The Batman Projected to Open With $150 Million Weekend

The Batman is heading to cinemas next month, and current projections predict a pre-pandemic level opening weekend.

There is a lot of expectation on Robert Pattinson’s upcoming superhero movie The Batman bringing in some serious ticket sales when it arrives in cinemas at the beginning of March and early estimates from Box Office Pro have now predicted a figure of $150 million as the expected opening weekend haul. As a comparison, that prediction puts the movie in line with the likes of Captain Marvel, which released around March back in 2019 and well above many of 2021’s releases such as Black Widow and other Marvel movies except for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Since the movie, and more importantly its lead actor, was announced, public opinion of the choice of Robert Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter ego has significantly changed, with anticipation for the film growing with each new clip and trailer release. The film now sits among the expected top earners of 2022 and has managed to silence many naysayers before the film has even had its premiere. Thanks to many social media shares and subsequent comments, there is clearly a great love for what has been seen so far from Pattinson’s take on the Dark Knight.

Where Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy gave Batman an origin story, as did many previous big iterations, Matt Reeves has specifically avoided including any kind of origin sequence as he believes it has been done too many times already. Instead, having a much earlier iteration of the character in his career felt like something more interesting to do. He previously said, “We’ve seen it too many times. I felt it was the best version of the story that we could possibly do to justify having another Batman. You always have to have a reason, and from the beginning that was the mission for me.”

Related: The Batman TV Spot Highlights Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight Voice

The Batman Is the Longest Dark Knight Movie Ever Made But That Could Be A Bad Thing

There is a lot of ambition in The Batman, with a cast of many familiar faces from Batman lore including Catwoman, The Riddler, The Penguin, Carmine Falcone and more. Finding screen time for all of them to have a fair crack of the whip is something that has resulted in the film having a 176-minute runtime, making it the longest Batman movie ever put on the big screen. Although this clearly gives Reeves a lot of room to tell the story he intended, there are some who believe the epic run time could harm the movie by the fact that it will limit the number of showings a cinema can screen each day. However, with no competing release arriving in the same week, it is unlikely to have too much of a detrimental impact on the movie.

When it comes down to it, The Batman not only has the success of itself riding on it, but potentially the big investment Warner Bros. has put into the two planned spinoff shows and potential sequels it has lined up for the future. Given the choice of reining in the runtime or telling a detailed, complex, and complete narrative that will get audiences invested in the new version of the Caped Crusader, it is clear which option Reeves would choose every time.

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