Warner Bros. Pictures‘ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened to $170.1 million domestically over Easter weekend in 4,242 theaters, an average of $40,100 per theater. That means the film has broken the record for best pre-summer opening, surpassing The Hunger Games‘ $152.5 million from March 2012. It is also the largest domestic opening for Warner Bros. Pictures ever (previous record was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2‘s $169.2 million from 2011), the widest release pre-May, the largest Easter opening (previous record was Furious 7‘s $147.2 million from 2015), the largest opening for a DC film (previous record was The Dark Knight Rises‘ $160.9 million from 2012), and the biggest March opening ever (previous record was The Hunger Games‘ $152.5 million from March 2012).
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice marks the sixth-highest domestic opening ever, passing up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2‘s $169.2 million and trailing Iron Man 3 in fifth place with $174.1 million.
The film, which cost a reported $250 million to make before marketing, brought in $27.7 million from Thursday previews, a new Easter record, passing up Furious 7‘s $15.8 million from last year. $18 million of the $170.1 million total came from 272 IMAX screens, which marks the largest Easter opening for IMAX as well. Globally, Batman v Superman earned $36 million from a record 945 IMAX screens. It’s the third-highest opening for IMAX ever, trailing just Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ $47.5 million and Jurassic World‘s $44.1 million. The film received a B CinemaScore from audiences.
The Zack Snyder-directed film stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, with Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane returning from Man of Steel, joined by Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Holly Hunter as Senator Finch, as well as Scoot McNairy, Callan Mulvey and Tao Okamoto.
After topping the box office for three straight weeks, Walt Disney Animation Studios‘ Zootopia dropped to second place at the domestic box office with another $23.1 million for a total of $240.5 million. Internationally, the animated hit added $42.5 million this weekend to take its overseas total to $456.2 million and worldwide sum to $696.7 million. The movie features the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba, Alan Tudyk, Tommy Chong, Octavia Spencer, Bonnie Hunt, Jenny Slate, Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, Don Lake, and Raymond Persi. Lifted by Zootopia’s strong performance, The Walt Disney Studios crossed $1 billion at the international box office on Friday, the fastest the studio has reached this threshold.
Opening in third place was the Universal Pictures sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Elena Kampouris, Alex Wolff, Louis Mandylor, Bess Meisler, Bruce Gray, Fiona Reid, Ian Gomez, Jayne Eastwood, Mark Margolis, Andrea Martin and Michael Constantine. Opening nearly 14 years after the original, the film earned $18.1 million from 3,133 theaters, an average of $5,784 per location. The movie, which received an A- CinemaScore, has already matched the film’s production budget in North America alone. Internationally, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 earned $8 million from 14 markets.
Fourth and fifth place were too close to call, as both Sony Pictures’ faith-based Miracles from Heaven and Summit/Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant earned an estimated $9.5 million. Miracles from Heaven has now earned a total of $34.1 million after two weeks. Directed by Patricia Riggen, the $13-million budgeted film stars Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, John Carroll Lynch, Eugenio Derbez and Queen Latifah. Allegiant, directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James, has earned $46.6 million after two weeks.
Dropping two spots to sixth was Paramount Pictures’ 10 Cloverfield Lane, which added $6 million its third weekend for a total of $56 million. Made for just $13 million, the film was produced by J.J. Abrams, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, and stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr.
20th Century Fox’s comic book adaptation Deadpool earned $5 million in seventh place its seventh weekend in theaters. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Ed Skrein and Brianna Hildebrand, the movie has now brought in $349.5 million in North America on a budget of just $58 million. Internationally, Deadpool has now earned $396.4 million for a worldwide total of $745.9 million.
