2. It Wasn't A Success
TDKR's $1.08 billion box office haul should have been seen as an outright victory. It absolutely is. However, because The Avengers shattered records and became the third-highest grossing film of all time, people look at TDKR's numbers and count them as a failure. TDKR is the ninth highest grossing film of all time, while The Dark Knight sits at number 17, the last of the "billion dollar club." Yet, people are more apt to point to The Dark Knight as an outright success than TDKR. Critical reaction is something that's also been forgotten with time. Because TDKR is so polarizing in the geek community, many think it was an outright failure or a bad end to the Dark Knight trilogy. In fact, it enjoyed much critical praise, sitting at 88% on Rottentomatoes, which makes it the highest-rated third film in a superhero trilogy of all time. Because of the internet and because so many people online actively debate the merits and quality of this film, it's easy to forget that a large percentage of those who saw and enjoyed the movie
aren't reading articles like this one or talking about it on Twitter. Also, when looking at the overall "success" of a film, it's important to not only look at box office numbers or what critics thought. Film is a subjective thing, so what's successful to one person might be successful to another, and we'll just have to wait and see how the film holds up over time before casting such harsh judgement.