‘The Batman’ sets a major box office milestone for Warner Bros.

Gotham’s Caped Crusader has soared to success at the global box office in The Batman’s opening weekend. The Warner Bros epic starring Robert Pattinson as the titular hero has grossed $128.5 million domestically, with an overall international haul of $248.5 million.

That places the crime thriller among the Top 50 biggest global openings in recent history, right up there with the likes of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King ($250 million), The Dark Knight Rises ($248.8 million), and Joker ($247.4 million). The only other film to reach this feat in the pandemic era was Spiderman: No Way Home, which debuted last December to a whopping $260 million.

The film also marks the biggest opening of 2022, proving that streaming and a dormant industry can hardly dim the enthusiasm of die-hard moviegoers. The near three-hour flick had had the second-best opening during the pandemic and has become the first Warner Bros’ movie to cross the $100M opening weekend since 2017’s horror flick IT.

The Batman now has the 5th biggest opening for a DC Comics movie, the 3rd biggest debut in the DC Extended Universe while ranking third on the list of standalone Batman films with the highest gross earnings in the first weekend.

Directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes), the gritty reboot of the iconic DC franchise also stars Zoë Kravitz as the felonious femme fatale, Catwoman, Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne’s butler and confidant Alfred, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Colin Farrell sans Irish brogue as the kingpin known as the Penguin.

The Batman currently sits at #1 in 73 of the 74 territories it debuted in, a significant achievement considering it hasn’t yet opened in Japan or China where it opens on March 11 and March 18 respectively. 

While the film continues to rack up accolades, it’s been an equally wild ride for the film’s cast and creators. The Batman is Director Matt Reeves’ biggest opening weekend ever, both stateside as well as internationally, and has also brought its lead actor back to familiar territory. Given his Twilight Saga tenure, Robert Pattinson is no stranger to high-profile premieres. The DC feature is the actor’s first film since 2012’s Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt. II to top $100 million on its opening weekend.

Statistics considered, The Batman also boasts critical success. The film is currently graded A- on CinemaScore, with the audience score at an A for the 18 to 24 age group. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Batman has an 85% critics rating and an equally strong audience rating of 90%.

Among other highlights, The Batman is also Warner Bros’ best opening of the pandemic era in its overseas markets, namely Europe, Africa, Latin America, Australia, and the Middle East. 

The Batman was notably not aired in Russia where it was pulled following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.