‘The Batman’ scores a bigger opening week than expected

Matt Reeves’ The Batman has seen a fantastic turnout since it opened in theaters last Friday; according to Variety, $134 million over the weekend in North America alone. This total is well above an estimate made Sunday that it would pull in $128.5 million, and must be making executives at Warner Bros very happy indeed. Opening day raked in $57 million, followed by $43.2 million on Saturday, and another $34.1 million yesterday. These figures place the caped crusader’s latest outing as the first big blockbuster of the year.

The Batman is also succeeding overseas, pulling in a further $120 million, which pushes the grand total so far to $154 million. The overseas total does not include Russia, however, as the film was pulled from being released in the country due to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. It has yet to be released in China, where it will be in theatres on March 18.

Reviews of the film, starring an exceptionally moody Robert Pattinson as the titular lead, have so far been generally good across the board, with moviegoers giving it an A- CinemaScore grade, and critics leaving it an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With so many superhero films released per year now, reviews stating that this version of the brooding vigilante is more along the lines of a psychological horror than a classic DC/Marvel popcorn fest may also have intrigued the originally uninterested.

Opening up to 4,417 cinemas across North America, it was already clear that The Batman was going to do well after it saw generous earnings during its previews, which ran for a few days prior to its full release on Friday. This is Warner Bros’ first theatrical-only release since Tenet, meaning fans have to head out and buy a ticket as they will be unable to watch The Batman on streaming sites until at least 45 days after it has been released in movie theaters.