Batman V Superman: 12 Movies You Won't Believe Were Better Reviewed

After just a couple of days in cinemas, and despite the fact that it has been roundly mauled, Batman v Superman has pulled in $500m and is on course to break a cool billion. If Warner Bros aren't paying attention to the Internet, they could well be forgiven they've spun pure gold, and even if they are, that's the kind of "f*ck you money" that makes critical consensus irrelevant.

But no matter how over the top the reviews have been (it's flawed, but it's not irredeemable by any means), the studio would be foolish to ignore some of the venom, and some of the calls from fans to kick Zack Snyder to the curb. Because it's getting a little embarrassing.

The film currently stands at a measly 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, infuriating blinkered fanboys and putting it on a particularly distasteful run of the critical ladder that even a billion dollar haul wouldn't fully forgive. Particularly when you consider some of the supposedly abject failures that have now "out-performed" it according to Rotten Tomatoes' handy score system.

So while Warner Bros might well be mopping their tears with money, they should be wary that Batman V Superman will ultimately be remembered for the films that were considered better than it. And some of those over-achievers make for painful reading...

12. Batman Forever

Even with the Batman that lots of people wrongly claim is the worst, Tommy Lee Jones playing entirely the wrong character and Jim Carrey's ego running rough-shod over everything, Joel Schumacher's panned sequel scores significantly higher than Dawn Of Justice.

The parallels between the two films are particularly pertinent: they cast controversially (Carrey vs Eisenberg), they were coming off the back of a film deemed "too dark" and there were calls to ignore the critical reception. And both were ego-driven messes that hired entirely the wrong directors, but which still ended up being a lot of brainless fun.

Why It Did Better

How embarrassing for Warners that a film with such a woeful, comical script could out-perform one with such lofty philosophical ideas. But the key here is that Batman Forever actually knew what it was, and gleefully embraced the silliness: Batman v Superman inflated itself with false importance and juggled half cooked concepts.

The Lesson For Warner Bros

Don't stick with the same director who made a financially successful but critically panned film: the result might well be another Batman & Robin.