film people saying that. Just general movie goers who are noticing it which basically says it must be really, really bad.

      That’s likely why the critics ripped it apart. They can’t help but give more weight to the technical aspects such as writing, editing, score, etc. People think the critics just hated it to hate it but don’t forget, that they are supposed to give more weight to that kind of stuff, it’s their job. And clearly they weren’t lying because I just keep reading that from the people’s reviews.

      Sounds to me like the quality of it does NOT meet the price tag and sadly if people keep handing over their money for that, it will not stop. So the audience will only have their selves to blame as the films get worse!

  11. missmerry says:

    I saw it. It wasn’t as bad as the reviews said it was, but there was tons of disjointed pieces, like flashbacks and dreams that went unexplained. My husband has read ALLLL the comics and only b/c of that was he able to explain some of the unexplained stuff in the movie that was going to lead up to the Justice League stuff.

    Also, I am NOT a fan-girl but I, like a total nerd, went apesh*t for Wonder Woman.
    She was awesome in this. I’m excited for her own movie to come out.
    Gal is perfection.
    (my ONLY complaint was that her legs were not as tan as her upper body, so it made it look like she skipped leg day LOL).
    But everything else was perfect.
    I think it made her seem ever more badass next to Lois Lane, who was the most USELESS character in this movie. Everything she did made things worse for the heros, but maybe that’s the point of her being in it…

    • V4Real says:

      “I saw it. It wasn’t as bad as the reviews said it was, but there was tons of disjointed pieces, like flashbacks and dreams that went unexplained. My husband has read ALLLL the comics and only b/c of that was he able to explain some of the unexplained stuff in the movie that was going to lead up to the Justice League stuff”

      Did you ever considered that it was supposed to remain unexplained until the next installment of the Franchise? And like your husband I got the flashback/dream sequence or whatever you want to call them. The sequence with Flash wasn’t hard to understand. Remember The Flash can travel through time and he came back to warn Batman. Flash warns Batman that Lois is the key. He also says that he is too early, meaning that he was giving the wrong warning at the wrong time. The present Superman is not evil but the future one might be.

      In another Knightmare Batman is standing on a ledge peering down at a post-apocalyptic or alternate reality world. That has something to do with the villain Darkseid, we even saw his flying minions (the parademons which Lex was referring to in that painting). Did you notice the Omega Symbol?

      The part where Batman runs into an evil Superman has something to do with Lois where he blames Batman for her death.

      I do agree that Lois was good for nothing and was just a distraction for Superman. I think she will be key in the upcoming installments.

  12. Tiffany27 says:

    Ngl, I just don’t like Zac Snyder so I’m not interested.

  13. Mia4s says:

    Eh, let’s see how the drops are before we hold a parade. The problem isn’t this movie, it’s the nine, NINE (!!!) they want to follow it. I saw it, it wasn’t horrible but certainly wasn’t great. The foundation is weak so while Wonder Woman can hopefully score (loved her), I doubt anyone is all that excited for a Flash or Cyborg movie. That’s what WB is afraid of, that interest will not hold up in anything that doesn’t have “Batman” in the title. That’s not sustainable.

  14. Pepper says:

    It was always going to open big (though even at 420 million it’s under-performed a little). What will be interesting is how it does long-term. The Marvel films, Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Deadpool etc. held strong for quite a while, largely because of word of mouth. The comic book, action, blockbuster fans were telling their friends and family who weren’t so into that kind of thing that these movies were good and that they’d enjoy them anyway. My 87yr old grandma, who usually prefers films of the Merchant Ivory kind, was convinced to go see the Iron Man’s, The Dark Knight, the Captain America’s and GotG, and she actually loved them! I don’t see anything like that happening with this film.

    The best I’ve heard so far is ‘It’s not as bad as everyone’s saying’. Which is hardly glowing praise and isn’t going to convince anyone who wasn’t already set on going to fork out the money for a ticket.

    • Tiffany says:

      Yep. Will it still dominate is the question. I don’t think so. Had a friend go and say it was one and done and I did not miss much.

    • lucy2 says:

      I agree that long term will be the real indicator.
      It opened higher than I expected, with all the terrible reviews, but I guess there really was an audience eager to see it. But like you said, how eager will they be to watch it again, or watch future films?

