The Batman Opening Weekend Box Office Gets Revised Higher

The Batman had an even bigger opening weekend than originally reported. After bringing in a strong preview night haul, The Batman earned $134 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend. That's the second-best opening weekend at the box office since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and a considerable jump from previous estimates of $128.5 million due to a stronger than expected Sunday showing. It's the biggest opening of 2022 thus far. To date, only Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home has had a better pandemic opening, weekend box office showing, earning $260 million in December. 

To get an idea of where this sits in Batman's cinematic history, Warner Bros.' last full Batman standalone movie reboot was Batman Begins in 2005. That film earned $48 million in its first weekend, not adjusting for inflation. It's worth noting that the movie was also around 40 minutes shorter than The Batman and didn't have variable ticket pricing.

Ben Affleck's debut in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice earned $166 million in its opening weekend,  benefitting from having both of DC's most iconic characters in its title. It also had the added hype of being Wonder Woman's first live-action movie appearance and DC's first big-screen crossover. 

The Batman has received a mostly positive response from fans and critics, with some dissenters. ComicBook.com's Kofi Outlaw explained this in his 4-out-of-5 review of the movie:

"As a reboot, The Batman is a very good re-introduction of the Batman movie franchise, but one that feels like a victim of circumstance. It seems like there was originally a clear deeper thematic point in mind – until the entire world took a chaotic downward spiral. The most we now get from The Batman is a final message of, "Hey, things are really messed up, but, uh, let's try to help one another, okay?" Given current circumstances around the world (at the time of writing this), maybe that's the only message a superhero movie can manage right now."

Matt Reeves directed The Batman. Robert Pattinson stars as Bruce Wayne two years into his career asBatman. He's joined by Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, and Barry Keoghan as a surprising mystery character.

The Batman is now playing in theaters.