Justice league box office: What went wrong

[AJBopp]

I thought the marketing focused a ton on Wonder Woman. She featured heavily in the TV spots and trailers.

She did in BvS marketing too. You throw Batman heavily in the mix and I can certainly see jumping to BvS 2 before anything else.

[Bukdiah]

That would only make sense if Wonder Woman didn't come out in between and do very well.

What I think WW had going for it was an insanely good word of mouth that made people go "WTF, DC actually dropped a good movie?!" after a string of ****, coupled with the whole girl power narrative that promotional material would latch on to. WW can do X, Y, Z and on top of that, she's a WOMAN! Also had a narrative of there never being a WW movie in the big screen and they have a WOMAN director etc, probably got asses into seats.

Would WW's inclusion in JL alone cause a lot of people to watch the flick? Looks like it didn't. Coupled with the fact that Zack Snyder gets a lot of **** and most don't like Supes or Batman's portrayal leaves The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as major selling points.

[Da Boat]

It's possible that after viewing BvS and SS, most people gave up on the DCEU in general and didn't bother seeing JL.

Yea, that is a strong possibility.

Still I cannot comprehend those that went to see SS multiple times. lol

[Da Boat]

What I think WW had going for it was an insanely good word of mouth that made people go "WTF, DC actually dropped a good movie?!" after a string of ****, coupled with the whole girl power narrative that promotional material would latch on to. WW can do X, Y, Z and on top of that, she's a WOMAN! Also had a narrative of there never being a WW movie in the big screen and they have a WOMAN director etc, probably got asses into seats.

Would WW's inclusion in JL alone cause a lot of people to watch the flick? Looks like it didn't. Coupled with the fact that Zack Snyder gets a lot of **** and most don't like Supes or Batman's portrayal leaves The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as major selling points.

Also Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg cannot be as strong selling point as say the "B characters" from Marvel in the Avengers were. If the big boys were Cap, Iron Man and Thor, they had the Hulk in waiting and nothing wrong with the three named DC characters but they are not as entertaining as him for a big movie.

[Bukdiah]

Yea, that is a strong possibility.

Still I cannot comprehend those that went to see SS multiple times. lol

I like Will Smith and think Margot Robbie is one of the most gorgeous women I've seen on screen but...dear god, NO, you couldn't drag me back to see that movie lmao.

[kingaliencracker]

She did in BvS marketing too. You throw Batman heavily in the mix and I can certainly see jumping to BvS 2 before anything else.

Well, WB has made many mistakes with their shared cinematic universe. First, after MAN OF STEEL sputtered after its amazing opening weekend, they should have moved away from Zack Snyder and tapped someone else to spearhead the movies. Then they made the mistake in assuming that MAN OF STEEL's disappointment was Superman himself, so they threw Batman into his next movie and slowly transitioned it from a sequel to a Batman-centric film. Apparently, no one learned any mistakes from MoS because they not only repeated those same mistakes with BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, but compounded them too. Then we got SUICIDE SQUAD, which never should have happened (at least at that time). WONDER WOMAN was a nice surprise, likely because it was the one movie since MoS that they allowed the director to make the movie, except Patty Jenkins appears to be a better director than Zack Snyder. With JUSTICE LEAGUE, this movie was doomed from the start I think. From sticking with Zack Snyder to the release date to the plot, I just think it needed to be a home run with critics for it to have any chance.

[kingaliencracker]

I like Will Smith and think Margot Robbie is one of the most gorgeous women I've seen on screen but...dear god, NO, you couldn't drag me back to see that movie lmao.

I haven't seen Suicide Squad since it came out in theaters. Suicide Squad to me was someone trying to convince WB they could make a GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY film with more interesting characters. It was just a misfire from start to finish, and was a film that needed to come out much later than it did.

[CliffHanger2]

It's not a Snyder film, so that's a giant thing in its favor.

That shouldn't be interpreted as me being optimistic. I didn't like Wonder Woman either, but given the critical and popular reception of that film, I have to assume that's on me, and not the film. Still, I doubt Aquaman will work for me personally, but I think that it stands a good chance of doing well.

That might hurt it Snyder actually has a following.

[CliffHanger2]

See, I hated Ezra Miller from jump street, so his/their protrayal of Barry as this awkward, unintelligent (I hope this is East) clown really irked me lmao. They basically Felecity Smoak'd his ass. Have him stammer a lot like, "Er, um, uuuuh", high voice, quick speech patterns, and silly facial expressions. I'm just not a fan of that kinda character type, so for that to be the comedic crutch wasn't doing it for me.

I don't think he was unintelligent more inexperienced and socially awkward with some deficits. He was comedy relief tho. But nothing he did was more impressive than Qs in dofp, Marvel just has the edge right now.

[HaveAtThee]

Trying too much too fast. Cramming the exposition of multiple characters and an entire universe in three films. Add to that a director for three of them (with their most important characters) who has a very polarizing style of directing. Where I think they can rebound is focusing on solo films with their characters. Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Shazam. Let the universe evolve then do a second team-up film where we don't have to see how they come together, they can just appear and take on a more serious threat.

[XPac]

Okay but if JL doesn't do well I wouldn't be too optimistic about Aquaman.

On the flip side, if Aquaman does well enough perhaps we can simply put the blame on Snyder and move on. That may be overly optimistic, but given WW did well not outside the realm of possibility.

[CliffHanger2]

On the flip side, if Aquaman does well enough perhaps we can simply put the blame on Snyder and move on. That may be overly optimistic, but given WW did well not outside the realm of possibility.

Could be just have to wait and see I guess.

[Bukdiah]

Trying too much too fast. Cramming the exposition of multiple characters and an entire universe in three films. Add to that a director for three of them (with their most important characters) who has a very polarizing style of directing. Where I think they can rebound is focusing on solo films with their characters. Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Shazam. Let the universe evolve then do a second team-up film where we don't have to see how they come together, they can just appear and take on a more serious threat.

What I think DC has going against them is that if they went that route (solo films followed by a team up) they would be seen and probably called out for ripping off Marvel. They went a different route (Having a team up movie and then solos) and everyone wonders, "How come they don't do it like Marvel?!" Lose-lose.

[AJBopp]

What I think DC has going against them is that if they went that route (solo films followed by a team up) they would be seen and probably called out for ripping off Marvel. They went a different route (Having a team up movie and then solos) and everyone wonders, "How come they don't do it like Marvel?!" Lose-lose.

At this point, being accused of trying to do it like Marvel could hardly be considered a losing scenario.

[Factor]

What went wrong? I think it's harder to point out what went right LOL.
I was astonished to see how little they managed to get the characters right. Aquaman was Conan, Barry was an annoying comic relief that wasn't even funny and Wonder Woman could have been better explored. Batman was ok and Cyborg was closer to his comic self, but since his current characterization is pretty dull and depressing, this is one character I wish they changed.
Superman was on a whole other level of shitty writing. "Can you bleed" made me cringe hard.
All in all, it was a pretty terrible movie, with bad CG and an even worse plot. Only the world's best marketing could have saved it from failure.