      • Ellie says:

        You are absolutely right. I am obsessed with the finances of Hollywood movies so I did a bit of research. I looked into box office mojo and read a few articles on Forbes about this movie’s opening and found out that despite having a gigantic opening weekend of 170 million dollars in North America, it actually had the biggest Friday to Sunday drop ever for a superhero movie. For example Iron Man 3 opened to 68 million on Friday and made a total of 174 million by Sunday. However, BvS opened to 82 million on Friday (more than the 1st Avengers film ) and made “only” 170 million by Sunday, less than Iron Man 3. It dropped 55% in the opening weekend itself. I hope you understand what I trying to convey. English isn’t my first language. It might seem like I am trying to find a needle in a haystack but the box office numbers seem to be dropping slowly. 170 million is still huge and this movie seems to be a hit right now but BvS needs to make more than a billion dollars to actually be considered a giant hit since it has a total budget of 400 million (including marketing and overhead). The first weekend is always about the opening numbers but the second is about the word of mouth. If this film drops more than 65% during the second weekend then 1 billion would be a tall order.
        Also, foreign markets are vital for Warner Brothers right now but it is receiving poor reviews in China too. China has 30,000 plus theaters as of now and a movie hungry audience. So, because of the sheer size of the audience, big Hollywood films generally make a lot of money in China. It opened to a good number during the weekend but it still had a drop of 33% by Sunday and will lose the Chinese market to local competitors by next weekend. I don’t know what the final haul of BvS will be but it all depends upon next week’s performance. Will it hold for a few weeks until The Jungle Book arrives on 15th April, or will it wilt under pressure? Who knows? Box Office is unpredictable.

  15. DesertReal says:

    My husband and I saw it Thursday evening after work, and we both enjoyed it. Was it Iron Man 3 or Capitan America 2 good? No. But I liked it way more than both Avengers movies. Ben Affleck was underwhelming, but everyone else had solid to great preformances, and they set up the next phase of movies well enough. This one needed to be a success for the Wonder Woman and the Aquaman franchises. Cyborg looked intriguing enough, but Flash I’m very meh on, because the show on CW might be the best live action superhero series ever produced for TV. All in all the movie was fast paced, dramatic, and compelling enough to the point where you honestly didnt feel like THAT much time was going by. I’d give it a solid 3.5 outta 5.

  16. kibbles says:

    Does Affleck go on fasts or major workout binges before a movie premiere? He looks much better in these photos than he has for the last year. Looks more tanned too. I guess when you have that much money and studio support, one can do an intense diet and exercise regimen with a personal trainer for a few weeks and get into tip top shape.

  17. The Original Mia says:

    The test for success is the weeks to come. It opened everywhere on the same day to produce those type of numbers. We shall see if it has staying power.

  18. Jayna says:

    A bunch of us went Saturday. We all liked it, some more than others, but everyone disagreed with the really low rating by critics. I enjoyed it even with some of the flaws that have been talked about. It could have been better, but it was a good movie and one best seen on the large screen. I even liked Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Ben was really great. Loved Wonder Woman. I’m still not a huge fan of Cavill as Superman. He gets the job done. That’s about it.

  19. Josefina says:

    Audiences aren’t hating it that much actually. Ive heard of many people who moderately liked it or thought it was a very flawed film, but not as bad as expected.

    Anyway, is anyone surprised? If Michael Bay films can be massively succesful I don’t see why this one wouldn’t. The people saying it’d flop were fooling themselves. I don’t think it’ll be as profitable as Star Wars or Avengers (which were just as expensive if not less), though.

  20. CornyBlue says:

    It is very crucial to mention this opened worldwide including CHINA for this to happen. Marvel movies usually open a month later in China and within a span of two weeks in other places.
    No one in their right mind would have thought this would flop.. this is just not possible. However that does not change the fact the movie is horrible and Zach Snyder and his male brutality should not be made in charge of an entire cinematic universe.

  21. LooseSeal says:

    The movie was horrible. Awful. It basically spat in the eyes of the Batman and Superman mythologies. That said, Ben Affleck was amazing despite the writing and directing. I want more of him as Batman as long as Zack Snyder has nothing to do with it. And Gal Gadot was awesome as Wonder Woman and I can’t wait to see the Wonder Woman movie.

  22. ladyE says:

    I’m excited to see it next weekend. Yes, the critics reviews are terrible, but it seems a lot of audience members like it. Even here in the comments it seems well liked for the most part.

  23. teacakes says:

    It’s just so…. mediocre. And for that I blame Hack Snyder, he really doesn’t know how to tell a story or do anything besides shoot cool visuals.

