Just How Much Is Riding On Batman v Superman?

Does Batman v Superman have a whole movie universe riding on it, or is it just one cog in a wheel of movies?

Batman v Superman will have a big opening weekend, there is no doubt about that. It is tracking incredibly well on advance ticket sales, and may be one of if not the biggest March openings of all time But for a movie that so far has been pretty divisive among fans, will it be successful enough, and what does that mean if it isn’t?

Variety is reporting that Batman v Superman basically needs to make $800 million to recoup it’s investment, and actually needs to break a billion dollars worldwide if it’s to be seen as anything other than a disappointment (which is something we’ve heard previously). Granted, a lot of this can be made up in things like sponsorships and marketing tie-ins, something Batman v Superman has in spades, but not all of it.

Batman v Superman actually needs legs if it’s going to break that number, it’s nearly double what Man of Steel grossed worldwide. Is Batman (and Wonder Woman) the magical ingriedients that can give it that extra edge?

And if the film only grosses a measly say $800,000 or so (or less), what then? While I doubt it would affect movies already in the pipeline and relatively close to release such as Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman & Justice League: Part One, that could definitely kill any potential future solo Superman films (although Warner Bros. seems lukewarm on that idea at the moment anyways) and any solo Batman films. Hell, it might even kill off solo Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg films because they are all in that movie somewhere and if Batman v Superman bombs they may just want to press forward with Justice League and develop other properties.

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This isn’t a condemnation of Batman v Superman before it’s out, but it’s not a rallying cry either. In other words, don’t pay money to see the movie 10 times unless you actually think it warrants that, not because you think it needs to succeed for the future of DC movies or something. But it is hard to see a movie that is already fairly divisive being that successful. I’ve been on record repeatedly that I don’t have a lot in faith in director Zack Snyder, but I’m still hoping the movie will be good. Maybe Chris Terrio turned in a great script that Snyder couldn’t miss with, maybe Affleck’s performance is good enough it will outshine any negative parts of the film, who knows?

All we really know is that Warner Bros. is betting on Batman v Superman like few have before. Marvel didn’t launch Iron Man with a 5+ year plan, they were just praying the movie would make some money. DC jump-starting their movie universe like this could be a great shortcut if it’s pulled off successfully, or it could end up an example of what not to do when launching a film universe. I’ll be there March 25th (24th if possible), hoping to be impressed. Hopefully the rest of the world will be impressed whether I am or not, because they need to be for Warner Bros. and DC to not make a drastic change to their future plans. We’ll find out if this is the case in just a little over a week.