Warner Bros. officially kicked their day-and-date HBO Max releasing to the curb with The Batman. Not only wasn’t Matt Reeves’ DC Comics movie not released to stream at home, but it wasn’t even released traditionally in theaters. The film was released in special fan screenings, mostly on IMAX, on Tuesday. It’s typical for big movies to hold preview screenings on Thursdays, with that gross added into their Friday numbers. However, with The Batman, WB actually added preview screenings on Wednesday night as well.
Earning $128M domestically, this marks the highest-grossing opening weekend for Warner Bros. during the pandemic. In all honesty, audiences are starting to return to theaters in droves, as evidenced by the incredible performance of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Speaking of that Sony smash, I thought that The Batman might open as big, but it appears that its three-hour run time prevented that, as it literally couldn’t be screened as many times.
This also marks the biggest opening for director Matt Reeves. The Batman made an additional $120M overseas, bringing its total to a fantastic $249M.
The Batman has a pretty great 85% Rotten Tomatoes score. It has a higher 90% certified audience score. Exiting audiences gave it an A- via CinemaScore as opposed to the B they gave Batman V. Superman and B+ they gave Justice League. Via PostTrak, they gave it 4½ stars out of 5, an 88% positive rating and a 73% definite recommendation.
If The Batman isn’t your cup of Bat-Tea, keep in mind there are two other versions of the Caped Crusader still coming to the silver screen. Ben Affleck will be back under the cowl in The Flash and Michael Keaton will return (as in Batman Returns… get it? Get it? Okay, moving on…) in both The Flash and Batgirl. (Okay that last one is coming to HBO Max, but still…)
With the overwhelmingly positive response, expect The Batman to keep swinging over the next several months. It could very well nudge into Spider-Man: No Way Home territory, although working against it is the dark overall tone. There have been reports of parents taking their children out of theaters shortly into this picture upon realizing that it isn’t for kids. So it may not have as broad appeal as Spidey.
As for the rest of the Top Five, it’s the same as last week’s, just nudged down.
Check out the Top Five below:
Studios steer clear of comic book movies, so nothing major is opening next week. Expect the Top Five to remain essentially the same next weekend. We’ll see how long the Dark Knight stays on top!
