'Batman v Superman' Drops Big While Crossing $680 Million Worldwide
The steep second weekend drop suffered by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will receive the bulk of attention this week and rightfully so as it is the fourth largest second weekend drop for a film that opened over $100 million. That said, the superhero feature maintained the #1 position and has now crossed $680 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Disney's Zootopia continued its impressive run while the weekend's widest new release, God's Not Dead 2, fell well short of its predecessor.
Heading into the weekend, it appeared Batman v Superman was looking at a drop anywhere from 58-68% and it ended up settling in on the wrong side of those expectations. The film's $51.3 million signifies a 69.1% drop (62.9% if you take into consideration its $27.7 million in Thursday previews last week). This is the fourth largest drop of all-time for a film opening over $100 million, topped only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's 72% drop and a couple of Twilight films and tied with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 for that fourth slot.
In fact, the film's second weekend plummet is on par with last year's Fantastic Four, which dropped 68.2% in its second weekend, ultimately delivering a multiplier of 2.18. That said, Fantastic Four received an even worse reception than Batman v Superman, receiving only a "C-" CinemaScore compared to BvS's "B" and a 9% RottenTomatoes score compared to Batman v Superman's 29%. Should BvS also finish with a 2.18 multiplier that would still result in a domestic run of $362.8 million, enough to rank in the top 30 all-time.
Next weekend, however, will serve as a big test to see if there is any bouncing back. Deathly Hallows - Part 2 fell 53.7% in its third weekend and ended with a 2.25 multiplier. Another good comparison may be X-Men: The Last Stand, which dropped 66.9% in its second weekend followed by 52.7% in its third weekend, ultimately finishing with a 2.28 multiplier. Perhaps some of the film's second weekend drop could be attributed to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four games on Saturday night. If so, that may help Batman v Superman exhibit some third weekend stamina, helping push it toward a domestic run over $370 million.
Internationally, Batman v Superman added $85 million this weekend as its worldwide cume now climbs to $682.9 million. From a worldwide perspective, the film has already surpassed the entire global returns from films such as Man of Steel ($668m), Thor: The Dark World ($644.6m), Iron Man 2 ($623.9m) and Iron Man ($585.2m) on the all-time list where it currently ranks #84. All that said, while it looked like the film might become the 25th to ever cross $1 billion worldwide, its chances at crossing that mark aren't looking so good any longer.
In other weekend news, Disney's Zootopia continues its impressive run, dropping only 19.6% in its fifth weekend in release, resulting in a second place finish. The animated feature brought in $19.3 million as its domestic cume now sits over $275 million, well on its way to becoming only the tenth animated film to gross over $300 million at the domestic box office. Internationally the film added another $30 million as its worldwide cume currently sits at $786.9 million, ranking 56th on the all-time chart.
In fourth place we find one of the weekend's two new wide releases, that being the sequel God's Not Dead 2, which was unable to surpass the opening weekend of its predecessor despite the fact it opened in 1,639 more theaters. The film brought in $7.6 million, well below even the most pessimistic of expectations. The weekend's other new wide release was Freestyle's Meet the Blacks, which finished in eighth with a respectable $4 million from 1,015 theaters.
Elsewhere, Eye in the Sky expanded into 1,029 theaters and saw a 324% bump as it brought in $3.96 million. Roadside's Hello, My Name is Doris also went wide this weekend, playing in 964 theaters, where it brought in $2.3 million.
Paramount kicked off the release of Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! into five theaters on Wednesday and bumped that up to 19 this weekend where it brought in $312,355 for a $16,440 per theater average. Warner Bros' expanded release of Midnight Special into 58 theaters brought in $550,384 for a per theater average of $9,489 while Sony Classics' release of Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead served as the weekend's per theater champion, bringing in $114,530 from four theaters for a $28633 per theater average.
Next weekend the major studios will get back into the game after taking this weekend off. Universal will release the new Melissa McCarthy comedy The Boss into over 3,200 theaters and STX will release the first person actioner Hardcore Henry into 3,000 theaters. On a smaller scale, Fox Searchlight will release the Jake Gyllenhaal feature Demolition into 550 theaters and Focus World will release Mr. Right starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick into 25 theaters.
