The Batman had a huge opening weekend. Racking in a whopping $128.5 million USD at the domestic box office. This makes it the second-largest debut in the pandemic era, following Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $253 million USD opening in December. Which is the largest opening of 2022, according to Variety. The film comes in at nearly three hours, yet the Matt Reeves-directed pic raked in an additional $120 million USD from 75 markets overseas, bringing its worldwide opening figure to roughly $248.5 million USD.
The Robert Pattison movie’s box office success was largely driven by a younger male demographic. Over 65% of ticket buyers were male, and over 60% of attendees were between the ages of 18 and 34, Variety reports.
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Notably, Reeves was the first person Toby Emmerich hired to direct a superhero film following his appointment to president of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures.
“You have to buy into the idea that Batman is like Hamlet. He’s such a rich character. And that the only reason to do it is if you find a different swim lane and a Batman that’s true to the DNA. But is a different interpretation,” Emmerich said in a statement via The Hollywood Reporter. “From the very beginning, Matt consciously made sure that the character and the story he was telling was different than anyone that had been told before”.
Aside from Pattinson, The Batman stars Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred Pennyworth and Colin Farrell as Penguin.
“It’s fun to see the public really embrace the movie,” Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., said. “Since the movie is three hours long, it became appointment viewing. That bodes well for its run on the big screen. It helps that the word of mouth is so strong.”
