Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Suffers Huge Box Office Decline

There is no question that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a box office hit. With a second week at the top of the US box office and more than $680 million earned worldwide, it has already proved even more successful than its predecessor, 2013's Man of Steel. However, the film has also suffered a massive second weekend box office fall, which casts some doubt on its ability to maintain its popularity over the coming weeks.

As reported by Box Office Mojo, the DC superhero showdown took $52.3 million in its second weekend of domestic release, a drop of 68.4% from its opening. This is the fifth biggest second week fall of all time, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and three of the Twilight series.

While Dawn of Justice's drop-off is dramatic, the dedicated fanbase for superhero movies does often mean that they fare better in their opening weekends than in subsequent ones. For example, Man of Steel fell 64.6%, while Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron and Fox's X-Men: Days of Future Past dropped 59.4% and 64.2% respectively.

However, it is worth noting that these films were all released into the crowded summer market, with plenty of high profile competition elsewhere. In comparison Dawn of Justice's only new rivals last weekend came from smaller interest films such as God’s Not Dead 2 and Meet the Blacks, and fromthe animated hit Zootopia, which maintained second place after five weeks of release.