    But apparently some hardcore DC fans are convinced that the bad reviews are because Marvel bribed the critics. Which is hilarious considering Marvel are such Scrooges, they don’t even feed the press at their events. And THIS is the studio who supposedly dish out a bribery budget to bitch out a rival studio’s movies?

  24. kri says:

    Between Cavill’s Lady dockers hips and Ben’s International Male mesh shirt, I am saaaaaaad. But I guess it’s awesome that people are liking Wonder Woman. To be she can’t use that truth Lasso on Ben’s hairline.

  25. D.Prince says:

    I saw it on Thursday and i liked the movie for what it was. A set up movie to introduce Batman to the new universe and to get Wonder Woman some buzz. I thought Ben did great and Gal as Wonder Woman was wonderful. And i might see the movie again this weekend.

    Critics don’t pay for my tickets so thier opinons don’t mean crap to me.

  26. familard says:

    Typical math is 3x budget to make money. Warner Bros needs to gross $750m to break even.

  27. Lucy says:

    Personally, and after seeing pictures of Ezra Miller at the London BvS premiere, I’m really looking forward to the Flash movie.

  28. SusanneToo says:

    My 13 year old grandson prefers Deadpool to BvS and, yes, he thought the Lois Lane character was rather weak. I liked Deadpool and have no plans to see BvS.

  29. Ellie says:

    Okay, this is going to be a long post but the reasons why critics (it also received a tepid B Cinemascore compared to A- for Man of Steel) did not like this film is because of a variety of reasons. First, critics mostly judge huge 250 million dollar blockbusters films harder than a standard 15 million indie drama flick. Secondly, this movie had massive expectations, even more than the Avengers had back in 2012. This is because BvS includes 3 of the greatest comic-book characters of all time-Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Also, this was supposed to be the start of DC’s own large cinematic universe. This movie has a reported total budget of 400 million dollars and there was a huge, aggressive marketing campaign that promised the greatest gladiator match in history. Ultimately, the movie was a let-down. In the eyes of the general audience, it checks all the boxes-Ben Affleck was great, Gal Gadot was good and Henry Cavill was tolerable, the movie had explosions and was for the most part entertaining. From a film-making perspective, this movie had a lot of problems. The narrative was not smooth and was jarring. It had massive editing issues and the plot lines and the motivations of the characters were lacking. They were trying to put a lot of eggs in one basket. Imagine Age of Ultron on steroids but in dull way. For the general audience who just want to take their families to the movies and enjoy for a few hours, I guess it was fine. For a critic whose job is to dissect a film professionally, it was a bad film.

  30. Tammy says:

    I was one of the biggest naysayers about Ben Affleck as Batman and he proved me wrong. The problem with the movie is not the acting, it’s the writing.

  31. INeedANap says:

    I HATED HATED HATED the movie. I don’t know who those characters were on the screen, bc they were impostors dressed as Batman and Superman. I get that Snyder was going for the look of the comic The Dark Knight Returns, but he completely missed the plot and the entire ethos of both Bat and Supes.

    I am really worried about the WW movie.

  32. Harryg says:

    A little bit sad.

  33. BB says:

    I really disliked the movie and so did the other five people I saw it with, including my ultimate Batman fan, cosplaying, comic book super nerd cousin, who has read every Batman comic there is. Our other cousin posted on facebook that he loved it, and when we disagreed, he jumped all over us saying “we were just echoing the majority and the critics” and “we didn’t get it” (sort of like I’m seeing here in the comments). I just thought the storyline was bloated, the editing was terrible, the dialogue was convoluted, and the whole movie was literally dark (as in dimly lit). I was way too long and despite the action sequences, it couldn’t really hold my interest. I liked Man of Steel a lot more than this mess. I have no hate for Ben Affleck, he was ok, but nowhere near Keaton or Bale as a good Bruce Wayne/Batman. I don’t just want my money back, I want the two and a half hours of my life back that I wasted on this film. If you liked it, I’m glad, but don’t jump all over me for hating it.

    • V4Real says:

      It was supposed to be Dark; that’s who Batman is, the Dark Knight. And Superman was much better in this film. In MOS Nolan played him with too much angst, that’s Batman’s personality. As you can see in the current film Superman was a bit lighter and still tried to help people as he was commissioned to do. In the comics Batman used guns, killed and remained a tortured soul. I think Synder got it right.

      Affleck’s Batamn was so much better than Bale’s Batman. Right now he and Keaton are even with me.

      And your cousin was right, a lot of people didn’t get it. Some of the complaints were about the dreams or sequences in the film. They complained about it because they didn’t get it.

