Marvel Won't Move Captain America 3 Release Date for Batman v Superman

[Seracen]

I would think that Cap 3 is shaping up to be the better film. However, I can't help feeling like it would also suffer more in this supposed showdown. Considering how Supes and Batman are the more well known characters to even non-comic book fans, I just feel that the uninitiated masses will go to that movie more.

For instance, if I knew nothing about either film, and hadn't seen any of the previous installments...and you asked whether I wanted to see Batman vs Superman or Cap 3...DC would win that one. Knowing what I know, obviously I think that Cap will be a better film. As it stands, I am looking forward to both.

Still, as WB/DC seems to have less confidence in their own product, I assume they'll move it.

 

[PunkRex]

I can see it now;

Batman V Superman will get the bigger box office take.

Captain America 3 will get the better reviews.

Both films will have basically identical audience ratings (give or take a negligible decimal point).

It'll be the greatest stalemate in the history of fanboy pissing contests.

Yeah, I was thinking something similar. As loyal a fan base as Marvel has now, never under estimate the selling power of Super/Batman, they're simply more iconic then Cap.

Please don't misinterpret me, Marvel fan all the way, it's just hard to argue with the icon status of the Bat and Blue boy scout.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Given a choice Captain America 3 as every DC film so far has been rubbish where even the weaker marvel entries have been pretty good.
So based on track records alone Marvel wins this.

That said i'm gainfully employed so will end up seeing both.

The Dark Knight is the most overrated superhero movie ever made so erm.

Fixed that for you, Batman Begins was better.

OT: I'm gonna hold off on seeing DoJ and go see Captain America 3 instead.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Safe bet: Sometime in the next year, both productions will announce a production delay, pushing their release dates 2-3 weeks, resulting in a more-staggered release schedule. 2013 saw what happens when you push too many movies with overlapping target audiences: cannibalized opening ticket sales, which is bad for both parties. I can't imagine that the bean counters are totally isolated from each other, so odds are they get together and make the case to their bosses that "hey, can you set aside your pissing contest for an extra $75 million each?"

 

[Baresark]

I will probably see Captain America first. If I only have time to see one, it'll be that one. I plan on seeing both, don't get me wrong. I just think Captain America will be a better movie and it will follow a much larger character plot and story because of the continuity in the MCU. I also have reasonably low expectation from the DC movies at this point. I expect it to be reasonably competent, but not a particularly good movie. I hate Zack Snyder's work at this point, that guy has one trick and you see it in every single movie he does.

 

[Baresark]

Spoiler: My Cap 3 plot twist prediction

Since Chris Evan's contract with Captain America will be all said in done they will most likely have him assassinated by Crossbones and Bucky will become the new Cap for future Marvel films.

His contract isn't over till the last Avengers flick. So, he won't die, at least not yet.

 

[Racecarlock]

So basically marvel's going insane, but like the good kind of insane that brought us the first star wars movies and the lord of the rings movies and the harry potter movies.

They straight up turned thor into a woman, and this august one of their movies features a talking space racoon with a moving tree for a manservant.

Are they the right moves? I don't know, but they sure are crazy. And in the end, crazy moves can always wind up being huge and profitable. Just look at the avengers.

 

[Maxtro]

The opening weekend matters so much on these movies, and both opening at the same time will hurt sales. As important as the nerd subculture is to comic book movies, it's the average American population that makes the bulk of these domestic sales. And the average American won't go to more than one movie a week. So this will cannibalize the opening weekend, and if it was Avengers versus BvS, I would expect Avengers to pull more sales. But since it's the combined characters of Batman and Superman against Cap, there are just more people that are going to the DC film. Then buzz becomes, "DC Beats Marvel at the Box Office" and "Has Marvel Lost the Magic?" and now Disney and Marvel have to worry about the shareholders.

