Highlights
- Critics have unfairly claimed that Zack Snyder's DC films were not profitable for Warner Bros, but former WB President Greg Silverman has stated that the majority of his films were very profitable.
- The success of films like Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, both exceeding their budgets in box office earnings, prove that Snyder's films were financially successful.
- Despite WB executives' skepticism about the Snyder Cut, the box office numbers and streaming popularity of Zack Snyder's Justice League indicate that the film was a hit, debunking the narrative that Snyder was not profitable for the studio.
Greg Silverman, former Warner Bros President, came out swinging for Zack Snyder against critics who suggested the director’s Snyderverse films weren’t profitable for the studio.
For years, critics have tried to convince fans that the director’s DC films either weren’t profitable (or profitable enough) for the studio. At the time of release, reports suggested some of these films' box office earnings fell below studio expectations, the logic being a movie with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman ‘should’ have earned a billion dollars at the box office. Silverman spoke out against this criticism and disputed these claims.
Silverman responded to a critic that suggested Snyder's films weren’t profitable for the studio by stating that this was only true regarding Legends of the Guardians and Sucker Punch. Silverman expressed that “the rest of his films at WB were very profitable. Very.” Man of Steel made $668 million at the box office on a $225 million budget, and this came after Superman Returns, which only made $391.1 million. Batman v Superman was pulled early from theaters after earning $872.7 million on a $250 million budget, and this is with the studio having removed 30 minutes from the theatrical release, amounting to poor critical reception that impacted word of mouth. However, the Ultimate Edition fixed many Batman v Superman issues in the theatrical cut.
DCEU films considered canon to the Snyderverse, such as Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and the billion-dollar success of Aquaman, have all done significantly better than what came after under prior WB executives Toby Emmerich and Walter Hamada. Man of Steel, the first DCEU and Snyderverse film, made more than Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 1984, and Shazam!: Fury of the Gods combined at the domestic box office (though not worldwide). Despite WB saying the Snyder Cut shouldn't have happened, the studio would likely prefer to have those same box office numbers for its DC films again.
Generally, a movie must make approximately 2.5 times it's reported budget to break even and start turning a profit, so Man of Steel and Batman v Superman were profitable according to gross numbers. Despite Zack Snyder's Justice League being the top-selling Blu-ray, and the most tweeted movie of 2021, WB did not release the streaming numbers. However, the HBO MAX servers crashed on the day of its release, and the film reportedly out-streamed Avengers: Endgame in China.
Hopefully, this puts to rest the narrative that Snyder was somehow not profitable for the studio. Still, the Snyder controversy does seem to sell in pop culture entertainment, and the quality of the films is still debated, so it might be naive to think that the former WB President coming out in Snyder's defense does anything to end the conversation.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is available physically and on MAX in some regions.
Source: Greg Silverman