上周末，兩大勢力在世界各地的影院中展開激戰。狂熱粉絲和眾多持負面態度的影評人針鋒相對，后者把最新超級英雄巨制《蝙蝠俠大戰超人：正義黎明》斥為一場“災難”，一桌“難以消化……索然無味的菜”。

從經濟角度而言，至少時代華納旗下的華納兄弟，也就是《蝙超》的出品方或許最終會成為真正的贏家。這部超級英雄大片頂住了接二連三的批評，實現了高達1.66億美元的北美首映周末票房。全球范圍內，《蝙超》已入賬約4.20億美元，有望成為歷史上首映周末總票房最高的影片之一，以及第四賣座的漫畫改編電影。據報道，華納兄弟為該片投資2.50億美元。如果不考慮營銷和推廣成本，《蝙超》已經實現盈利。

對華納兄弟來說，這顯然是個巨大利好。該公司計劃在今后四年里再推出至少10部DC漫畫改編電影。對于這個系列的開篇之作，華納兄弟為《蝙超》投入了大量資金。不過，盡管炒作和無休止的營銷幫助該片在第一個周末壓倒了眾多負面評論，但宣布勝利對華納兄弟來說或許依然為時過早。

說《蝙超》得到的評價褒貶不一也許不夠貼切。它的爛番茄新鮮度只有29%（基于260多位影評人的打分），非常令人失望；而在該網站上留言的觀影者中，73%的人表示喜歡這部電影。在市場研究機構CinemaScore的網站上，觀眾對《蝙超》的評分為“B”。觀眾最初的激動之情有可能被一邊倒的不利評論淹沒嗎？或者，該片能否攜首映周末的余威，成為今年的重磅作品之一呢？要想如此，它就得超過另一部超級英雄電影《死侍》。

市場調查公司ComScore高級媒體分析師保羅?德加拉貝迪安說：“長期來看，人們總是希望獲得積極評價。”他指出，出彩的評論給去年的《星球大戰：原力覺醒》帶來了長時間的成功，讓這部影片在大約兩個月時間里創造出了逾20億美元的全球票房。

據彭博社報道，《蝙超》的全球總票房需要達到11.5億美元，才能在利潤上跟近期的同類超級英雄片一較高下，后者包括迪士尼的熱門漫威電影，以及華納的最新蝙蝠俠三部曲，總之就是史上最叫座的超級英雄電影集。毫無疑問，《蝙超》的亮相十分精彩，但它在這個周末的票房很可能大幅下滑，因為即便是重磅影片中的佼佼者，情況通常也會如此。

近幾年，制作預算和首映周末票房接近《蝙超》的超級英雄大片有三部，分別是迪士尼的《復仇者聯盟2：奧創紀元》和《鋼鐵俠3》以及華納的《蝙蝠俠前傳3：黑暗騎士崛起》。電影票房統計網站Box Office Mojo的數據顯示，這三部電影的次周末票房平均比首周末低60%左右。

同時，首周末票房平均占這三部電影北美總票房的40.6%。如果《蝙超》遵循類似軌跡（這一點非常不確定），它最終將在北美斬獲4.084億美元；按截至目前的表現計算，該片的海外票房則可能達到11億美元。

換句話說，到目前為止，《蝙超》的出色表現讓它有可能真的堵住諸多批評者的嘴，從而證明負面評論未必都是票房毒藥。

當然，華納兄弟仍有理由感到擔心。挑剔的批評可能會讓《蝙超》無法像此前的一些超級英雄大片那樣經久不衰（上述三部影片的平均爛番茄新鮮度在80%以上，上一部蝙蝠俠電影《黑暗騎士崛起》的新鮮度更是達到了令人贊嘆的87%）。

娛樂資訊網站The Hollywood Reporter認為，《蝙超》票房高開得益于多個因素，其中之一是該片基本上在全球最大的幾個電影市場同時上映，包括中國。這也意味著它隨后的海外票房不會因為上映時間較晚而出現波動。該網站還指出，《蝙超》的首映周末觀眾大多是年輕白人男性，這個群體包括業界所說“狂熱粉絲”。對許多這樣的粉絲來說，無論評價多么尖刻，他們都會去看這部電影。還不清楚不那么熱衷于漫畫改編電影的觀眾是否會像前者一樣對批評者的“請勿觀影”勸誡置若罔聞。

《蝙超》首周末告捷的另一大原因則要簡單得多，那就是時機。差不多兩年前，華納兄弟做出了一項戰略性決策，那就是把2016年春季影片《蝙超》的上映時間從5月初提前到3月底，原因是這樣做可以避開定于5月6日上映的《美國隊長3：內戰》，從而讓票房爭奪戰變得不那么激烈。

這項決定起了作用，上周末《蝙超》的最大競爭對手是熱映多日的迪士尼動畫電影《瘋狂動物城》以及喜劇片《我的盛大希臘婚禮2》。后兩部影片的周末北美票房均未超過2500萬美元，而下一個重量級影片上映前，《蝙超》還有五個周末來積累票房。

同時，華納兄弟可以祈禱，希望《蝙超》上周末的優秀票房能掩蓋影評人的冷言冷語。

分析師德加拉貝迪安可以肯定的一點是，他從未見過哪部電影的影評人口碑和票房反差引發如此之多的議論。他還說，此外，業界和媒體花了這么多時間來探討這些因素，“只會讓人們更好奇，更想去看這部電影。”（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

校對：詹妮

This past weekend, movie theaters worldwide played host to a battle between two powerful forces. Fanboy enthusiasts collided head-on with an avalanche of negative critics deriding the latest superhero blockbuster, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as a “disaster” and an “indigestible. . .mope-fest.”

