Is DCEU Justice League considered a success and will the DCEU's future existence be guaranteed?

I hear many DCEU supporters said its revenue of US$600m+ is considered profitable and "screw the critics".

Is that true? I am not too sure. Terminator Genisys and Amazing Spiderman 2 made over twice their respective budget too but were considered financial disappointments and plans for sequels for them were scrapped.

The next question is whether these financial results have an impact on the future of DCEU? Personally from what I see so far, movies for DCEU will continue to be made but crossovers the likes of Avengers and Captain America Civil War will not show up in the near future since WB will surely view them as risky propositions versus the costs of making them.

What do you think? Discuss

Is it a success? Well, yes and no.

Will Warner Bros. profit off the movie? Absolutely. They spent about 300 million making it, and will make around 700 million off of it when it's box office is done. So, why might it not be considered a success? Because this was not supposed to be a 700 million dollar movie. This was the long awaited team up of the most important team in the history of comic books (that's not even subjective, that is simply a fact). This was supposed to be at least a billion dollar movie.Think about it this way; imagine getting a C on a test. That still means you passed, but that means you could've done a lot better.

So, how will this change the future of the DCEU? Well, as it appears, it won't. Not long after the release off Justice League, Warner Bros. gave an update on their slate of upcoming movies, and it was the exact same as their previously announced slate. You can read about it here.

https://www.cbr.com/dceu-updated-movie-slate/

Personally, I'm thrilled for the future of the DCEU, especially the Matt Reeves Batman movie.

@namtab_god: JL is a certified flop. Sorry but it's no getting around that. It's confirmed JL will end its around 50-100mil negative. The film itself is a bomb. FACT.

Theirs a reason it's being called the biggest bomb of all time.

It literally will come in under budget which is the very definition of a flop. Soon as someone says "but with merchandising, DVD and payTV it should make a profit" on a movie this big....it's over. It should have NEVER came to that.

The pros are right. Justice League is the biggest flop of all time when considering what it SHOULD have made.

Success no

They aren't profiting. It's projected to loss 50-100 million.

@generalbeastgod: lol at it being the biggest flop of all time. Unless it bankrupts WB, it is not even in the competition.

@quinlan58: lol I'm just repeating Forbes and everyother reputable site and magazine. This is not my words.

It's true. JL is the biggest flop ever. It's literally going to bomb at 600+mil ww. 600mil is solid but not when you're projected to do 1.3+bil.

And bankrupting WB has nothing to do with it. That just means WB is in a good enough position to survive the hit. JL itself is still the biggest B.O. bomb ever according to Forbes etc..,

It's the biggest disappointment in CBM history. The future doesn't look good for the DCEU

Technically it's just being called the highest grossing box office bomb ever, not the biggest bomb ever, with even Forbes pointing that out (https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/12/12/justice-league-is-the-biggest-grossing-box-office-bomb-ever/#7ddb91737942). It certainly didn't do as well as it should have but it's nowhere near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to movie bombs.

@theamazingspidey: They will profit with the ultimate edition lol

@aros001: that's what I meant. JL is the BIGGEST flop ever. Yes it made more than some, several flops even but none of them were predicted to do 1.3bil plus before hand. JL is a epic fail.

This is a disaster and a humiliation of epic proportions. No getting around it. DC failed us. Royally.

I feel like the end is near for the DCEU unfortunately.

I really liked Henry Cavils Superman :(

Fingers crossed we get a Snyder cut xD

ok, I hope you are aware that WB only is getting about $350m out of that 634 and that they likely spent another $150m on marketing above and beyond the $300m production budget. Then there are points which are taken out of that $350m and handed out to any producers or actors who had them in their contracts which is how RDJ makes so much off of Avengers movies. So as of right now they are definitely about $100m in the red. They will then make some of that back in post theatrical revenue via streaming and dvd sales but prob at the end of the day still be looking at a net loss on their roughly $450m investment. It really needed to make like $900m in order to turn a decent profit for WB.

The end is near for DCEU.

The DCEU is a freaking embarrassment on multiple levels.

You need to make over double what you spent in order to start making profit. WB isn't making any profit from JL.

By the standards and expectations it had, no it is not as successful as it should of been. This is because DC has a much higher bar for anything it does than Marvel.

The future of the DCEU as far as reliable sources are concerned is moving forward full tilt. I hope they don't do more crossovers, they need to focus on quality standalones first then do a crossover with established characters at an opportune time.

$300 million is the production budget alone. There are other huge costs like marketing and stuff. It might have cost a total of $400-450 million. Estimates for the movie to break even were a lifetime gross of around $650-700 million. The movie isn't gonna profit WB that's for sure. They might just get back the investment. The greater loss isn't the money though. The loss of credibility of the DCEU, angry fans, polarized viewers will hurt more in the long run. They need a couple of miracles like WW just to survive. They lost the race with MCU a long time ago.

