‘Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice’ Will Not Beat ‘Zootopia’ At Box Office

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice enjoyed a staggering opening weekend, but the news since that first night hasn’t been what DC and Warner expected.

Rather than audiences and critics embracing the film the way they had with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy or anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), director Zack Snyder’s film proved to be a disappointing misfire with almost everyone.

Critics have awarded it a paltry 28 percent on the aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score has fallen to 68 percent (or a D+).

What’s worse, the film has been outdone at the U.S. box office by a previously little-known Marvel character named Deadpool. Another brand new movie universe from Marvel owner Disney, Zootopia, looks like it will be the next film the two most famous superheroes of all time in the same film will be unable to catch.

According to Box Office Mojo, Zootopia has passed the $900 million worldwide mark with this weekend’s performance.

‘@TheJungleBook‘ Repeats, ‘@TheHuntsman‘ Falls On His Axe & ‘Zootopia’ Tops $900M Worldwide https://t.co/3l39VDNXS4 pic.twitter.com/Uy0zVfzlrY

— Box Office Mojo (@boxofficemojo) April 24, 2016

The film has grossed $907 million in both foreign and domestic box office compared to Batman V Superman, which has stalled out at just under $852 million.

And for any Batman v Superman fans hoping that the film will eventually get to the $1 billion mark, where it needed to be to justify the DC Extended Movie Universe, that likely will not happen, as it only managed to gross $8 million over the last week (weekend numbers included).

The day-to-day has slowed down to less than $1 million a day, and the Friday and Saturday totals came in at just $5.5 million after starting with a behemoth $166 million U.S. open.

On the foreign side, Batman v Superman continues its downward spiral as well, picking up about another $10 to $11 million there as well (combined total out of over 66 countries).

While Snyder’s film has certainly earned back its $400 million to $450 million shooting/marketing budget, it has not inspired confidence in DC and Warner, which recently sent August’s Suicide Squad back for extensive reshoots.

There has also been some talk that the DC Extended Movie Universe will scale back on the amount of films they had planned on releasing over the next few years.

Zootopia, on the other hand, has defied expectations from the outset.

The film has been out longer than Batman v Superman and continues to beat it in weekend-to-weekend cool down.

In fact, this week it earned around $1.5 million more in spite of the fact that it released close to a month earlier and should have, by all accounts, had less gas in the proverbial tank.

The steepest drop that Zootopia has seen was in its sixth to seventh weekend when it fell just 43.2 percent in gross.

Contrast that with Batman v Superman, which has seen a downward spike of 69.1 percent, 54.5 percent, 61.4 percent, and 38.9 percent from its first through fifth weekends.

Zootopia also benefitted from immense critical support.

According to RT, out of 206 professional reviews, the Disney animated film has taken only four negatives, giving it an overall rating of 98 percent. The audience liked it only slightly less at 95 percent, which is a full 27 percentage points higher than what the RT audience thought of Batman v Superman.

Aside from that, Zootopia is easily distinguishable as a children’s movie, while Batman v Superman uses classic characters that were aimed at children to attempt a more adult-oriented story.

While comics fans know that these two characters have undergone a metamorphosis into more adult realms over the years, general audiences were likely expecting something more palatable for families given the natures and histories of both characters.

But what do you think, readers?

Is Batman V Superman and its inability to beat Zootopia at this point another black eye for the film, and if so, do you think it has more to do with quality or confusion? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via Batman V Superman screen grab]