Does Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice need to make a profit? Does its value lie in its ability to make money or is the value in something that is far more profitable down the line?
There have been hundreds of articles written detailing and debating the amount of money that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice needs to make to be profitable. Is the budget $200 million? $400 million? In the world of Hollywood accounting no one really knows how much the film cost to make, but generally Dawn of Justice will need to make around $500 million to break even. That is assuming a $250 million budget, since contrary to popular belief the marketing budget is not counted as being a part of the overall cost of making a movie.
But we are not here to discuss how much Batman v Superman needs to make to break even, or even earn a profit, because in truth Dawn of Justice does not need to make any money of Warner Bros.
Now before I am mobbed and called out for being a hack and a DC Fanboy, let me explain. For all intent and purpose Batman v Superman is the start of the DC Extended Universe, Green Lantern was intended as the start, but after failing spectacularly (See that film for a real box office failure) DC switched its gears and began the DCEU with Man of Steel. Man of Steel, while making a lot of money, nevertheless failed to be the massive start that Warner Bros. was looking for, so in short Batman v Superman was a soft reboot of the DCEU.
Warner Bros. dumped a massive amount of money into Batman v Superman, with a budget of around $200-250 million and a marketing budget of $150-200 million, and was attempting to make this film critic proof. Warner Bros. has been rather successful seeing as Batman v Superman has as of this writing made $587 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo, and it’s looking like the film will end its run between $350-370 million and $800-1 billion worldwide.
Now why does Batman v Superman not need to make a profit? A few reasons, namely the upcoming films Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad and the big guy in the room Justice League.
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One thing that came out of most of the negative reviews of Batman v Superman and even from the anti-Snyder crusaders, was that most everyone really liked the characters that were portrayed in the film. Everyone really enjoyed Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Henry Cavill as Superman, now I’m not talking about how these superheroes are written, I’m speaking of how the actors played them, this itself is a victory for Warner Bros.
The studio poured money into Batman v Superman not for the film itself, but to make the movie a walking billboard for the future of the DCEU Despite being disappointed in the film Batman v Superman itself, everyone is still very excited for the upcoming DC films coming down the pipeline. Many said that Dawn of Justice felt like three movies in one and that it was done on purpose by the studio to mash as much as possible into the film to get people excited.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Andre from the ultra successful YouTube show Black Nerd Comedy said that he was very interested to see any upcoming Batman and Superman solo films due to seeing the storylines that Batman v Superman set up. Batman v Superman may not have been the superhero brawl many of us wanted but as far as wetting people’s curiosity for future films it was a resounding success. In the end this was the movie’s reason for existing; the DCEU will not be measured by the success of one film but instead it will be measured by its ability to jumpstart a universe.
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No one remembers the lackluster box office of Ant-Man they only remember the cinematic universe that its story added to. In much the same way, people are more excited than ever to see movies about Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, plus them teaming up in Justice League. With this vein of thinking Warner Bros. could afford to spend hundreds of millions creating a walking trailer to ensure billions from a series of successful films in the future.