How is $800 Million Worldwide for Batman vs Superman a train wreck? Nearly a billion dollars seems like a lot of money despite the mixed reviews.
There's two things that factor into this.
The first is pure finances. That $800 million doesn't go to Warner Bros directly. Around half goes to the theaters that are showing the film. With a production cost of $250 million and marketing budget of $165 million, you're sitting around $415 million, meaning its possible BvS isn't even in the black yet.
Here's
Deadline:
BvS worldwide B.O. now stands at $742.8M, inching closer to that $800M mark. Remember, our sources calculated that in order for BvS to turn a minimum profit in the theatrical window, it would need to do about $925M in global ticket sales. Nonetheless, should the film fall short, it should still profit once ancillary markets are counted.
Basically, home and rental should push it over the top, but the theatrical run might not hit the right levels.
Second, it's a matter for expectations. Batman v Superman features Batman, a character that previously had two billion dollar films. The first time Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman hit onscreen should've been an easy win.
You put this in perspective, let's jump outside of movies. Splatoon sold 4 million copies. That's great for Splatoon! If Mario Kart 8 sold that many copies, it'd be a disappointment, because Mario Kart has classically had strong legs and it has a reputation for high sales on any Nintendo platform. Tom Brady has different expectations of him than say... Matt Cassel. Cassel performing like Brady is amazing. Brady performing like... Kirk Cousins... is a horrible disappointment.
Let's bring it on back now. Deadpool was nowhere near expected to make as much money as it did. It was an R-rated action film for a mid-tier character released with little fanfare by its studio, on a budget of $58 million. It's at $758 million right now.
In contrast, Batman v Superman was expected to rule the roost. It was as close to a sure bet as possible. Should've been a billion easy, especially given opening weekend. The problem is opening weekend is based on marketing, but the legs your film has are dependent mostly on its quality. Now, it's looking like maybe $850 million is BvS's top-end, which is far below expectations.
And this is why BvS is a disappointment. Financial costs and expectations for a film with the words "Batman", "Superman", and "Justice" in the title.
