The pressure is on for Warner Bros. and everyone involved in the superhero showdown known as Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. While we’re still a week away from release, director Zack Snyder and Batman himself Ben Affleck have already been fielding early fan criticism toward the movie, and that’s just what’s being publicly reported. Behind-the-scenes, studio brass are no doubt concerned with netting a decent profit on the big-budget spectacle. And now we know what that magic number is.
According to Variety, the amount that the movie needs to bring in is now a fixed sum. The trade reveals that in order to recoup its $250 million production budget and its $150 million global marketing, advertising and promo costs, it would need to make $800 million at the box office.
Sounds like a lot, right? Well, it is, and it isn’t. Man of Steel nabbed $660 million when it opened in 2013 and Superman’s headlining effort had a fraction of the push behind it that BvS does. So, in all probability, Dawn of Justice will sail past that figure quite quickly, especially as it’s targeting a $300 million+ global opening weekend. If not? One insider tells Variety that “anything under $1 billion in worldwide box office will be a disappointment.”
What do you think, does a billion-dollar box office equal a successful movie? Let us know in the comments.
Starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams and Jesse Eisenberg, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens worldwide on March 25.
