Once upon a time, movies based on DC Comics characters were the most high profile and successful comic book adaptations, viz. Batman and Superman. Then, Marvel got their act together and a billion-dollar franchise (without the X-Men, Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, mind you) was developed!
After the completion of Christopher Nolan’s money spinning Dark Knight trilogy (both The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises share space with the two Avengers movies in the list of best selling superhero movies), director Zack Snyder maintained Nolan’s grim and gritty tone for his reboot of Superman, The Man of Steel.
The result was, in my view, a courageous new look at the Son of Krypton which divided fans sharply. Personally, DC Films had to distinguish itself from Marvel Studios and the darker atmosphere I believe, achieved its purpose well enough.
Notwithstanding the mixed feelings from fans, the film still grossed over $660 million worldwide. Apart from Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, no Marvel Studios solo movie has done better.
Which brings us to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DC Films’ maiden attempt at fleshing out its shared film universe by featuring the two DC Comics big guns in a movie for the first time ever.
Again, the trailers have generated mixed feelings – with some critics comparing B v S to Spider-Man 3 for having too many characters and rumours circulating that the DCFU would be at risk, if B v S flopped big time at the box office (this time a comparison to Amazing Spider-Man 2).
Frankly, I think these rumours are unfounded completely & smack of bias. Marvel bias to be exact. After all, Captain America: Civil War will have even more characters than B v S but no similar criticism has arisen. In fact, from fan response, it seems people want more characters for Civil War!?!?!
Thus, perhaps we can discount these rumours and criticisms are Marvel fan-fueled? In any case, I will stick my neck out and predict that B v S will probably do better than The Man of Steel and achieve the $800 million to $1 billion mark worldwide.
Why? Well, how about the Batman?
Without a doubt, Batman is the most popular movie superhero character of all time, with the various films totally almost $2 billion in box office sales. Therefore, Batman will be the big draw in B v S and judging from the trailers, Snyder and Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman) have got the Dark Knight right.
Not only that but we have the added bonus of Wonder Woman’s debut on the big screen – with again, Gal Gadot proving to be spot on in the trailers (and also, new footage from her own solo movie, strategically timed for B v S).
In the above context, I believe that even The Man of Steel haters will be keen on B v S, to check out Snyder’s take on Batman and Wonder Woman – how could they not?
Critics have long predicted the demise of the superhero movies for some time now. 2016 is a key year for the ‘genre’ with six movies to be released (a record breaker already) – have we reached saturation point? Well, if the numbers on Deadpool are to be taken at face value, definitely not! The movie-going public is primed now for the launch of the next massive superhero franchise – the DC Film Universe!
… still there’s more …