With less than two months to go before The Dark Knight takes on the Man of Steel, BoxOffice.com is forecasting a $154 million domestic box office opening for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which would be the tenth biggest North American opening of all time behind The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158 million).
The Dark Knight Rises holds the record for the biggest domestic opening for a DC movie, debuting to $160.9 million in 2012. Its predecessor The Dark Knight opened with $158.4 million four years prior. Zack Snyder’s previous DC outing Man of Steel earned an opening weekend of $116.6 million back in 2013.
2016’s first superhero movie Deadpool is reportedly tracking a $55 million opening weekend, although the X-Men spinoff has a much smaller budget than Batman v Superman, which is said to have cost anywhere between $200 million to $400 million (the higher estimate, if true, making it the most expensive movie of all time).
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for release on March 25th 2016 and sees Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes returning Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Harry Lennix (General Swanwick) and Christina Wren (Carrie Farris) alongside Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as The Flash, Jesse Eisenberg (Now You See Me) as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) as Alfred Pennyworth, Holly Hunter (The Piano) as Senator Finch, Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) as Mercy Graves, Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead) as Martha Wayne, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) as Thomas Wayne and Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire), Jena Malone (Sucker Punch) and Scoot McNairy (Argo) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
Originally published January 30, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
