‘Batman v Superman’ Box Office Falls Harder Than Any Comic-Book Movie Since ‘Jonah Hex’

“Dawn of Justice” declined 69.1 percent in its second weekend, worse than “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Elektra”

batman v superman comic book movie drop

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” suffered a devastating 69.1 percent drop its second weekend at the box office, only raking in $51.8 million after debuting to a whopping $166 million.

That means that the Ben AffleckHenry Cavill film had a bigger drop off than “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Elektra,” which had declines of 69 percent. The former debuted to $85 million in 2009, but only managed to earn $26.4 million in its second round, while “Elektra” opened to $12.8 million in 2005 but only came back with $3.9 million its second week.

According to Box Office Mojo, the only other two comic-book-based films that had bigger second weekend drop-offs were 2010’s “Jonah Hex” and 2003’s “Hulk” (both 69.7 percent), although they didn’t have quite the opening weekend like “Batman v Superman” had.

For example, “Jonah Hex” debuted to $5.4 million, whereas “Hulk” opened to $62.1 million — chump change in comparison to the superhero saga.

In fourth place is last year’s “Fantastic Four” flop, which only earned $25.7 million its opening weekend but also suffered a devastating blow when it grossed 68.2 percent less its second weekend. “Watchmen” followed with a 67.7 percent decline in 2009.

“Punisher: War Zone” (67.6 percent), “Kick-Ass 2” (67.2 percent), and “X-Men: The Last Stand” (66.9 percent) also topped the list of biggest drop-offs for superhero films.

Comparable to “Batman v Superman,” “X-Men: The Last Stand” had a high opening weekend with $102.8 million.

See the chart of the ten drop-offs below.

Superhero Drop-offs chart

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