Kube

I know the film has made about $200 million domestically - which certainly is a handful of cash.

However, when you compare it to Fantastic Four - which has made about $146 million and hasn't been out as long or

Charlie and the Chocolate Facotry which has made about $170...suddenly Batman doesn't seem as impressive.

I think Batman is a higher profile property than either FF or Charlie. For Marvel, FF isn't their biggest, best known property. But for DC, Batman and Superman are it. If Batman is the benchmark in terms of profit...than DC/Warners might have a problem is making 3 more films.

My guess is the next one will be lighter in tone and intensity. I liked the movie but I'm not talking about quality at the moment - only money.

DVD King

No.

chess

What he said.

WB just wanted to breath new life into the franchise. They certainly would have loved a blockbuster, but I really think they are thinking long term on this one. The next Batman will be bigger, now that they've regained some audience trust, and they'll be selling this movie on various formats until the sun implodes.

Joe Molotov

It's the 3rd highest grossing movie of the year, and looking at what's showing now as well as the upcoming release list, only Harry Potter, King Kong, and Wedding Crashers, and Naria will likely have a chance to pass it. Wedding Crashers will have to maintain it's current trajectory for several weeks to cross $200 Mil, Harry Potter is almost guarenteed to hit it, and King Kong and Naria are still question marks. So I say there's a good chance that Batman will end up Top 5 domestically, and Top 10 Worldwide. Maybe it's not a huge success, but it's far from the finicial disaster some where calling it when it made a mere $45 Million on it's first weekend. That fact that it had such long legs and good word of mouth I think means that a sequel could be more successful than the original.

Artman

Even though the film was marketed (and executed) as a completely new take on the franchise - it was still the fifth Batman movie in 16 yrs. Considering how it's blown away the last installment critically and commercially I don't think it can be considered a failure. The movie was certainly as good as it could've been and will gain more fans once it hits DVD. I think potential sequels (at least the 2nd) will make even more $$$ esp if Joker is the main villain.

Deftones

No way. I'd say it probably wasn't as successful as it could have been, but that was simply based on the story and direction that Nolan took it. I think the most important thin is that it had legs. I mean it's been in theaters since like May or June, right? That's not bad for a summer flick.

PopcornTreeCt

No. But if they had the Joker as the villain it probably would've made an extra $50-$75 million.

DthRdrX

Considering public opinion for the last movie, Batman and Robin, I think Warner must be all grins over Begins making as much as it did. I think the next film is going to make much more though. I'm also thinking Begins is going to make some nice change on dvd and Hd-dvd the next few years.

I think Warner really wanted Begins to start the series over again, hence the truck loads of cash put towards the marketing push for this movie. I can't see why they wouldn't be happy with the results.

Doughboy

200 mil is a nice total considering the franchise was all but dead 8 years ago. And now with the public finally getting the great Batflick we've been promised since 1989 coupled with the planned use of more familiar villains like The Joker and Two-Face in the next 2 sequels, the box office returns are only gonna get bigger.

scott shelton

Let me add another "no" to the pile.

It was a tough movie to begin with, and people came out to support it.

WB is dancing and jigging as we speak.

The DVD will just be icing on the cake.

JPRaup

I def no, considering there wasnt ALOT of considerable hype

Myster X

No.
I can't wait for the DVD release.

Kumar J

It did not make a lot of money in Japan also.Tough competition from War of the World and Star Wars.Most people in Japan did not like the other Batman Movies.And when I told them how good this movie is they still did not want to see it.Maybe the 2nd film might get a better audience in Japan.

RogueScribner

BB has grossed twice what the last Batman flick grossed. The Batman franchise used to be a joke; now it's respectable again. I think we're going to have another X-Men on our hands. X-Men grossed around $150 million and considering it had a $50 million opening weekend, it did okay. But enough people saw it and liked it (especially on DVD) that when X2 hit it was a bigger and better movie in terms of quality and box office. X-Men jump-started the modern comic book movie craze and Batman Begins is rebooting the laughable and much ballyhooed Batman franchise. They both had their work cut out for them, but they earned the respect of their audiences and they'll both be cash cows for their respective studios.

Batman Begins is now the second highest grossing Batman movie ever. How can that possibly be a disappointment, especially considering where the franchise has been for the past 8 years?

jaeufraser

I suppose considering the film is probably struggling to break even theatrically, there might be some disapointment there. But the audience reception has been fantastic, home video sales are sure to be boorish, and they've definately set themselves up for an even stronger commericial performance for a sequel. So overall, I'd have to imagine this is considered a success.

Count Dooku

I can see where someone would think $200 mil was a disappointment, considering the Spiderman movies both made twice that much.

But, word got around pretty quickly that Batman Begins (unlike most superhero/comic book) was not a kiddie-friendly film, and in light of that --and since Batman wasn't played by a Movie Star, I think it's box office take is impressive.

I think you mean bullish

Iron_Giant

Worldwide = $355,279,386

How can you think it was a dissappointment. DVD, Video games, cable, and TV (in a few years) will make another ton of money.

Then, you have the Merchendise and tie ins. The movie has made more than you can even imagine.

I must admit this kind of threads drive me a little crazy, very few movies in Hollywood do not make money.

And all this nosie about Hollywood not making as much money as they did last year, the year they made more money than any other year. The worldwide sales, DVD and video games makes more money than any other years and will continue to make Hollywood a ton of money. Let no tears run down your face for poor little hollywood.

Jackskeleton

This is another example on if a film doesn't have a huge opening, people jump to the assumption that it is a bomb. This film was far from it. It is a success on all counts.

marty888

Disappointing?

I hope all my endeavors, financial and otherwise, reach the same level of disappointment.

Michael Corvin

You are talking about pitting a 5th film in a franchise against a first effort. People(J6P) want to see something new, not some retread plot (i.e. origins) that they already saw. So based on that alone, I think those numbers are pretty solid. (<-- not what I think, those people are missing out)

It is like when SpiderMan's B.O. was compared to AOTC. Apples to oranges. One is a fresh new franchise and the other is on its 5th film(following the 4th which was regarded as utter garbage, much like Batman). It's just not a fair comparison.

Makes me wonder if Superman V will be any different when it is released.

Michael T Hudson

Agreed people seem to forget that Titanic the biggest of all time did not have a huge opening. It just had legs that ran forever.

Rypro 525

i'd say, warner was probably scared at first, the guy from american psycho for the lead, the director of memento (both were critically acclaimed but not financially successfull), and a series in the shitter, if the movie was crap, and the box office was poor (the 45 opening weekend probably wasn't a great sign as well, mainly because if it didn't have legs or a good word of mouth, it might have made only 120 million bucks) warner wouldn't be too happy and wouldn't greenlight a sequel.

scott shelton

MEMENTO wasn't a hit?

MrE

The production budget for Memento was about $9 million. It grossed more than $25 million in the US. That qualifies as successful.

Warners got EXACTLY what they were looking for with Batman Begins -- the re-energizing of a stalled franchise.

Terrell

True, but none of those things has anything to do with box office gross, which is what the discussion is about.

I will say this, it didn't make what I expected it to make. So from that standpoint, it is underwhelming. Whether it can be called underwhelming with respect to it's budget and studio expectations, I doubt it. War of the Worlds was the same way. I thought that had a very good chance at 300 million. Not even close.