DC needs to give up on trying to compete with Marvel. Marvel is about to release Infinity War, the culmination of 10 years worth of movies. Just focus on releasing good movies. Trying to compete with Marvel is a losing game.

@theamazingspidey:

Yes. Exactly. They can't in their wildest dreams match the hype around Infinity war. I mean I'm not gonna comment on whose characters are better, whose storylines are better or who has the bigger fan base but what Infinity war has is a culmination of 10 years of the efforts, risks and the hype. And I can say this without any hesitation, Marvel Studios/Disney has repeatedly shown that they are much more passionate about what they are doing. They are a big family now with all the actors. With all these, they occupy a huge chunk of mass media. I don't wanna comment on the movie qualities but people all around the world love MCU characters. People relate to Tony Stark, Cap, Thor. There are countless memes about them. They are a big part of pop culture.

What DCEU needs to do is differentiate their products from MCU. Even if they don't succeed initially. If they keep on making good movies constantly, they will succeed eventually. The MCU didn't build the fame and successes overnight.

@manonthemountain:

" This is because DC has a much higher bar for anything it does than Marvel."

Nope. If Avengers, Star Wars or any other major block buster had grossed 630mil ww it would have been considered a epic flop.

No getting out of this.

It'll just be an extended version of the movie you saw in theatres

No Snyder cut

@generalbeastgod: DC does have a much higher bar than Marvel.

When you're projected to do as much as 1.5 bill and only reach half that yeah, by expectations you're considered unsuccessful as I already stated. The profits have yet to be tallied yet either and to say it's the biggest flop of all time is simply factually incorrect and quick google search will show you you're wrong.

Each one of those franchises have had flops as well, including MCU and Star Wars, yet we don't question the future of the multiverses when they do. DCEU has many plans for further movies.

And so the rumours say. Wouldn't surprise me.

Also according to rumours Snyder's cut was so dark and dumb he asked Whedon to finish it for him,

Would explain why the movie felt like a slideshow with every 10 minutes you were at a different location.

Uh no. You always double the budget. Meaning Justice League costed around $600 million. And it does not end there. You don't just do 700-600 and end up with a $100 million profit and call it a day. Studios only keep around 50-60% of the box office revenue from domestic territories and even less from foreign territories. That means at most Justice League will bring in for WB is around $400-$450 million, and that is not enough to cover for how much they spent.

@manonthemountain: DC does not have a higher bar. Like I said before if any major block buster only grosses 630+mil at the B.O. it will be considered a flop. No getting out of this. JL bombed. As in not recoup budget after ticket sales.

Dosent matter how you word it. This is a epic bomb. If Justice League didn't make a billion it would it would have been considered a under performer. But it won't even reach 700mil!!! JL flopped.

JL being a flop or a bomb is not in question. The level of flop is. Is the highest grossing flop?? As Forbes likes to call it. JL IS a epic bomb.

It sucks but no getting around it.

@generalbeastgod: It does matter how you word it? You're literally trying to say it's the biggest box office flop ever and that's simply factually incorrect, not sure what you're arguing about lol. I already said it underperformed expectations, and that it has no impact on the future of the DCEU as it's moving forward.

@manonthemountain: but that's the thing though it didn't under perform. It flopped.

I you sure the DCCU is still going on. I'm pretty sure WB already confirmed there announcing a new standalone label for future DC films.

Not only that but this is like the fifth movie schedule DC has released over the last four years. Surprised you still put faith in them. I gave up on DC's fake film schedules after the third one never saw the light of day. They release one of these fake schedules every time DC takes a hit trying to keep fans hype.

They have a few more movies in development. I don't see DC pushing forward though. It's about to over. JL was a humiliation.

@generalbeastgod: But it wasn't the biggest of all time so quit spewing nonsense, it flopped by its standards.

Yes I know this. Hopefully they focus on the standalones now after JL.

Doesn't matter what they do to the schedule, as long as they focus on standalones with top notch directors and keep the great actors they already have, people are gonna want more Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman as they always have and always will.

That's your opinion, facts disagree with you however as several movies are in different stages of production and development.

I think there are two different meanings to the phrase "epic flop" in the context of this discussion of Justice League movie.

One might thought "epic flop" means the revenue from the movie will make a major loss for the studio such as the likes of John Carter 2012, Fantastic Four 2015 did.

Another meaning to the phrase "epic flop" is that the revenue from the movie is relatively high, but its still loss-making due to the costs and expectations of making the film. By definition a box office bomb, but among all the bombs, its revenue is the highest ever.

I believe @generalbeastgod is referring to the latter.

"Flop" or "bomb" (or even "biggest") are such loaded yet non-descriptive terms.

To put it as accurately and literally as possible, JL is/will be the highest grossing film to not turn a profit, which is a very, very different thing than being the movie that lost the most money. Of course, that's not to say that JL isn't an enormous disappointment. It absolutely is, even judging by its own standards rather than MCU / Disney / whoever else. Quite frankly, it boggles the mind that it's going to make only as much money as MoS.

