#TheBatman opening at $128 mil in the US is actually pretty impressive. The last 2 Batman solo films set records and opened bigger ($155 and $160), but considering the pandemic, the length, and the fact it's much more neo-noir than action movie, that's not a big drop.
Batman's been durable box-office gold since 1989, of course, but still - there's been a lot of Batman in the 2000s and an endless stream of superhero movies and I wouldn't have been surprised if this one underperformed.
I think WB maybe had that in mind too, because while the final production budget is estimated at $185 to $200 mil, it appears the film's initial pre-pandemic budget was more modest than The Dark Knight or Snyderverse films.
Several COVID shutdowns and then reopening set in the midst of the pandemic probably ballooned that budget by a ton - but you can tell watching it this is, while still a very expensive film, much more modestly scaled than the last few Batman/Justice League movies.
The Batman is also facing basically no competition for the rest of March - there's no other major releases this month. So good word of mouth could lead to long legs. Also one of the only recent Hollywood films to release in China. This could outgross the Nolan films globally.
I also think the one-two punch of Spidey and Batman roaring the box office back to life probably kills any industry interest in doing the theatrical + streaming model again for big releases. Just untold sums of money left on the floor last year by WB with the HBO deal.
(And I think that trade-off was probably worth it to WB since HBO Max finally found a big user base in 2021 thanks in part to the movies. But they’re definitely not doing that for, say, Dune II seeing these numbers)
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