While Zack Snyder is busy preparing for Justice League - Part 1’s April 11th start of filming, theatergoers are preparing for the premiere of the filmmaker’s Man of Steel follow-up/shared universe kick-off Batman V Superman. Less than 24 hours after Snyder teased his Twitter followers with a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the Justice League costume department (including background looks at The Flash and Aquaman suits, as well as other mysterious costume props), the studio’s official Batman V Superman social media accounts have finally announced when excited fans can pre-order tickets for the highly-anticipated face-off between the Bat of Gotham and Son of Krypton.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens tickets went on sale two full months before the film’s premiere; though, pre-order excitement was mired by a poorly coordinated launch times (with different ticket sellers launching at different hours) and overloaded servers that caused many dedicated fans to miss-out on preferred theaters and showtimes when, midway through their purchases, order pages became unresponsive. It’s too early to know whether Batman V Superman ticket buyers will face similar hurdles but we’ll find out when the pre-orders open to the public - on February 29th.
As mentioned, the news was announced on the Batman V Superman twitter account - you can see the tweet below.
Note: Warner Bros. has confirmed the pre-order ticket sales date but has yet to announce a specific time - suggesting that, unlike Star Wars, there may not be a cross-theater chain time that fans can expect tickets to be made available. So, for the time being, check with your local theater for pre-order details - to ensure you get the tickets you want.
Suit up. Get advance tickets for #BatmanvSuperman on February 29th. pic.twitter.com/7FJH65SgMg— Batman v Superman (@BatmanvSuperman) February 23, 2016
For months, DC comic fans have enjoyed a friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) rivalry regarding which hero would come out on top in an actual one-on-one brawl - a debate we addressed in our explanation of how the Dark Knight can beat the Man of Steel. As the debate rages, Superman star Henry Cavill even shot a tongue-in-cheek video - in which he attempted to convince children that Superman is better than Batman.
With release of the film closing in, moviegoers will soon get to see how the two iconic heroes fare in their “gladiator match.” Even though most fans already known the grudge match will lead to an inevitable team-up (joined by Wonder Woman), it’ll still be exciting to see how the battle has been adapted for big screen entertainment. After all, the logistics of making a face-off between a god-like alien and tech-savvy genius believable (within the semi-grounded confines of DC’s Extended Universe) was always going to be a challenge but, so far, preview footage of the pair’s dual certainly appears to capture the spirit of intense battles that fans had, previously, enjoyed for decades in print form.
That all said, while moviegoers and industry insiders speculate on the quality of Snyder’s final film, ahead of public release, it’ll be interesting to find out how big of a splash Dawn of Justice can make during its pre-order ticket window. Star Wars 7 managed to earn over $100 million in pre-sales alone - even prompting many ticket buyers to scalp desperate fans for opening night/weekend tickets. While Batman V Superman is highly unlikely to hit the benchmark established by The Force Awakens, there’s no question the film is bound to do serious business ahead of its time in theaters. Certain moviegoers may be skeptical about the power of seeing Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman onscreen together but, while some fans might hold a candle for a different film property (Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and/or Doctor Strange, to name a few), Dawn of Justice was voted to the top of several “most anticipated” lists at the start of 2016.
A bad movie will certainly undermine any pre-release goodwill and interest but, right now, as fans gear-up for the biggest year for superhero movies in box office history, Dawn of Justice is carrying a lot of momentum. Early projections suggest a $150-plus million opening weekend - a number that, as we saw with the R-Rated record-breaking success of Deadpool (which was, above all else, a fun movie), could see a rapid increase, should Snyder actually deliver a buzz-worthy Batman V Superman film experience.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25, 2016, which is followed by Suicide Squad on August 5, 2016; Wonder Woman on June 23, 2017; Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017; The Flash on March 16, 2018; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League Part Two on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps. on June 19, 2020.
