REVIEW: Wonder Woman Can't Save Dull "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"

[GSwarthout]

And Captain America and Namor are about 3 years younger than superman. But somehow they aint "iconic"

Who is Namor?

[GSwarthout]

No, the Trinity will be fine, god knows about characters that only comic fans know like Shazam or Cyborg.

I suspect with Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, lots of non-comic book fans know Cyborg. Shazam's TV show was decades ago, though I bet it's still enough to cause confusion in the marketplace over Marvel's "Captain Marvel" movie. Who is this girl? Why are they gender-bending the role?

[SUPERECWFAN1]

But you are comparing a movie in which the franchise was petering out with a movie that was supposed to launch the franchise. A better comparison would be how well Star Trek: The Movie or Star Trek: Generations did, based on the fact that they were based on popular TV shows and thus had name recognition.
ST:TM $35 m budget, $139 m WW
ST:G $38 m budget, $120 m WW

Well to be fair , Nemesis wasn't supposed to be a petering out. The idea was that TNG series would run another film and then likely move to the cast of "Star Trek : Enterprise" for the next set of movies. Hell they upped the budget $22 million more for the film. So its not like Paramount felt the franchise was petering out. It just happened ...even with brand recognition.

[People Of The Earth]

Positively received by who? Critics or ga? Cause in general a movie making that much money in a month has been positively received. There's a definite disconnect between critics, online gripes and what people are actually doing. I keep bringing up the number because people were saying earlier in the month the movie had no chance at a billion dollars because of bad word of mouth and simple math. Those ppl were obviously wrong. And yes I thought the movie was good, so I saw it a 3 of times as have many others, hence the movies gross.

Both.
Again, money is key for the studios, and it’s easier to incite the audience to spend it on your movie if everyone is praising it in the media, critics included.
Even though word of mouth play a larger role nowadays, especially with the explosion of social media, studios can’t afford to have their movies mauled by the critics. That critical embargo WB imposed for BvS is a direct product of that waryness.
Word of mouth is entirely relying on whether or not the movie is actually good.
And how can you say there’s a disconnect between the critical response and the general audience? That movie has known historical drop-off ever since it went out: a result of bad word of mouth and negative reviews playing in full throttle. A lot of people wanted to see this movie, because of the reunion of Batman and Superman on the same screen for the first time ever: that’s why it made the opening it did (the marketing didn’t hurt either).
However, the sharp decline afterward is clearly the result of bad word of mouth and bad press caused by the mediocrity of the movie.
Taking the numbers at face-value is a mistake.

[Scott Taylor]

The drop off is purely because BvS is not a "feel good" movie like GotG. It wasn't the kind of movie that people go to see over and over again. And, you know what? WB should have known it would be that way. I mean, look at this depressing movie!

Still good, just not feel good.

[Username taken]

Both.
Again, money is key for the studios, and it’s easier to incite the audience to spend it on your movie if everyone is praising it in the media, critics included.
Even though word of mouth play a larger role nowadays, especially with the explosion of social media, studios can’t afford to have their movies mauled by the critics. That critical embargo WB imposed for BvS is a direct product of that waryness.
Word of mouth is entirely relying on whether or not the movie is actually good.
And how can you say there’s a disconnect between the critical response and the general audience? That movie has known historical drop-off ever since it went out: a result of bad word of mouth and negative reviews playing in full throttle. A lot of people wanted to see this movie, because of the reunion of Batman and Superman on the same screen for the first time ever: that’s why it made the opening it did (the marketing didn’t hurt either).
However, the sharp decline afterward is clearly the result of bad word of mouth and bad press caused by the mediocrity of the movie.
Taking the numbers at face-value is a mistake.

This.

Joss Whedon said it perfectly. The first weekend is down to marketing, the subsequent weekends is down to the film maker.

Personally, I don't feel BvS was the garbage some critics made it out to be but it's pretty clear that after the first weekend word of mouth wasn't great. Funny enough, I saw it twice in the cinema (at the end of the day I'm still a comic nerd) and I had more problems with it the second time I saw it.

[robreedwrites]

Positively received by who? Critics or ga? Cause in general a movie making that much money in a month has been positively received. There's a definite disconnect between critics, online gripes and what people are actually doing. I keep bringing up the number because people were saying earlier in the month the movie had no chance at a billion dollars because of bad word of mouth and simple math. Those ppl were obviously wrong. And yes I thought the movie was good, so I saw it a 3 of times as have many others, hence the movies gross.

