Warner Bros. Not Considering A Batman Vs. Superman Date Change

Despite yesterday's official announcement from Marvel that Captain America 3 would be coming to theaters on May 6, 2016, Warner Bros. is not considering a change of release date for Batman vs. Superman, according to Bloomberg. This seems to disprove previous rumors that Warner Bros. was, in fact, considering a change of date in order to avoid competition with Marvel's film. Such a move wouldn't be a sign of weakness or lack of confidence on Warner Bros. part. Studios have a history of trying to spread out their blockbuster films to avoid conflicting with each other, since the success of one superhero film – regardless of studio or shared universe – tends to benefits future entries in the genre. Splitting the release date between these two big films would also hurt the bottom line for theaters, as some patrons who would normally see both films on different dates may have to choose to see only one instead. "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," Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. said. "However at this time, we are not considering a change of date for Batman vs. Superman." Batman vs. Superman was originally scheduled for release on July 17, 2015, but the date was pushed back to allow more time for production. At the time that Warner Bros. announced moving the film to the May 6, 2016 release date, Marvel had already staked out the date for a film but hadn't named the film they would be releasing. Despite Warner Bros. and Marvel's firm stances, analysts still predict a date change. "I don't think the studios or the theaters would be happy to see this," Alan Gould, an analyst at Evercore Partners LLC said. "I would be surprised if they didn't end up changing these dates."