‘Batman v Superman’ sets March box office record, will cross $500 million this week

Warner Bros. new film, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, may have had some mixed reviews, but shattered the March box office record with over $166 million, passing The Hunger Games. At this writing, the film has earned over $468 million globally and will easily surpass the $500 million mark in the next day or so.

The opening put BvS just short of the biggest WB opening ever, a record still held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and its $169.2 million opening back in 2011. This was the fourth biggest opening in history, behind the aforementioned Deathly Hallows 2 and last year’s Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Zack Snyder’s film also notched the title for Biggest Easter Weekend of all-time, beating out Furious 7 which opened with over $147 million last year.

There isn’t a ton of biggest budget, popcorn movies opening this weekend to draw the audience away from the superhero blockbuster. God’s Not Dead 2 and Meet the Blacks comes to theaters on Friday (aka Thursday night) and the next action film, Hardcore Henry, doesn’t open until April 5. That should all translate into a decent box office for the next week or two.

“The lackluster reviews won’t hurt the film too bad this coming weekend and possibly next,” Brandon Jones explained after posting his review here on The Dispatch. “Expect an incredible fall off, let’s say $50-60 million this weekend and a soft $20-30 after that. That being said, the film will be a big money maker for Warner, but nothing on the scale of the Marvel franchise. I just don’t see Batman v Superman making a billion dollars.”