The movie hasn't made a billion dollars yet, so how are those people wrong?

[Phil Clark]

The movie hasn't made a billion dollars yet, so how are those people wrong?

For real. It is sitting at 851 million right now, and it just did 5 million over the last weekend. No way it makes enough before it leaves the theaters unless they release the long ass R rated cut. Then it might just have a chance... But the film as is... will not make it to a billion. Fans have to just realize that and give up on beating that particular drum.

[People Of The Earth]

This.

Joss Whedon said it perfectly. The first weekend is down to marketing, the subsequent weekends is down to the film maker.

Personally, I don't feel BvS was the garbage some critics made it out to be but it's pretty clear that after the first weekend word of mouth wasn't great. Funny enough, I saw it twice in the cinema (at the end of the day I'm still a comic nerd) and I had more problems with it the second time I saw it.

I didn't know he said that, it's a good résumé.
Personally, I knew I wouldn't see this movie again once out of the theater.
Beyond its flaws, some parts of the picture actually had me bored: that killed any desire I had of doing repeat viewing this time.

[CliffHanger2]

The movie hasn't made a billion dollars yet, so how are those people wrong?

They were wrong because they said it had no chance at a billion and how many movies make a billion dollars in one month?. Now 850 in a month and it's gonna be in theaters at least 3 more months. I'd no chance would be an extreme exaggeration.

[brettc1]

Excellent point. Neither this movie nor BVS were as good as they could have been.

by last count, it made 200mil less actually.

solo hero sequel = check
setting up larger extended universe = check
conflicted lead hero = check
female love interest = check
friend/antagonist/super-hero team up = check
female hero intro = check
insane genius villain = check
overpowered physical threat = check

[Osiris-Rex]

They were wrong because they said it had no chance at a billion and how many movies make a billion dollars in one month?. Now 850 in a month and it's gonna be in theaters at least 3 more months. I'd no chance would be an extreme exaggeration.

I doubt BvS is going to be in theaters 3 months, except maybe some of the $1 theaters in the seedy parts of towns.

[KCJ506]

If there's anyone out there that actually still thinks that WB wasn't expecting Avengers like box office numbers for BVS, they're only kidding themselves. I mean come on now, this was a movie featuring two of the most beloved and iconic comic characters of all time that people have been wanting to see on the same screen for decades and it just recently surpassed the first Iron Man(barely). Who at the time of it's release was an unknown B-lister among the mainstream audience who had no idea that it was the start of the MCU. And that was also before just about every movie started to be released in 3D.

There's no way that WB isn't somewhat disappointed with BVS's performance.

[Osiris-Rex]

If there's anyone out there that actually still thinks that WB wasn't expecting Avengers like box office numbers for BVS, they're only kidding themselves. I mean come on now, this was a movie featuring two of the most beloved and iconic comic characters of all time that people have been wanting to see on the same screen for decades and it just recently surpassed the first Iron Man(barely). Who at the time of it's release was an unknown B-lister among the mainstream audience who had no idea that it was the start of the MCU. And that was also before just about every movie started to be released in 3D.

There's no way that WB isn't somewhat disappointed with BVS's performance.

Batman and Superman were the only reason it even made $850M. If it had been Aquaman v Green Lantern the numbers would have been much lower, even if that would have been an excellent movie and have gotten a 97% RT score.

[Awonder]

If there's anyone out there that actually still thinks that WB wasn't expecting Avengers like box office numbers for BVS, they're only kidding themselves. I mean come on now, this was a movie featuring two of the most beloved and iconic comic characters of all time that people have been wanting to see on the same screen for decades and it just recently surpassed the first Iron Man(barely). Who at the time of it's release was an unknown B-lister among the mainstream audience who had no idea that it was the start of the MCU. And that was also before just about every movie started to be released in 3D.

There's no way that WB isn't somewhat disappointed with BVS's performance.

"Barely" beat Iron Man? The studio may get a lower percentage from the non-U.S. markets, but $260 mil is A LOT of money to just ignore as if it's not there.

And, yeah, I'm sure WB would be much happier with Avengers-type money, but it can do less than Avergers and still be ok.