The Batman Earns $249 Million in Opening Weekend at the Global Box Office

It should come as no surprise to learn that The Batman is an absolute behemoth for Warner Bros. Perhaps the most iconic character in WB's library, Batman commands a certain amount of attention at the box office, and this new film is doing more than just keeping up a successful trend. Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's take on the Caped Crusader has given the studio a massive opening weekend, both here in North America and around the world.

The Batman opened to the tune of $128.5 million domestically this weekend. That's good for the second-biggest opening weekend since the pandemic began two years ago (trailing only Spider-Man: No Way Home). The Batman's domestic opening is easily the biggest of 2022 so far and is now the fifth-best March opening all time. What makes the weekend even more impressive, however, is just how successful The Batman has been overseas.

DC's latest Batman film has earned another $120 million at the international box office this weekend, bringing its opening global total to $248.5 million. It just took three days for The Batman to get a quarter of the way to $1 billion.

It's worth mentioning that The Batman is also the first Warner Bros. movie in quite a while to get an exclusive theatrical opening. In the wake of the pandemic, WB made the decision to release each of its 2021 films on HBO Max the same day they hit theaters. Films like The Suicide Squad, Dune, and The Matrix Resurrections were all released day-and-date on the streaming service, lessening their theatrical impact. Warner Bros. made it clear that there was no intention to keep that train going beyond 2021 and The Batman is showing exactly why.

The Batman is the first of four total theatrical releases for DC films in 2022. Reeves and Pattinson are leading the charge this year, being followed by Black Adam, The Flash, and James Wan's highly anticipated Aquaman sequel. DC started off the year strong with the debut of James Gunn's Peacemaker series on HBO Max, continuing the story that was started in The Suicide Squad back in 2021.

Are you surprised to see the success of The Batman at the box office? Let us know in the comments!