BvS underperformed, but it still made a profit, and it's killing in video/download sales.
Suicide Squad's first week cume proves more people weren't willing to take everything the critics say at face value again.
BvS underperformed, but it still made a profit, and it's killing in video/download sales.
Suicide Squad's first week cume proves more people weren't willing to take everything the critics say at face value again.
BvS didn't need to make $1 billion to be considered profitable. $1 billion was more of a hope -- not for profitability, but just based on expectations of what a movie of this type "should" have made.
Early estimates, months before the extra-big $166M opening was known, had the movie topping out in the $900 million range including a $350 million domestic total.
It ended up with $872 million worldwide and $330 million domestic. Definitely under their early tracking, but with all revenue streams counted, BvS will still make $200+ million profit.
Would they have preferred $500 million profit? Of course, but in spite of the critics' lambasting of the 3 DC movies, they've all been/will be profitable.
Obviously, you want that universal acclaim/praise for your movie franchise, so Warner does need to course correct to get that, but they don't need a wholesale reboot.
That's for undisputed financial bombs like Josh Trank's Fantastic Four or Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man 2. I'm sure X-Men Apocalypse falls into that category as well.
Numbers aside, I've liked all 3 DC movies:
Man of Steel: A-
BvS: B+
Suicide Squad: B
By comparison, many Marvel movies have been mediocre to bad in my book: Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Thor, Thor: Dark World, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Guardians of the Galaxy was really juvenile, and Ant-Man was a non-event. Neither disappointed because I didn't have a whole lot of hopes and dreams for those 2 movies, but neither made me care about those characters.
Suicide Squad - 8-Day Total: $192,454,728
Guardians of the Galaxy - 8-Day Total: $146,703,522
Last edited by Conn Seanery; 08-13-2016 at 05:42 PM.
This!
People for some reason are not able to understand the difference between turnover and profit. The movies probably made profit, but not as auch as the should have done especially if you take into account how much money was invested in to this movies. I assume that Deadpool alone made probably more profit than the 3 DC movies combined
BvS was more like $872 million and some change.
Also the claim SS needs to make $700-$800 million+ is bs somebody made up.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhugh.../#1222a33f6f4e
Difference is, TASM 2 was the lowest grossing Spider-Man movie in the series and Amy Pascal told investors that TASM 2 would be a billion dollar movie. Notice how all of Sony's shared Spider-Man universe and spin-offs dried up after they cancelled TASM series. Nothing in the DCEU has been cancelled by comparison.
Last edited by Doctor Know; 08-13-2016 at 04:38 PM.
They haven't made $2b, they've grossed $2b, of which they'd net likely ~50% of... off of 3 movies that have estimated production costs totaling $650m (not including marketing costs, but not including merchandising or all the product placement... Superman! now crashing through your IHOP, Sears & U-Haul!... or dvd/digital sales). Catastrophic failure? No. Unbridled success? Also no. Mixed results are mixed.
Man of Steel did so well that they immediately felt the need to add Batman to the pseudo-sequel. BvS did so well that there were reports (which look pretty credible if you actually watch the movie) that the studio meddled heavily with Suicide Squad. Will SS do *so well* that WB execs insist on hacking WW and/or JL into oblivion? Time will tell.
It's also been micro-analyzed to the extremes it has been because DC fans have been so excessively defensive about it every step of the way (ZOMG! cloze don RT becuz critics r payed of bye diznee an dey dizagee wit mee), the genre is experiencing unprecedented success and helping largely carry a sagging theater industry right now, all while the movies themselves have been incredibly polarizing and, frankly, in WBs case, have been an interesting example of how awful movies with the right IP can still make ridiculous amounts of money opening weekend.
Basically, DC movies have become that dumpster fire that you know stinks to high heaven, but can't help but take a sniff as you're driving by...
And while it's fun to note the 2nd weekend drop-offs of better (read: MCU) movies, the slight difference in % (4-8%) has quickly ballooned to become movies that, in WBs case, are incredibly front-loaded and posting record opening weekends, but then faltering quickly and end up losing out in the long run. What's becoming obvious is that the GA want a quality alternative to the MCU, and WB could have themselves a license to print money if they'd only bother putting out good (or at least better) movies (regardless of tone- do serious if you want DC, just try to do it well)... but they aren't. Their marketing department is earning. their. checks. with getting huge positive buzz generated prior to release resulting in butts in seats on opening weekend, then the movies themselves end up being such a letdown that the WOM is quickly turning people against them, and the only people standing by them are the 'DC or bust' crowd that care more about the IP/company name (and the tone) than actual quality.
I think the DCEU so far has it's core audience that will see these movies come hell or high water. But as far as the general audience goes, the movies have been more miss than hit.
Now is that a bad thing? So far, no. The DCEU films have done quite well at the box office. The only down side is they seem very front loaded, so their multipliers are not great. That said, the end result at the box office is good and more than sufficient to justify making more movies set in the DCEU.
Should DC/WB be concerned about this? Right now, no. If they can keep the core audience at the level that it is now, they will be quit successful. But as in all franchises they should be worried about attrition. Will there come a time when the core audience is not enough? Considering that unlike Harry Potter or Twilight, we are not dealing with a finite story with a set number of movies, but with a continuing epic and unlimited number of movies?
I think DC/WB should put some thought into the state of the DCEU. And by some thought I don't necessarily mean trying to alter their movies post-production...
The Last Stand is really the only crappy one. Apocalypse's drop was on par with Days of Future Past.
It wasn't considering First Class was less profitable.
It wasn't just because it was the lowest-grossing. It was because of the hack and Garfield being fired. It was a whole bunch of reasons.
Last edited by Divine Spark; 08-13-2016 at 05:31 PM.
I'm just sad that Pete's Dragon isn't doing well. By all accounts it's an excellent film, and it finally takes the advice of "don't remake perfect films, remake imperfect ones with a good premise."