Super Fight Breaks the Box Office…and the Internet

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice seems to be a movie battle destined to not only play out on the big screen but in countless social media threads and blog comments for the rest of the year…or until the next superhero movie comes out.
 After raking in tens of millions from just preview screenings, B. vs. S. was set up for a massive opening weekend. But then the critics and fanboys came out swinging. It seems no one is neutral on this movie. They either love it, or they hate it.

Polarized Opinions

Those that hate it – take a look at Rotten Tomatoes’ 33 percent rating for example – really hate it. Those that love it, think the detractors are just haters who were determined to hate the movie no matter what. So epic is the vitriol that a growing faction of DC fans has taken to various online venues to accuse Marvel fans of deliberately sabotaging the movie with over the top poor ratings. This rhetoric has only set off an endless loop of escalating arguments on every social media and fan site imaginable.

 All of this publicity could work wonders for the movie. Or it could be disastrous, depending on who wins this war of words. If the critics win, this could go down as just another poorly executed superhero movie. There are plenty that failed to deliver and some were so awful that fans mock them to this day – we’re looking at you, Daredevil.

Genuine Feedback or Just Jumping on the Bandwagon?

But is all this noise really fair, or is it simply the over-amplified internet spewing out topics that drive clicks? After all, there’s no way everyone who’s expressing an opinion has seen the movie yet. They just want to jump on whatever bandwagon suits them best.

But that’s the nature of the industry these days. Even people who aren’t familiar with what you’re doing will have an opinion of it. So, you have to be ready to push your narrative before all the shouting starts. Promoters and PR teams must be organized and all-encompassing in their message delivery efforts. Accomplish that and you will pull all the Undecideds to your camp. Fail and they will join the critics … leading to a situation in which people who haven’t even seen your movie (or other product) are keeping others from paying for it too.

David Milberg is an NYC investor.