Why DC Moving Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice Was The Right Choice
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- August 11, 2014
By Danny F. Santos (doddleNEWS)
Of all the current superhero movie franchises, Marvel Studios (The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy) is by far my favorite. They created something that hasn’t been seen in film before, an integrated universe where each franchise exists in the larger tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With the exception of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, DC Comics and Warner Bros. have missed more often than they have hit. Even so, if ten years ago you asked me what I’d rather watch: a Captain America movie or a Batman vs. Superman, film I would laugh at the idea that anyone would pick Captain America.
My, how the times have changed.
Warner Bros. moved the date for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from May 6, 2016 to March 25, 2016 to avoid coming out at the same time as Captain America 3 – and it was the smart move. (And this was after WB moved the blockbuster from summer 2015.)
DC Comics is playing a game of catch up with Marvel by introducing the characters that make up the Justice League in Dawn of Justice. You would think that the biggest franchises in comics — namely Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman– would mop the floor with Captain America, but in the film world that’s not necessarily so.
Marvel has proven itself with ten tentpole hit films so far, and Warner Bros. has put out one film in their new cinematic universe: Man of Steel. While the film did well, some of the choices in the story weren’t as well received. Batman v Superman has released a few details, and so far the responses to them have been mixed to positive at the best of times. In all the conversations I’ve had with my friends, they have all unanimously stated that if push came to shove, they’d rather watch Captain America 3 instead of Dawn of Justice.
All of that is besides the point; DC Comics and Warner Bros. want to build their universe as quickly as possible, and are scheduling several movies over the next few years, and they do not pick a fight with Marvel Studios and Captain America. As for opening in March, which is usually considered a dead month, Warner Bros.' president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman points out the changing landscape of blockbuster hit release dates:
The reality now is there really isn't a bad week to open a movie. If you look at the summer box office this year, you can see that there were so many movies, one after the other. You can start with Spider-Man, two weeks later Godzilla, and then Maleficent, and then Edge of Tomorrow, and then Jump Street and Transformers. And the one thing they all had in common, not one of them did over $250 million. We'll be the first one up [in 2016], which is very important, and we'll have six weeks before Captain America comes in.
Going back to the characters of Marvel vs. DC, while I prefer Marvel I think that some DC characters get a bad reputation… case in point: Aquaman. Most of Aquaman’s standing as a useless member of the Justice League stems from the old cartoon Superfriends, where Superman always saved the day. Zack Snyder had a thing or two to say to CBS Detroit's Stoney and Bill Show when they brought up the Atlantean King:
You guys were disparaging, a little bit, Aquaman… I don't want to give anything away about the movie or anything like that but… Aquaman has some cool abilities. People are like, 'Oh what? Does he talk to animals? Because that seems like what he does. Or fish, or whatever?'
The cool thing with Aquaman is his trident -- people don't realize that can actually cut the flesh of Superman if they came in contact. That's a thing that's in the canon. And he's super strong, because of course he can exist at these super deep depths so when he comes up here he's like… he's crazy strong. Anyway, not to say he's in my movie or anything like that but… he has the potential to be bad ass, that's all I'm saying.
To which I can only add the following image:
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice premieres March 25, 2016.
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