The real winner—financially speaking, at least—might end up being Time Warner’sWarner Bros., the studio behind Dawn of Justice.The movie overcame its critical pummeling to rake in an impressive $166 million in domestic ticket sales in its first weekend. Worldwide, the superhero spectacle collected roughly $420 million on its way to posting one of the highest-grossing opening weekends of all-time, and the fourth-highest ever for a comic-book adaptation. The film has already more than made back the reported $250 million Warner Bros. spent on the film, not counting marketing and promotion costs.

That’s obviously great news for Warner Bros., which has a lot invested in this movie as a launching-pad for at least 10 more DC Comics films planned for release over the next four years. However, while hype and endless marketing helped Dawn of Justiceovercome the wealth of negative reviews for one weekend, it may still be too early for the movie studio to declare victory.

To say Dawn of Justice has received mixed reviews might be an understatement. The movie sports a very disappointing “29% Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on reviews from more than 260 critics), though 73% of moviegoers on that site say they like it and the film received a “B” rating from audiences through CinemaScore. Is it possible the film’s overwhelmingly negative critical reception will catch up with audiences’ initial excitement? Or, can Dawn of Justice ride its opening weekend momentum to become one of this year’s biggest films (it would have to overtake another superhero movie, Deadpool)?

“Long-term, you always want to have good reviews,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore SCOR -0.10% . Great reviews bolsteredStar Wars: The Force Awakens‘ long-term success last year, he notes, helping the movie generate more than $2 billion in global ticket sales over roughly two months in theaters.

According to Bloomberg, Dawn of Justice would need to gross $1.15 billion worldwide in order to match the profits of comparable recent superhero films such as Walt Disney’s DIS 0.89% popular Marvel movies or Warner’s three most recent Batman films—a collection that includes many of the highest-grossing superhero films ever. Dawn of Justice is off to a great start, no doubt, but the film is due for a major drop-off at the box office starting this weekend, as is typically the case with even the biggest blockbusters.

A breakdown of three superhero blockbusters—Disney’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3, as well as Warner’s The Dark Knight Rises—from the past few years, with similar production budgets and opening weekend grosses to Dawn of Justice, shows an average drop-off in ticket sales between the films’ first and second weekends of about 60%, according to Box Office Mojo.

In terms of overall gross, those three other films made an average of 40.6% of their total domestic box office gross in their first weekend. If Dawn of Justice follows a similar trajectory—a big ‘if’—it would ultimately pull in an estimated total of $408.4 million in domestic ticket sales, and perhaps as much as $1.1 billion worldwide, based on its overseas performance so far.

In other words, the movie’s success so far puts it on a path that would effectively silence its (many) critics, proving that negative reviews aren’t necessarily box office kryptonite.

Of course, Warner Bros. still has reason to be worried. The film’s critical drubbing could prevent it from seeing the kind of staying power that some of its superhero blockbuster predecessors experienced. (The three other films mentioned above averaged 80% Rotten Tomatoes scores from critics, led by a whopping 87% Fresh rating for the previous Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.)

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s massive opening was propelled by a variety of factors, including the fact the film opened simultaneously in essentially all of the world’s largest movie markets, including China. That means the movie can’t count on a future bump in overseas revenue due to a delayed release schedule. THR also noted that Dawn of Justice‘s opening weekend audience base was largely made up of young, white males—a demographic that includes what the industry refers to as “fanboys,” many of whom likely would have turned out to see the film no matter the critical reception. It’s not yet known whether moviegoers less devoted to the comic book adaptation genre will be as willing to ignore critics’ pleas to skip the film.

Another major factor in Dawn of Justice‘s blockbuster first weekend is much more simple: timing. Nearly two years ago, Warner Bros. made the strategic decision to move up Batman v Superman‘s spring 2016 release to late-March from early-May. The reasoning was that an earlier release would give the film weaker box office competition by avoiding the early-May release of Marvel’sCaptain America: Civil War (May 6).

That plan worked, as the movie’s biggest competition last weekend was from Disney’s popular animated holdover Zootopia and another sequel in comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Neither film grossed more than $25 million domestically over the weekend, and Dawn of Justicenow has five more weekends to try to cash in at the box office before another major tentpole film arrives in theaters.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. can cross its fingers and hope that the positive financial buzz its movie generated over the weekend can manage to overshadow the seriously chilly reception critics have offered Clark Kent and the Caped Crusader.

One thing ComScore’s Dergarabedian is sure of is that he’s never seen this level of discussion around the disconnect between a film’s critical response and its box office success. What’s more, he adds, the fact that the industry and the media have spent so much time discussing these factors, “can only serve to make people more curious and interested in seeing the film.”