After surprising critics by opening to a record-breaking weekend, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ultimately fell victim to negative reviews (and insight from Tracy Morgan) and has witnessed a dramatic decline in box office sales. Forbes reports that the Zack Snyder-directed superhero action movie initially fell by 81.2 percent on Friday, seeing its $81.5 million opening day being reduced to $15.35 million.
This amounted to an overall drop of 68 percent this weekend, as reported by Variety. It picked up $52.4 million domestically, dramatically falling from $166 million during its opening weekend. In total, that amounts to $261.4 million domestically.
Though the movie made its entire budget minus marketing back during its first international weekend, it might not be entirely promising for the DC Comics and Warner Bros. project to properly expand the cinematic universe and be a viable competitor to Sony and Marvel, whose films have traditionally garnered more critical acclaim.
Surprisingly this is not the largest drop by any means, historically speaking. Forbes notes that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 fell 84 percent, High School Musical 3 by 90 percent, and cites "Fantastic Four (-78.7 percent), Watchmen (-78.4 percent), The Dark Knight Rises (-76.6 percent), Hulk (-76.5 percent), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (-75.8 percent), Green Lantern (-72 percent), and Man of Steel (-71.5 percent)."
The Wrap also notes that Batman v Superman is currently leading movie ticket site Fandango's sales for the second week in a row, and they're reportedly seeing a high level of repeat purchases, placing sales around 30 percent higher than the average blockbuster. It'll be interesting to see if upcoming DC Comics flicks Justice League, Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman can outperform it.
