So we learned just yesterday that Captain America 3 (working title) will be releasing on May 6, 2016. But that date sounds familiar...
Oh, yeah. Batman vs. Superman (also working title) is set to come out that day as well. And it's looking like Marvel and DC are locked in a game of release date chicken at the moment. Bloomberg has the report:
"It doesn't make a lot of sense for two huge superhero films to open on the same date but there is a lot of time between now and 5/6/16," Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. in Burbank, California, said in an interview with Bloomberg. "However at this time, we are not considering a change of date for Batman vs. Superman."
Ah, well, that's awkward. It looks like the common film courtesies are being thrown to the wind with Marvel and DC, at least for the moment. Although the first part of the comment, regarding there being "a lot of time between now and 5/6/16," seems to suggest that DC is at least considering changing their date. I guess "dibs" doesn't really work in the film business.
Just for fun, I compared Man of Steel's numbers to Captain America: The Winter Soldier's. The results suggest either studio could realistically blink first, given how well received the less name-brand Captain America franchise has been both by reviewers and movie goers. (Box office stats thanks to Box Office Mojo.)
Man of Steel took in $116,619,362 domestically in its opening weekend, compared to Winter Soldier's $95,023,721. But overall, after opening a weekend early in Europe, the projections seem favorable for Captain America to end up matching or beating out Man of Steel in the long run. Captain has already taken in $308,343,273 worldwide in just over a week, compared to $668,045,518 total in Man of Steel's 14-week run.
In conclusion, this is going to be fun to watch play out. If both dates hold true, which would be the movie that would earn your midnight release attendance?
