‘Batman vs. Superman’ Won’t Back Down From ‘Captain America 3′ Release Slot
Thanks to the likes of Captain America, Batman and Superman, May 6, 2016 has become the most talked about day in the relatively near future. That cushy summer date is currently home to both 'Captain America 3' and the unofficially titled 'Batman vs. Superman,' with neither Disney or Warner Bros. backing down. In fact, Marvel made their official release announcement the other day. The great Marvel vs. DC battle officially left the aisles of your local comic shop and entered the multi-billion dollar world of corporations, movie studios and $200 million summer movies.
When 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' broke April records last weekend and opened to $95 million, fans and industry-watchers alike figured Warner Bros. would buckle and relocate their highly anticipated Superman/Batman movie. But in a new statement to Bloomberg, Warner Bros. President of Domestic Distribution Dan Fellman made it clear that they have no intention of budging...so far:
It doesn’t make a lot of sense for two huge superhero films to open on the same date but there is a lot of time between now and 5/6/16. However at this time, we are not considering a change of date for ‘Batman vs. Superman.’
So it has come to this: an ego match between two of the most powerful Hollywood entities on the planet. Forget about Batman and Superman vs. Captain America, this is all about Disney vs. Warner. Both corporations know how important these movies are to their bottom line and both want to be the film that starts the summer of 2016 with a bang. Even in the business world, the laws of the jungle rule: whoever backs down first is weak.
Does that mean both companies would willingly risk the box office success of these films to save face? Maybe. Possibly. But probably not. Someone is going to buckle. It's only a question of who and when. Sure, both films could open on the same day and a lot of people would make double features out of it, but normal moviegoers would probably pick one or the other, costing both films an untold amount of cash. The people at the heads of these companies are too smart to let this showdown actually happen.
And that's the business. Yeah, the end result is a fun superhero movie that gets you cheering, laughing and geeking out, but the road to a finished film like 'Captain America: The Winter Solider' or 'Man of Steel' is full of unseen bumps and corporate negotiation and lots of money being exchanged between all kinds of parties. The showdown over May 6, 2016 is giving superhero movie fans a chance to really see how the sausage is made.