Monday Morning Quarterback Part II
By BOP Staff
March 30, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Jason Barney: The negative reviews were out pretty early. There was a lot of buzz about this film, but one wonders if DC really missed the mark here...that if this opening was "expected" and if the movie was actually just average to good, they could have added $20-30 million to the opening. A Jurassic World type scenario.
People didn't avoid it, obviously, but in my mind the result could have been higher. After this weekend the drops are going to be substantial. The current direction isn't making as much money as it could.
All in all, though, just because one of the staple aspects of their push is a terrible product, that doesn't mean the rest of the DC material will be lacking. People are talking about this because it is such a disappointment, and it will sting.
I don't think it means the end of the effort to rival Marvel.
Felix Quinonez: I think this weekend's result shows that people want to like DC movies. Superman and Batman are a couple of the most iconic characters in all of fiction. And audiences were more than willing to give the movie the benefit of the doubt even if the trailers didn't look great and the movie got savaged by critics. But this seems like another strike against the DC Extended Universe. The fact is that if DC keeps missing the mark like this eventually fans won't be so willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Ryan Kyle: If I could copy and paste Felix's response, I would. Batman and Superman are as iconic as you can get, so audience members will always show up, even if reviews stay far, far away. I think Wonder Woman also is a bit impenetrable critic-wise, especially as this will be her first big screen iteration. However, if the quality is not upped big time for the B- and C-list DC superhero standalone films like Aquaman and The Flash, I think they will be hard pressed to outgross The Green Lantern.
Kim Hollis: Do you think Dawn of Justice does anything for the careers of Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck or Gail Gadot?
Jason Barney: Not really. This is a big opening and they will be in the record books for that. The one I am most interested in seeing the reaction to is Ben Affleck. I have liked him in some things and HATED him in some others. Count me in the crowd that groaned when I heard he was to be the new Batman. However, of the three, his career is by far the most established.
Ben Gruchow: Zip for any of the three in either direction; BvS is a franchise product. Put simply, nobody's turning out to see Ben Affleck or Henry Cavill; they're turning out to see Batman and Superman. The closest there is to a cast member curiosity factor is Wonder Woman, but I think it's a pretty lopsided case of "I wonder what Wonder Woman is going to be like" versus "I wonder what Gal Gadot is going to be like as Wonder Woman." Silver lining: Nobody's really going to have their careers damaged by the bad work they do in this film, either (Affleck is a good actor who inhabits a terribly conceived and written Batman/Bruce Wayne).
Felix Quinonez: I don't think this will do anything either way for any of the actors.
Ryan Kyle: Ben Affleck donned the cape at a point in his career where he would have been fine passing on the part, although he would have lost a big payday (he passed on the opportunity already, rejecting the director's chair for Man of Steel). Cavill is hard to tell if playing Superman has vastly improved his star power, having only released one film between Man of Steel and this. I think Gal Gadot, a relative unknown to the general public prior to being cast as Wonder Woman, receives the biggest boost here by being cast.
Michael Lynderey: I think it's great for all of them. Ben Affleck has had an amazing career comeback in the last seven or so years, and playing Batman, one of the most iconic American characters, is just another notch in what's lining up, year by year, to be an amazing streak of achievements. With an opening like this, Affleck gets to keep his name out there as a movie star-leading man in a big way (the film will easily be his biggest grosser - by far), and he also gets the satisfaction of playing Batman, a notoriously difficult character to get right, to the tune of reviews that have Affleck polling well above the movie itself (he's being called the highlight of the film by some critics, and some say he's better than Bale). Affleck played George Reeves, the star of the oldie Superman show, in Hollywoodland in 2006, and here he's coming full circle.
For Henry Cavill, the movie certainly won't hurt, and it might help. He hasn't had many films out in the three years since Man of Steel, and this one gets him back into the pop culture stratosphere. Do Iron Man and Captain America movies help the non-franchise films of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans? They don't really seem to, but they're considered huge movie stars regardless, and they've parlayed at least some of that clout into getting those other projects made, which Cavill can as well.
As for Gal Gadot, she was a fairly unknown actress, so of course playing such a highly-anticipated character in one of the biggest openers of all-time is a huge plus, regardless of anything else. Most regular filmgoers didn't know who Gadot is. Now they will. In a somewhat comparable situation, it's vaguely like what the first Hunger Games did for Jennifer Lawrence (even if not to the same extent), and it sets Gadot up for her solo film next year, which will mostly sink or swim on its own merits.