NEW YORK — “Batman v Superman” may be a massive movie — a $250 million globe-trotting blockbuster with a pulverizing marketing assault — but it’s the opening salvo of a much larger campaign that aims to make DC Comics prominent Marvel-dominated multiplexes.
It has not gotten off to a great start. Before audiences rush this weekend to see the superhero showdown of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” critics treated moviegoers to a smackdown of their own. The poor response — “godawful” was one of the harsher but not uncommon judgments — may mean little to opening weekend box office. But it suggests “Batman v Superman” may not be the ideal flagship for DC adaptations.
“This movie is going to make money almost certainly. But more important is how people are leaving the movie theater,” says Cowen & Co. senior media analyst Doug Creutz. “If they walk out feeling kind of ‘eh,’ it’s a problem.”
That’s because “Batman v Superman” is meant to trigger a new world order for Warner Bros. and DC Comics. The studio home to DC characters since 1969, Warner Bros. was once the leader in bringing superheroes to the big screen, from Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies to Tim Burton’s Batman movies to Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy.