The first official pre-release box office tracking for The Batman is on the board (via Forbes), and Matt Reeves' reboot is not expected to reach the massive numbers originally predicted by long-range estimates.
Last week, Box Office Pro indicated that The Dark Knight's latest big-screen outing could debut anywhere between $135 million - $185 million over the course of its opening weekend in North America. However, analysts now believe the DC Comics film may only hit $80 million (or just over).
This is still a respectable bow - especially in the current "pandemic era" - but it is significantly lower than those early predictions, and may suggest that the movie won't be quite as big a hit as Warner Bros. will be hoping for. Then again, these are just initial domestic tracking numbers, and a lot can change over the next few weeks. IMAX tickets did sell out almost immediately, after all, and we wouldn't be surprised if the standard tickets that went on sale earlier today are also snapped up pretty quickly.
Box office estimates aside, The Batman's near three-hour runtime and 15A certificate (in certain locations) may have a negative impact on its takings. The movie is set to open on March 4, so we won't have to wait much longer to find out.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.