Batman v Superman Has Low Chance Of Profit?

Batman v Superman apparently has a low chance of actually making money

It’s actually hard for a movie to lose money these days, what between international markets, licensing, home video revenue, etc. That’s why when a movie bombs hard, it’s huge news, because it actually doesn’t happen all that often with all the movies coming out. Movies might often fall short of expectations, not being profitable enough, but it’s actually kind of rare for them to straight out lose money.

So what if a big tentpole movie like Batman v Superman, meant to set up an entire cinematic universe for the next several years and arguably beyond (after all, if Disney is making Marvel movies “forever”, Warner Bros. presumably wants to go the same route with DC properties) isn’t profitable? Because according to to a computer program, it has somewhat odd chances of actually making money.

Computer scientists have developed an algorithm. Utilizing data from 2,506 films released from 2000 – 2010, the program analyzes budgets, casts, directors, date of release and more to come up with the chances of a movie earning a profit of at least $7.3 million at the box office, a number the researchers determined studio executives might reasonably expect a return on their investment.  So what are the chances of Batman v Superman being profitable? 32% according to this algorithm. Not impossible, but certainly on the low end, especially for a gigantic blockbuster film that costs hundreds of millions of dollars and has so much riding on its shoulders.

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Now, it’s important to keep in mind that this algorithm doesn’t track things like licensing deals, but also salaries and bonuses to various cast and crew, which could also lower chances of profitability of Batman v Superman even further. Of course, this is also just a random computer algorithm that could amount to absolutely nothing. It could also be the case that Warner Bros. has planned of Batman v Superman not being profitable, but it setting  up future films like Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman & Justice League is more important in the long term. But obviously if Batman v Superman doesn’t do huge numbers at the box office, expect plenty of pieces on how the rest of DC’s movie slate is doomed without some massive changes in strategy. A lot is riding on the weekend of March 25th, let’s hope for DC’s sake it turns out at least ok.

h/t CBR