Batman V Superman Breaks Record for Worst Opening Weekend Drop for a Superhero Film [UPDATED]

Now let’s clarify what I mean in the title. In no way was Batman V Superman a bomb at the box office. Quite the contrary. Its worldwide gross of over $420M is the highest taking for a superhero film ever in its opening weekend. It pulled in $166M domestically, making it the fourth largest take for a superhero film in the North American market (after Marvel’s The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Iron Man 3).

And still, it sets a strangely unprecedented record of having the sharpest drop in ticket sales from Friday to Sunday for a superhero film. Forbes broke it down for us. Domestically sales dropped 59% after only two days in theaters.

What does this mean? Well it could be chalked up to the fact that the film was released on Easter weekend. But it must be noted that Easter Sunday isn’t notorious for huge drops in sales, so unless everyone decided that Sunday was a great night to worship Ēostre, the goddess of fertility, it can’t have been so easily derailed. Nor was the drop as significant for any other film this past weekend.

It is likely that its critical reception is to be blamed for it in part, as well as its ‘B’ CinemaScore. Much of a films early success has to do with word of mouth, and a ‘B’ CinemaScore translates to “meh, it’s pretty good.”

I, for one, was at the theaters on Sunday (you’re welcome WB), and the theater was packed out. So I’m not sure what this says about the films longevity in theaters. Will it remain at #1 for long? Or will it continue to drop after its first weekend?

[UPDATE] The Monday figures are in for the film, and it’s shattered the record for best Monday in March for a film at $15.05M, previously held by The Hunger Games ($10.8M). This isn’t surprising, noting the films high profile, marketing, and the fact that many kids (45%) were off school yesterday, but this isn’t as successful of a day as one might expect. This is still 55% lower than Sunday’s take of $33.79M, another serious dip for the film.