      • Tammy says:

        My boyfriend said the same thing V4Real… this is who Batman is and that Ben played him perfectly. And I didn’t get a few of the sequences either in the film. Thank you for explaining the dream about Flash in one of your comments above.. now I get it.

        I did think the film was a bit too long though & choppy but it doesn’t take away from the acting. Ben Affleck is right up there with Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne. I just give the edge to Keaton because I love Michael Keaton. Cavill was better in this film too.

    • Tammy says:

      I agree that the movie was too long & very choppy at times, certain things didn’t flow together. I thought the acting was pretty decent though. I found Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman to be better than I thought he would do and I actually think he was better than Christian Bale.

    • The Original Mia says:

      My friends hated it too. There’s dark and there’s this ridiculous, unnecessarily grim dark movie of Snyder’s. If he was trying to make it more dramatic, more realistic than Marvel, then there was no need for all the needless violence perpetrated by the heroes. That’s what villains do. What’s a superhero movie if you walk out of it disliking your heroes?

  34. lila fowler says:

    Snyder should not be in creative control of anything. The acting in BvS was not the problem and I think the cast actually did a great job (esp. Affleck!). Snyder’s movies are always a damn mess. I haven’t seen Suicide Squad yet obviously, but I think Ayer is in another league from Snyder and should probably be in charge of the whole thing. Personally I cannot wait for Affleck to write/direct the solo Batman flick — that’ll probably be amazing.

  35. Snapdragon808s says:

    Ben Affleck does not look happy to be there. At all. In any of the photos. When’s the divorce official? 😉

  36. Snapdragon808s says:

    And his face looks super tight. He needs to put the fillers down.

  37. Incognito says:

    I saw it over the weekend. It was ok. Not the best but not the worst superhero movie. Best part of it for me was Wonder Woman. Gal was able to capture her strength, intelligence, bravery, and elegance. Ben surprised me as Batman and I thought he did a good job with what he was given to work with. Henry Cavill did a decent job as Superman too. Lodi wasn’t given much to do and that annoyed me.

    For the most part, it wasn’t the actors that bothered me- it was the writing, the directing and the editing. There were moments that dragged. The writing/dialogue between the main characters could have been better. It felt as though this movie could have easily been split into 2 films. And there are so many questions I had after the movie concerning characters motivations. Batman seemed like he should have known more since he’s supposed to be the worlds greatest detective and we actually see him investigating something. But that’s not Ben Affleck’s fault. That’s squarely on the writing. Why is Lex tracking meta humans? What’s his motivation for the two to fight?

    I think if Affleck gets to write/direct his own batman stand alone films, they will probably be really good. I’m excited for Wonder Woman because I know Snyder isn’t directing it.

    One problem with this movie is that if you are not a reader of the comics, you are going to miss a lot of things. You aren’t going to know that it’s setting up Darkseid to be the next villain. Marvel does that too, although I feel like this movie really buried the hints. Maybe that’s just because I’m more of a Marvel comics person so I was able to identify the hints/eggs left in the marvel movies.

    I might watch BvS once more, but it would be on DVD. I don’t think I could watch it more than twice and still be entertained by it. And for someone who cries at every Disney movie (when I saw the opening of Finding Nemo where Coral gets eaten, I was a blubbering mess), I didn’t cry at the end of this movie. I found that to either mean I didn’t care or I was so distracted from the characters that I couldn’t emotionally connect with them. And that’s a flaw although it could have more to do with me not being able to suspend disbelief/reality than anything else.

  38. Nik says:

    Did not live up to the hype. Two thumbs down

  39. Bella Bella says:

    Bale Forever!
    That being said, I don’t find the Bale/Affleck comparisons to be fair. Bale was in a Batman film and the greatest Batman, imho. Affleck is Batman in a superhero movie more comparable to Clooney’s batman. It’s like saying I like to compare a great wine to Velveeta. Bale is Batman… Affleck is Fatman.

  40. Amanda says:

    I don’t think it’s fair to say the core audience is teen and 20 something year old men. That’s an old sexist stereotype. Just as many women, if not more, love comics and superhero films, including me, a 24 year old woman, and all my female friends.

    I enjoyed this movie a lot. It had its flaws, but Ben Affleck was great and it was a good movie overall.

  41. Blackbetty says:

    I’m a huge Batman fan and I thought it was ok. I didn’t understand the bad reviews- I’ve seen a lot worse! E.g The movie The Bag Man.

  42. Jayna says:

    Batman v. Superman made 46 million dollars globally on Easter Monday. Going strong.