Their faces might have been bloodied given the appalling reviews, but Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and director Zack Snyder have come out on top with audiences, at least in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice's opening weekend. The movie made more than $170 million in the US, according to studio estimates.
Despite the scathing reaction from critics and a less-than-stellar CinemaScore of B, the latest superhero outing has also surged at box offices around the world, ending up with an impressive $424 million globally. On the Stateside charts, it racked up the biggest Easter opening, the best start for a DC Comics property and, assuming the estimates translate into actual figures, this will be the most successful launch for a Warner Bros. film. Of course, it will be interesting to watch the drop next weekend, especially given how its preview screenings played into the overall figures.
Elsewhere, Zootopia (once again, known for trademarking reasons as Zootropolis in the UK) continued to show powerful legs as it was displaced from the top of the chart but only fell one place to second after four weeks on release. The Disney film made $23.1 million this weekend, a drop of less than 38% from last week and has now accrued more than $240 million at the US box office alone. It beat the week's other new arrival, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, with the sequel opening 14 years after the original. It certainly started bigger, with $18 million in third, but we'll wait and see if the film can match the first film's surprisingly big final Stateside haul of $360.3 million, especially given that that original 2002 release only kicked off with $597,362 on 108 screens.
Elsewhere, the charts looked relatively similar, with Miracles From Heaven falling one place to fourth on $9.5 million. The Divergent Series: Allegiant continued to struggle, earning roughly the same as Miracles but falling from second to fifth and still not showing the same power as the first two films in its franchise. It currently has a US total of $46.6 million.
10 Cloverfield Lane was down to sixth, making $6 million, while Deadpool remained solid, albeit slipping a couple of places to seventh and $5 million. The movie is now mere inches away from $750 million globally.
London Has Fallen fell to eighth and $2.9 million, ahead of romantic comedy Hello, My Name Is Doris in ninth with $1.7 million. Finally drone drama _Eye In The Sk_y expanded its release and flew up into the top 10 with $1 million for a $1.7 million running total.