You can check out all of this weekend's results right here and we'll have weekend actuals for you tomorrow afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
Heading into the weekend, it appeared Batman v Superman was looking at a drop anywhere from 58-68% and it ended up settling in on the wrong side of those expectations. The film's $51.3 million signifies a 69.1% drop (62.9% if you take into consideration its $27.7 million in Thursday previews last week). This is the fourth largest drop of all-time for a film opening over $100 million, topped only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's 72% drop and a couple of Twilight films and tied with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 for that fourth slot.
In fact, the film's second weekend plummet is on par with last year's Fantastic Four, which dropped 68.2% in its second weekend, ultimately delivering a multiplier of 2.18. That said, Fantastic Four received an even worse reception than Batman v Superman, receiving only a "C-" CinemaScore compared to BvS's "B" and a 9% RottenTomatoes score compared to Batman v Superman's 29%. Should BvS also finish with a 2.18 multiplier that would still result in a domestic run of $362.8 million, enough to rank in the top 30 all-time.
Next weekend, however, will serve as a big test to see if there is any bouncing back. Deathly Hallows - Part 2 fell 53.7% in its third weekend and ended with a 2.25 multiplier. Another good comparison may be X-Men: The Last Stand, which dropped 66.9% in its second weekend followed by 52.7% in its third weekend, ultimately finishing with a 2.28 multiplier. Perhaps some of the film's second weekend drop could be attributed to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four games on Saturday night. If so, that may help Batman v Superman exhibit some third weekend stamina, helping push it toward a domestic run over $370 million.
Internationally, Batman v Superman added $85 million this weekend as its worldwide cume now climbs to $682.9 million. From a worldwide perspective, the film has already surpassed the entire global returns from films such as Man of Steel ($668m), Thor: The Dark World ($644.6m), Iron Man 2 ($623.9m) and Iron Man ($585.2m) on the all-time list where it currently ranks #84. All that said, while it looked like the film might become the 25th to ever cross $1 billion worldwide, its chances at crossing that mark aren't looking so good any longer.
In other weekend news, Disney's Zootopia continues its impressive run, dropping only 19.6% in its fifth weekend in release, resulting in a second place finish. The animated feature brought in $19.3 million as its domestic cume now sits over $275 million, well on its way to becoming only the tenth animated film to gross over $300 million at the domestic box office. Internationally the film added another $30 million as its worldwide cume currently sits at $786.9 million, ranking 56th on the all-time chart.
In fourth place we find one of the weekend's two new wide releases, that being the sequel God's Not Dead 2, which was unable to surpass the opening weekend of its predecessor despite the fact it opened in 1,639 more theaters. The film brought in $7.6 million, well below even the most pessimistic of expectations. The weekend's other new wide release was Freestyle's Meet the Blacks, which finished in eighth with a respectable $4 million from 1,015 theaters.
Elsewhere, Eye in the Sky expanded into 1,029 theaters and saw a 324% bump as it brought in $3.96 million. Roadside's Hello, My Name is Doris also went wide this weekend, playing in 964 theaters, where it brought in $2.3 million.
Paramount kicked off the release of Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! into five theaters on Wednesday and bumped that up to 19 this weekend where it brought in $312,355 for a $16,440 per theater average. Warner Bros' expanded release of Midnight Special into 58 theaters brought in $550,384 for a per theater average of $9,489 while Sony Classics' release of Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead served as the weekend's per theater champion, bringing in $114,530 from four theaters for a $28633 per theater average.
Next weekend the major studios will get back into the game after taking this weekend off. Universal will release the new Melissa McCarthy comedy The Boss into over 3,200 theaters and STX will release the first person actioner Hardcore Henry into 3,000 theaters. On a smaller scale, Fox Searchlight will release the Jake Gyllenhaal feature Demolition into 550 theaters and Focus World will release Mr. Right starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick into 25 theaters.
You can check out all of this weekend's results right here and we'll have weekend actuals for you tomorrow afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