Of course, reasonable way to address this is to move the release date. If Marvel wants to avoid the crossover name grab that is Batman v Superman, they would release a week early. But they chose their date very specifically (they had to if they announced it two years in advance) and I guess moving it would convey a lack of faith in their product? And it could start a trend of rushing production to get films out a week earlier than the competition.

Pretty much exactly how I feel. While I love the comics movies and I'm a much bigger Marvel than DC fan, I'm not really excited about seeing another Captain America solo film. It's Batman vs. Superman for me.

Now if it was Avengers 2, then that would be a whole different outcome.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Given a choice Captain America 3 as every DC film so far has been rubbish where even the weaker marvel entries have been pretty good.
So based on track records alone Marvel wins this.

That said i'm gainfully employed so will end up seeing both.

The Dark Knight is best superhero movie ever made so erm.

Not everyone agrees on that, although I'll say the Dark Knight trilogy probably contains the best DC films, although that's not to say that V for Vendetta was any less stellar, and Constantine is still pretty enjoyable for what it is, even if they did cast someone who was neither blonde nor English.

OT: After the disaster that was Man of Steel, I'll be taking a pass on Batman vs Superman until I can watch it at a friends house or something. The first Captain America was not terrible, but I didn't love it. Winter Soldier, however, was a pretty great movie, so I'm really looking forward to Cap 3.

 

[K12]

-snip-

It really will matter, though. I mean, both companies want huge blockbusters, and this has the potential to cannibalise sales. To some extent, this means that no matter who wins, they both lose. Not to mention both the popular and fiscal reactions should Marvel, the reigning champs of making even C-Listers work, lose. And lose to the reigning champs of screwing up comic properties. They do stand to lose if it happens.

And it very well could. For all the hate surrounding DC and Man of Steel, Superman and Batman are the best known comic characters. And I suspect the idea of them fighting, even if it's just a scene, will draw a lot of people. Captain America, while his movies have been fun, is not quite that iconic (especially on an international level). I have no doubt the movie will be good, but...It's Captain America vs two of the most iconic character in comic book history.

Most of all, the fans potentially lose. If DC makes "too little" money, they may scrap non-Batman or Superman movies again. If Cap does poorly in any metric, the PR may cause issues with shareholders. That could mean less adventurous movie choices. And if I don't get my Squirrel Girl solo movie, I will not be happy!

Marvel already has huge blockbusters. This decision will cannibalise sales but for Marvel this is less of a problem than for DC.

If Captain America 3 beats Dawn of Justice then DC are basically fucked. DC have sent out their two biggest guns (and the biggest names in Comics) in order to begin their own competing film continuity and they were beaten by a B list Marvel character. If Dawn of Justice wins at the box office then Marvel can shrug and say "well it's only Captain America" and just make back the money with their next blockbuster that doesn't have the same competition. Even if DoJ beats Cap3, it would still need to have made a substantial profit for the DC cinematic universe to remain viable. Cap3 is also more likely to make back money from DVDs and following weeks because its part of an existing successful continuity.

If Marvel get cold feet then they can always move it back a few weeks without a huge amount of shame. DC couldn't do that without it looking like they have no confidence in their own film. Marvel have all the good will and credibility gained by several successful films to make a dignified withdrawal and DC do not.

I'm not saying I want this to happen, I really don't. However the opportunity for Marvel to damage "Dawn of Justice" at the box office might well be worth the risk. They risk losing money on one of their dozens of films but with the opportunity to completely cripple their main rival, they lose out in the short run for a potential big win in the long run. The Cap takes one for the team in order to derail DC and keep Marvel characters as the only ones making smash hits at the box office.

 

[Something Amyss]

Marvel already has huge blockbusters.

And so does DC. Knowing that, which I do more or less address, we can rule out the notion that I meant "in general" when I spoke here. But allow me to rephrase: Marvel and DC both want their respective movies here to be blockbusters, the biggest possible, and bigger than the other movie.

We know those goals are incompatible, but more to the point, this could impact both, either, or neither movie's sales. The fact is, "neither" is almost certainly out, so the odds are pretty long against either one of them. Even if you want to pre-emptively declare a winner.

