In the cinematic battle between two of the world’s greatest superheroes, the true winner is Warner Bros., whose “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” now holds the record for largest pre-summer debut. Grossing a whopping estimated $170.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, the film bests the former record-holder, 2012’s “The Hunger Games,” which had a $152.2-million March opening.
The Zack Snyder-directed picture also is the largest opening of a Batman film ever, surpassing Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” which debuted to $160.9 million in 2012, and the sixth-best opening for any film, overtaking 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.”
The film pits Ben Affleck’s Batman against Henry Cavill’s Superman. It also includes the introduction of Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot. Jesse Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor.
“Batman v Superman’s” stellar opening is perhaps surprising given that most movie critics didn’t favor the picture. Going into the weekend, 146 reviewers on the critic site Rotten Tomatoes gave the PG-13 picture a measly 33% positive rating. Sunday, the positive rating had decreased to just 29%, with 262 reviews being counted.
But audiences on the whole disagreed. Moviegoers gave the DC Comics adaptation a respectable B grade, according to polling firm CinemaScore. Those younger than 25 gave it a B-plus; those under 18 gave it an A-minus.
The success of the $250-million comic book epic is a welcome hit for Warner Bros., which stumbled last year with a number of high-profile flops including “Jupiter Ascending,” “In the Heart of the Sea” and “Pan.” But “Batman v Superman” is a launchpad for a series of films in the DC Comics cinematic universe: “Suicide Squad” comes out in August followed by “Wonder Woman” next year and the first “Justice League” film.
Also opening this weekend was Universal Pictures’ “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.” Thanks primarily to female moviegoers, Nia Vardalos’ sequel to her 2002 surprise hit took in a formidable $18.1 million, well exceeding its $10-million projections from analysts.
In what seems like par for the weekend, critics also didn’t like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Its rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 24%. Audiences, however, gave it an impressive A-minus CinemaScore.
Regardless, it placed third at the box office, behind Disney’s animated hit, “Zootopia,” now in its fourth week in release ($23.1 million this weekend; $240.5 million domestic gross to date).
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