Captain America 3 Directors Say It Was Smart For Batman V. Superman To Move

During an interview earlier today with ComicBook.com, Captain America: The Winter Soldier co-director Joe Russo said that he felt Warner Bros. had done well by Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice when they moved the film to an earlier date, and that he expected the film to be very successful in their new opening weekend.

Of course, everyone has been wondering what Russo and his co-director and brother Anthony thought of the move, since the previous release date for Batman V Superman would have seen it square off against Captain America 3, which the Russos are also directing. That, though, was realistically never going to happen, Russo said.

“That’s nothing we spent a lot of time with because we can’t control it,” Russo told us. “But also at the same time we’ve been in this industry long enough to know that those films were never going to land on the same day with each other so we knew that somebody was going to move.”

As we noted in a commentary piece recently, Captain America: The Winter Soldier benefited both on screen and in terms of merchandising opportunities because of its early release date, and Russo seems to think Batman V Superman may have some of the same luck in a similar timeslot.

“To be honest, in this marketplace where it’s been proven now that you can release anywhere from January to December and do really well, it didn’t matter who moved,” Russo said. “I think people are realizing that releasing at a time where you can get a couple of weekends – and I think Cap 2 proved this – where you don’t have to worry about competition is the absolute smartest thing you can do. We’re still number one domestically. When you look at Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s similar in that it was released at a time of year where it didn’t have to go up against X-Men or Godzilla or Transformers. And it’s had a very healthy run and now it will end up as the top domestic movie. So I think it was smart. I think they took a smart date and I think they’re going to do very well there.”

Captain America 3 is scheduled for release on May 6, 2016. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice comes to theaters on March 25 of that same year. Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be on Blu-ray and DVD September 9. Check back later for more from our conversation with the Russos.