Batman v. Superman (versus Variety.com versus Barron's)

When is a success not necessarily a success? When we are talking about the film business. This Kat receives Reuters on a daily basis to be read

on his Kindle. Perusing his daily fare yesterday, this Kat ran across two items, one right after the other, both dealing with the release of the highly promoted film— “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” But the respective accounts give different impressions on the extent to which the movie is a success.

The first article, entitled “Batman v Superman' Dives 68% to $52.4 Million in second Weekend”, and taken from Variety.com, reports as follows:

"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" appears to be losing steam as it ends its second weekend in theaters. The critically loathed superhero movie topped the box office, picking up $52.4 million. However, that represented a steep 68% fall from its $166 million debut. It suggests that "Batman v Superman" will be a front-loaded blockbuster along the lines of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" or "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," both of which earned a disproportionate share of their revenues in their initial weekends and suffered similar drop-offs.

Domestically, the Warner Bros. release has picked up a hefty $261.4 million. The major problem facing the studio is it doesn't just need "Batman v Superman" to be a hit, it needs it to be so fervently embraced that fans will show up to see sequels and spin-offs for years to come. The film is intended to kick off an interconnected cinematic universe of DC Comics characters that Warner Bros. hopes will rival what Marvel has achieved with the Avengers films.”

If we were assigning a color to represent the success of the movie based on Variety.com, it would be red for “everything is coming up roses”, but the quality of the color augurs that it will fade and lose its allure.

The second short piece, entitled “Time Warner could return 25 percent in next year: Barron's”, offers this read on the movie:

“Thanks to the $400 million worldwide box office haul of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' and an expansive slate of nine more superhero movies from DC Entertainment, Time Warner could return 25 percent in the next year, Barron's said. Warner Bros., which is behind the "Batman v Superman" film as well as the other coming releases, stands to benefit mightily from the film's success as well as from its top prime-time TV series, including hits like "Gotham," which runs on Fox, and "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS.”

Here, the color is green, lots of it for Warner Bros.

So is the movie a success or a disappointment? The piece taken from Variety.com seems to express the view from the film industry, where expectations can run high, especially where there are benchmarks against which it can be measured. Sure, the movie has already made a healthy sum, but it is in jeopardy of not satisfying the business model on which its release is predicated. Barron’s, however, seems uninterested in this business model and its associated benchmarks with respect to the movie itself. A return of 25% percent is worthy of admiration, and if the movie can contribute to this result, that is well and good and is sufficient.

Movies ultimately are about the audience. So, it would seem, is the business press in covering the film industry.