Weekend Wrap-Up: Batman v Superman Pulls a Wolverine plummeting 69% to $51.35
April 5, 2016
As anticipated, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned first place over the weekend. Unfortunately, it had the worst sophomore stint decline of any major super hero movie, plummeting to just $51.34 million. God's Not Dead 2 only managed fourth place over the weekend with $7.62 million,which is a worse opening than the original managed. Overall, the box office fell 48% from last weekend, pulling in $132 million. The decline from last year was almost as big at 41%; however, there was a misalignment in the Easter holiday and Easter 2016 out-grossed Easter 2015 by 13%. I'm going to call that a victory. Year-to-date, 2016 still leads 2015 by a significant margin at $2.85 billion to $2.52 billion.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice fell 69% to just $51.34 million over the weekend. Nearly everyone knew it was going to have a deep decline during its second weekend of release. Comic book movies tend to suffer from the Fanboy Effect, while its terrible reviews were certainly another factor. However, most people didn't expect it to fall this far. This was the worst all-time sophomore stint decline for a major super hero release, beating X-Men: Origins: Wolverine by a fraction of a percentage point. The film's running tally is now $260.41 million. This is $24 million more than Deadpool had pulled in after ten days of release, but I don't think that lead will last.
Zootopia added $19.33 million over the weekend to its running tally, which now sits at $275.26 million. The film is guaranteed to reach $300 million, possibly as early as this time next week.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 remained in third place over the weekend with $11.22 million, giving it a ten-day total of $36.58 million. It dipped just 37% during its sophomore stint, which is a lot better than its reviews would suggest. This is another sign that its target audience liked the movie. At this pace, it should get to $50 million with ease, which is enough to be considered a midlevel hit. I doubt there will be another installment in the franchise.
God's Not Dead 2 only managed fourth place with $7.62 million, continuing the trend of faith-based films confounding box office analysts. This is significantly lower than the first film opened with, while its reviews sunk below the original's reviews. All of the evidence suggests that shorter legs are likely, but who knows with this subgenre.
Miracles from Heaven was very close behind with $7.26 million over the weekend giving it a total of $46.53 million after three weeks of release. The film only cost $13 million to make, so even if its advertising budget was twice that, it is close to breaking even.
Meet the Blacks opened in eighth place with $4.06 million in just 1,015 theaters. The reviews have fallen to just 17% positive, so I don't expect long legs. On the other hand, its per theater average is $3,996, which isn't enough to warrant expansion, but theater owners won't drop the film too fast either.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice comparisons
- God's Not Dead 2 comparisons
- Meet the Blacks comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zootopia, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Miracles from Heaven, God’s Not Dead 2, Meet the Blacks, My Big Fat Greek Wedding