10 Implications For The Success And Failure Of Batman V Superman

Not to sound dramatic, but Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is one on the most important movies in recent years. Oh, I’m not speaking about the film’s message, but rather the expectations and what was riding on its success.

Batman V Superman was meant to launch DC’s cinematic universe in an enormous way, show that Marvel isn’t the only player in the game and, above all, deliver the prospect of seeing these two icons go head-to-head. This was being touted as the superhero movie to break all superhero movies.

As we know now, the film was a mixed bag of success and failure.

Dawn Of Justice was torn to shreds by critics, getting roughly the same reception as 2011’s Green Lantern. However, the film at first seemed to be critic-proof with an amazing opening weekend at the box office, before the subsequent drop-off in business suggested bad word-of-mouth had killed it. Yet while general audiences were lukewarm on the movie, hard-core fans are still hungry for more.

So how do we weigh the good with the bad? What changes, if any, will be made going forward? Is the DC universe in trouble? Does Marvel have competition? Will the fans’ voices drown out the critics?  Let’s look at the implication of the joint success and failure of Batman V Superman.

If you thought for a moment that the bad reviews would be enough to sink DC’s Cinematic Universe then you’re living in a fantasy world.

Here in the real world, a film’s critical reception is not nearly as important as its opening box office tally. No doubt a 29% Rotten Tomatoes score stings and might make the filmmakers reassess some things, but a $170 million+ domestically certainly helped ease the pain.

It’s true that the film’s box office has slid substantially since its debut, but Warner Bros. has invested too much into the plans for this universe to abandon them after one disappointment. If you couldn’t tell by this film, they are really eager to get things rolling.

And it’s not as though the film was universally hated. To the casual viewer, the film might look like a mess, but for DC fans, it delivered the goods in a big way. Glimpses of superheroes like Aquaman and The Flash, references to iconic comic book storylines and hints at the future films was enough to get many fanboy hearts racing. 

So fans can rest assured, despite a few bumps in the road, the Justice League movie is a guarantee. Hopefully the filmmakers learned a thing or two for that though.