'Captain America 3': New Marvel Film To Go Head to Head with 'Batman vs. Superman'
After announcing nine new Marvel films, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige revealed that he will not change the date of the upcoming Captain America film. The film is slated for May 6, 2016, and will face off against "Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice."
"I continue to be all for quality entertainment for moviegoers to enjoy on weekends," the president told Empire. "If it is on the same weekend, I enjoy it slightly less. But we are doing what we've always done, which is sticking to our plan and sticking to our vision for the movies going forward and we have a very large vision that we're working on for 'Cap 3′ and for all the three movies and just because another movie plops down onto one of ours, doesn't mean we are going to alter that. Maybe we should, but we're not going to."
Warner Bros. was also adamant about keeping the date.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense for two huge superhero films to open on the same date but there is a lot of time between now an d5/6/16. However at this time, we are not considering a change of date for 'Batman vs. Superman," the studio said.
The result will be one of the biggest showdowns in the history of film. It has been speculated for a number of months that one of the studios would change the date in order to maximize the box office. However, after Marvel's announcement, it seems both studios want to take the risk.
It's still two years away but if these two films are released on the same day it could either be one of the biggest weekends ever or it could mean splitting the box office and audiences.
This year has been one of the most disappointing box offices in part because of the lack of quality in franchise films as well as the overcrowded schedule. In 2016, there is already a huge number of franchise films slated for release including "X-Men: Apocalypse," "Alice in Wonderland 2," "The Amazing Spider-Man 3," "Finding Dory" and "How to Train Your Dragon 3." All these films are coming out in the span of two months, and it will not give "Captain America 3" and "Batman Vs. Superman" a chance to recover in case their respective box office openings are unsatisfactory.
Additionally if both of these films open on the same weekend, audiences will be confused as to what to watch. Given the continuing rise in ticket prices and the 3D conversion, audiences are less willing to pay for two movies in one weekend. Moreover, in the history of film it has been rare to see two films open in the $90 million range on the same weekend.
One of the rare cases when two films hit those type of numbers was in 2004 when "Shrek 2" remained at number one in its second weekend and made $95 million, while "The Day After Tomorrow" made $85 million. However, these totals were four-day grosses, and it was during Memorial Day weekend. It should also be noted that ticket prices were cheaper during this time, and 3D was not an issue.
The last Captain America film opened with $95 million, while "Man of Steel" opened with $116 million in their respective opening weekends. If both these films open on the same day, it is unlikely either one will reach these totals. Additionally, it is also improbable either superhero film will reach the $200 million mark.
This year "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" opened on the same weekend with a healthy $91 million. However, the film struggled to build on its start throughout its run because of the overcrowded slate and bad word of mouth. While the film eventually made $200 million, it is now the lowest grossing Spider-Man flick in the U.S.; it became the second straight film in the franchise to fail to reach the coveted $300 million mark domestically.
Both "Batman vs. Superman" and "Captain America 3" are expected to have large budgets and a failure to meet the $200 million gross domestically could be a huge loss for both studios.
It will be interesting to see how the 2016 summer will develop. Studios have the tendency to delay films on short notice. This year Warner Bros. delayed the Wachowski siblings' latest film "Jupiter Ascending" because special effects were not ready. The same thing happened in 2009 when Paramount delayed "Shuitter Island" to 2010.
There is currently no script for "Captain America 3" and that could easily delay the film. "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice" is currently filming but casting is still underway.