This decision will cannibalise sales but for Marvel this is less of a problem than for DC.

Not really. Your scenarios are fine, but we already know DC will continue to reboot Batman and Superman. But Marvel? The universe we enjoy hinges on the fact that they can make bank off characters we usually wouldn't see in movies. Saying "it's only Captain America" won't help any because the backbone of their movie studio is "only" guys like Cap. Why? Well, Wolverine and Spider-Man, two of their biggest players, both belong to other studios for film purposes.

I like Iron Man and Thor, but they're also B-Listers.

If Marvel get cold feet then they can always move it back a few weeks without a huge amount of shame. DC couldn't do that without it looking like they have no confidence in their own film. Marvel have all the good will and credibility gained by several successful films to make a dignified withdrawal and DC do not.

DC already looks like they have no confidence in their own films. That's sort of how they got here. Losing face isn't a big issue for them here for that reason. I doubt they have any face to lose with anyone at this point by moving. Now, by losing, they do. One of the reasons they keep making Superman and Batman movies is that even the bad ones make money. But this is a company that was disappointed with a worldwide of 400 million at box office for Superman Returns. That's where they have the most to lose. But that's not to say Marvel doesn't.

And that's why this is surely little more than a game of chicken, too.

I'm not saying I want this to happen, I really don't. However the opportunity for Marvel to damage "Dawn of Justice" at the box office might well be worth the risk.

Yes, and my point is that it might well not be, too. In fact, I would still assert they have more to lose than they do to gain.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Better to let BvS fail on its own merits than let people ***** that it failed due to Cap 3.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Ugh its dumb if one of them doesn't move. There's only so much of a market floating around each weekend splitting it will another huge opening movie isn't doing anyone any favors. BvS will probably win on sheer "cool" factor. If I was marvel I'd release a week or two earlier. Be the first "big" movie of the spring/summer season and get the backlog of people who haven't seen anything yet that year, and you probably hurt BvS just by snagging those people who don't go often.

 

[AntiChri5]

Marvel is sending one of it's solo's against their competitors first big, arching continuity fest. Fighting their A material with your B material.

Hmmmm. If Marvel comes out on top, they can ride the victory long and far. If they don't they get to shrug and say that it was just their B material against DC's A material.

 

[AdmiralCheez]

It's still two years away, so I don't expect that they'll both release on the same day. One or both of them will have some kind of delay, or someone will move their date forward or back. Until the movie is a few months away, the announced release date is pretty much meaningless.

 

[Pikeperch]

I'm fairly sure I won't go see Captain America in the theatre, unless my coworkers or friends are really interested in seeing it. I saw the last one and thought it was pretty boring; the action felt drawn out and the plot wasn't very engaging. I expect this one to be more of the same.

Granted, Man of Steel wasn't great either, but I'm curious how Batman v Superman turns out, and curiousity is what makes me pay for movie tickets.

 

[JET1971]

watch 2 movies for the price of one. If either studio want to be in theater at the same time as the competitor then one of them will lose money because of that. If I was in charge I would push my release date back by 2-3 weeks, let the other studio gather excitement for the genre. Also do allot of targeted advertising based on that excitement to keep the ball rolling. Advertise that it is coming out on X date then the day after the competition releases ramp up the adverts.

But really they don't need to worry much people who are not fans of the comics are getting tired of Batman, Spiderman, and Superman reboots doing the same exact themes over and over. Marvel has how many reboots compared to DC? even those who are not fans of the comics get tired of reboots and want all new.

*edit fuck off Solve Media! "script,html,or compat error"

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Because watching one movie prevents you from going to see the other? If you're a fan of both, you're going to make time to see both.

Movies live and die on their opening weekend box office. They will pull a movie from some theatres if the figures are bad enough. For DC this is risky as they need to prove they can build a franchise & tackle Marvel. For Marvel, it's Captain America so they know it will perform to some degree and take that chance.