Reel Facts & Opinions: JUSTICE LEAGUE Post-Mortem

This past weekend, JUSTICE LEAGUE, Warner Bros’. latest entry into their series of films based on classic superheroes from DC Comics, was met with surprisingly low box office numbers. The big team-up movie with iconic characters Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg only grossed $96 million over the weekend, which was the lowest debut of the five films in the current DC series.

A gross of $96m would be just fine for a lot of movies, but JUSTICE LEAGUE had an estimated budget of $250m, plus a very large amount to cover marketing. It’s an embarrassing, and troublesome weekend for DC and Warners. How did this happen? How did what was supposed to be the crown jewel of superhero movies go bust? Here are some thoughts:

Their reputation preceded them – Prior to JUSTICE LEAGUE, a build-up of sorts was attempted with the so-so MAN OF STEEL (2013), the lousy BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016), the shitty SUICIDE SQUAD (2016), and the magnificent WONDER WOMAN (2017). While WONDER WOMAN earned a lot of much-needed positive points with critics and fans, JUSTICE LEAGUE was a direct follow-up to DAWN OF JUSTICE; a clunky and joyless affair which many fans likely were still feeling disappointed and burned. Yes, DAWN does have its fans and supporters, but most people did not like it, and the low box office for JUSTICE LEAGUE proves it. With the exception of WONDER WOMAN, these DC films have not made much of an impact with the general public, and they are now staying away.

A history of bad press – JUSTICE LEAGUE took a long time to get here. The film was being planned as far back as 2007, and has had many stops and starts. Once things finally did get going, a collective groan was heard across the world when Zack Snyder, who helmed MAN OF STEEL and DAWN OF JUSTICE, was re-hired to direct JUSTICE LEAGUE. Why Warners decided to stick with a director who hadn’t come close to hitting a home run with these superhero films was a mystery to fans, and a sticking point. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Snyder wound up leaving the production to deal with a family emergency and was replaced by Joss Whedon. Although Whedon is more-than-capable and likely improved on the production, the media reports of extensive re-shooting and re-scripting had people doubtful that things could be salvaged.

They messed up Superman – This series began with Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL in 2013, and right away fans, and even non-fans could not connect with this version of Superman, who was portrayed as a glum stick-in-the-mud who acted like he didn’t even want to be a hero. This carried over into DAWN OF JUSTICE, where the character was basically an angry thug, and no one could care about him. On top of that, the decision was made to kill Superman at the end of DAWN OF JUSTICE, a move that did not earn one bit of an emotional response from anyone (who cries for a gloomy character?), and then they had the bright idea to keep him out of all the marketing for JUSTICE LEAGUE; like we couldn’t figure out he was coming back. Putting Superman at front-and-center of the film would have gone a long way to earn some positive points. But no, they had to be cute with it.

Bad release date – November isn’t really a month known for blockbusters; those fun and colorful films with fantasy and sci-fi elements and things that go boom, and rather for those quiet and serious Oscar contenders. Although Marvel’s THOR: RAGNORAK opened in the first week of the month to a very good box office haul, JUSTICE LEAGUE came later, less than a week away from Thanksgiving…when people are slipping into the busy holiday rush.

It just wasn’t that good – And this is the real bottom line. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 39% of critics gave it a positive review (read Reel Speak’s review HERE). Now, JUSTICE LEAGUE was a vast improvement over DAWN OF JUSTICE in that they finally injected some fun into the storytelling, and course-corrected Superman by cheering his miserable ass up, but it also has serious flaws in editing, continuity, and basic storytelling logic. There was a lot of fun to be had, and yes it entertained, but it seems that critics and bloggers value the craft of filmmaking over entertainment, and that’s probably the way it should be. That 39% was earned, and people aren’t going to spend time and money on a film with lousy reviews, a bad history, directed by the same guy no one likes, and released during the busiest time of the year.

Come to think of it, a JUSTICE LEAGUE flop isn’t all that surprising.