DC’s latest film just came out, and a lot was riding on its success
By Veronnica MacKillop, Contributor
The future of DC’s Cinematic Universe is riding on how well Justice League does in theatres, and the reviews are quite mixed.
The long-awaited Justice League film came to theatres on November 17. After previous DC films such as Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad underperformed, but Wonder Woman proved to be a hit, fans and critics claim that this movie will be very important in determining the overall success and future of the DCEU. The studio has quite a few films planned for the future, including Aquaman in 2018, as well as Wonder Woman 2 in 2019 and Flashpoint in 2020. Justice League has an important job: To regain fans’ trust in the DCEU and get them excited for upcoming movies.
According to Forbes Magazine, Justice League has made around $325 million worldwide as of last week, but the two weeks after the initial release will be vital in determining the film’s success. With Thanksgiving weekend in the US starting on November 23, and the movie opening in Japan and Lebanon the same week, it’s hard to make a final call on how well the film has done commercially until the results come in at the end of November.
Justice League saw a huge jump in the box office a few days after it was released, but its opening weekend came up fairly short, making only $94 million domestically. This number pales in comparison to some of the other popular films that came out in 2017, such as Thor: Ragnarok, which made $121 million, or Wonder Woman, which made $103 million. Comparing it to Warner Bros. movies outside the genre, It made $123.1 million in its opening weekend.
Apart from how much the film earned, a lot is based on reviews and fan reactions. People were concerned because Rotten Tomatoes held their Justice League review until the day before the film came out, which is rarely a good sign. When the review came out, it earned 41 per cent on the Tomatometer, but out of 269 reviews, 110 voted the film “fresh.” Many of the top critic reviews said that the film did not get the pacing right, and that it felt rushed or didn’t have the right tone. This could be due to some of the issues Justice League faced while filming, such as bringing Joss Whedon on board to direct, replacing Zack Snyder, who had to leave due to a family tragedy.
The audience score was very different, with 84 per cent saying they liked the film. Despite the negative reviews from critics, it seems that reviews on Rotten Tomatoes that are not from top critics are much more positive. Audience reviews gave an average of three out of five stars. It seems that critics are being rather harsh with Justice League, and audiences do not necessarily agree with the lacklustre reviews.
So, what does this mean for the future of the DCEU? It’s hard to say. Unlike Thor: Ragnarok, which made it very clear where the MCU was headed and how audiences felt about it, it looks like we’re going to have to wait a few more weeks before seeing what Justice League actually means for DC’s future. What we do know is that the characters seen in the film were great, and audiences were much happier with the film than critics thought they would be. In the end, fans fuel fandoms, so how the audience responds is what will determine DC’s fate going forward.:
