Batman v Superman Biggest March Opening Ever?

Batman v Superman is already setting box office records

Well, the critics may hate it, but DC fans have shown up in force this weekend to see Batman v Superman. It’s already claimed the highest Thursday pre-Easter numbers for any movie ever (previously held by the incredibly successful  Fast 7) and even ever so slightly topping Avengers: Age Of Ultron’s opening night, according to EW. Worlwide, Batman v Superman has already hauled in $115 million and could be on track the have the biggest March opening of any film ever.

But Batman v Superman sucks, right (I’m not stating this as fact, btw, just an assessment of the overall majority opinion of the film)? So why did so many people go to see it? Well, regardless of what people actually thought of the movie beforehand, it definitely seemed like the response was either “screw the critics, I’m seeing it anyways”, or “I knew it would suck, but I need to see it for myself” or some variation on that. So in essence, even if the general response has bee overwhelmingly negative, it seems like everyone bought a ticket anyways, and that’s all that will matter to Warner Bros.

Next: Review Of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

But the real question is the lasting effect of Batman v Superman. It can open to a $300 million weekend, but that means nothing if it falls off a cliff in the following weeks. Will it continue to be a huge money maker or was this pretty much it’s peak? It’s admittedly got a huge advantage in that no serious box office competitors are opening for weeks. I mean, Civil War doesn’t open til May and that might be the only challenger. The only big movie even on the horizon before that is Jungle Book, and that may win the box office that weekend, but I doubt it would put a dent in Batman v Superman’s general performance by that point.

But regardless of Batman v Superman having it’s definite fans, a lot of people did hate the movie. Will the ones who liked it be enough to give Batman v Superman legs to go the distance at the box office? And will this affect Justice League next year? Will the same people who felt burned by Batman v Superman show up for Justice League, and will them not showing up drastically affect Justice League’s box office? Batman v Superman is off to a great start financially, and that is good news for the future of DC movies, period. But whether it continues that way and what effect that has on the DC movie universe as a whole we will have to wait and see.