The Batman Beats Justice League At Worldwide Box Office
Matt Reeves' new hit movie The Batman overtakes Justice League at the worldwide box office, though it hasn't yet surpassed many pre-COVID DC releases.
New DC hit The Batman has overtaken Justice League at the worldwide box office. The Batman, released on March 4, introduced the world to Robert Pattinson's iteration of the Caped Crusader, whose interpretation of the character became the first to be depicted outside of the ongoing DCEU since Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy ended. The film, helmed by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves, follows Batman in his second year of crime-fighting as he tracks down a mysterious new serial killer known as the Riddler.
Since its release, The Batman has garnered praise from audiences and critics alike. Many Batman fans have even postulated that it may be the superhero's best movie to date, which is impressive, as The Dark Knight has been considered the genre's gold standard for over a decade. The praise is certainly well-earned, as The Batman's production suffered multiple delays due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, principal photography was shut down twice, and as a result, it took more than a calendar year for the movie to wrap filming. Ultimately, it seems that The Batman has proven well worth the wait for most viewers.
Now, Collider reports that, even with its receipts having fallen by almost half from last week, The Batman's box office has already managed to surpass Justice League's total worldwide gross. So far, Reeves' movie has brought in $340.9 million internationally and $331.9 million domestically, making for a total of $672.8 million. This is slightly above Justice League's $657.9 million and is likely to grow, as The Batman has not left theaters yet. However, when inflation is considered, Justice League still has a slight edge.
While The Batman has exceeded financial expectations, it has not yet surpassed the more recent pre-COVID-19 DC releases, though its success does seem to mark a trend back to somewhat normal numbers. In fact, the trend continued earlier this week when The Batman was knocked out of its top spot at the box office by the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum movie The Lost City. If this trend continues, cinemas may see somewhat of a return to normalcy in their near future.
With that said, the spike in moviegoers can't be attributed to dwindling COVID numbers alone. The hype behind The Batman was huge ahead of its release, and when the first fans to see it sung its praises, many others realized that they wouldn't be able to wait the time it would take for the film to come to streaming. The Batman certainly lived up to the hype and fans wanted to see it immediately. Director Reeves himself certainly deserves much of the credit for how many audience members The Batman brought back to the cinema.
Source: Collider