There’s been a lot of talk about “Batman v Superman” ever since the project was originally announced, and fans of both superheroes were visibly excited to see them clashing on the screen. And now that the film is out and everyone has had a chance to see what all the fuss was about, the final results are a bit different from what most people were expecting.
On one hand, the film performed very well in the box office, breaking records with over $170 million in profits recorded in the US shortly after its launch. The numbers were higher than most of the predictions that were going around leading up to the title’s release, and even though some people expected the film to be a commercial success, it doesn’t seem like many actually thought it would go that far.
The critical success of “Batman v Superman” is a different story however. Reviewers were not really fond of the production, and its 29% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes shows that quite clearly. For what it’s worth, there does seem to be some discrepancy between what critics are saying and the opinions of actual fans of the film. Fans are much more positive towards the production and there isn’t that much negativity in that camp.
Because of this, the situation has become slightly controversial, with many fans openly disagreeing with the opinions of critics. Some have even gone as far as to accuse the review industry of corruption, implying that this is all a campaign run by Marvel to undermine the popularity of DC.
In any case, the reviews are here to stay, and it’s obvious that professional critics have a few things to say about the film that are not going to be liked by everyone. That’s their job after all, and it’s not rare that critics and fans don’t see things the same way. Especially when it comes to a production that has been preceded by so much hype and anticipation, and involves characters that are already well-known.
DC probably don’t mind the situation that much, given their profits, but the studio must obviously take a few notes if they want to improve the chances of their future works. “Batman v Superman” could have performed a lot better with critics if certain points had been handled correctly, and the studio did a few experiments which paid off with varying degrees of success. In the end, they had to take some risks and the situation didn’t turn out entirely too favorable for them in the eyes of critics, but as long as fans are pleased that’s still a big step forward for the people behind the film. Its commercial success also makes it a very viable candidate for further exploration of this part of the DC universe, so we expect to see some even more interesting releases later on. There are already some hints about that, but nothing concrete has been said so far.
Meanwhile, there have been some heated discussions regarding the ending of the film. Fans were a bit divided over how this was handled, with many expressing disappointment. It came to the point where Zack Snyder had to come out and make some statements about the situation, explaining why the plot was handled in this way and what the motivation behind the whole thing was. Whether or not fans will find the explanation satisfying is hard to tell, but at least the team shows that they care.