As far as the future of the DCEU goes, it's going to hang around for at least a couple of more years. Aquaman is already made, that's going to come out no matter what. Barring some huge scandal and/or tragedy, the Wonder Woman sequel is going to get made as well. After that, who knows?

@dasabi: @majorsour: @manonthemountain:

JL IS a flop. That part is fact. As in not recoup budget. In my opinion it is literally the biggest flop of all time due to expectations set for movie of scale. Again I don't agree that DC is held to higher bar. Any film of this scale is expected to perform to a certain perceived level. JL failed to meet that level more than any other film. One could argue JL fell nearly a billion shy of hitting the mark!! Instead of 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3bil or even just 900mil...it won't even reach 700mil. For JL this is a bomb of epic proportion.

And no it doesn't matter if it made more than other flops like FF. JL's budget and advertising budget was at least double the cost of most of those films. Let's imagine if FF had been a hit. Even then no one would have expected anything over 5-600mil at best. You can't compare these movies in no way shape form or fashion. JL was gonna gross more than those movies no matter what. But now ask someone which fail the furthest under expectations. That's where things get tricky. One(FF) fell about 3-400mil under while the other(JL) about 900mil-billion. Which is the bigger flop? Clearly JL.

Justice league is factually a flop. But IMO the biggest flop ever.

It fails to live up to the BO everyone was hoping it would get. Both critics, haters and fans agree on that.

What they don't agree on is whenever or not it's the deathknell of the DCEU.
Haters and critics say that if it isn't dead, it might as well be and WB should just bite the bullet and reboot it all.
Fans of the DCEU however do not agree with this, they agree that the DCEU is flawed and it gets people arguing, but it is not dead and it is not impossible to simply work from what it is towards something better if certain steps are taken both from the side of Warner Bros, but also from a filmmakers perspective.

@nemesisreloaded:

@namtab_god:

Justice League is the most successful flop of all time. It has definitely made a loss. But it will be seen a s a 'loss leader' as it has introduced new characters and worlds to the DCEU that can be built on. This is how it will be spun in the board room at WB in a meeting with Time Warner execs. They'll point out the characters in the movie were received extremely well and should look forward to their stand alone movies.

The reality is worse, where they lost over $100m to the movie and its down to three competing visions of Snyder, WB and Whedon all being in the same movie, where all the changes were made after principle photography was all but finished. It was terrible management that caused this. Snyders movie may not have been a masterclass, but it would have been a solid and consistent vision. If WB wanted him off project, they should have cut him when they weren't happy with the critical reviews of BvS (which were also partly WBs fault for making Snyder cut 30 minutes of run time a month before release). That would have given Whedon time to work properly

DC have a higher bar than marvel?

Maybe two decades ago at this point in time DC might as well be an indie company compared to Marvel

Or rather, he shouldn't have tried to work through the grief of loosing his daughter. JL started shooting something like a week or two after BvS had hit the cinema's. I think in all honesty it would have done everyone good if Snyder had elected to take a break between BvS and JL, not just for the sake of him and his family, but also for him and WB to come to terms with BvS highly mixed reception.

Should Whedon have continued in the same pace rather than Snyder? It would have been more consistent I think, but at the same time it would likely have been rather jarring going from Snyder's preference for grandiose themes and spectacles to the much more down to Earth ways of Whedon.

I don't know if the offer from WB to postpone the release of JL was real or just another agreed media release, but if it was, maybe it should have been taken up. The reason he left JL though was because he was constantly fighting with WB about the amount of humour to put in the movie, so that being the case, I just think from WB's point of view to get what they wanted, they should have got someone else to take over the project at a much earlier stage. For me, being a fan of Snyders directors cuts, I wish they had decided that going with Snyder meant getting his vision, and not try and merge it with another version.

Well Snyder publicly stated why he left JL and why it was nothing to worry about for the people waiting for the movie, because as everyone knows, the Internet like to invent all kinds of drama even if it's not there. There was ofc drama, but the drama wasn't Snyder fighting with WB.

@royal_warrior: yeah, I don't know where he gets the whole "DC is held to higher bar" argument. Maybe DC fans do that. That's about it though.

JL is a flop by its own reception and box office performance and like @lukehero: said once, it is a disaster as a movie that was trying to create hype for future spins.

People like to cry "the sky is falling" too much on this site and the internet in general. DCU still has three definite movies coming out and probably more on the way. It's not gonna end cause one movie underperformed.

@the_stegman: did people say the same about TASM series?

@mike_fowler: TASM had plans not in development. Shazam is filming soon, Aquaman is done and WW is confirmed.

Justice League a success? I don’t think so, but then again I’m not an accountant for Warners so I can’t say definitely. I may be wrong, but from what I heard it hasn’t even hit $650mill or it barely has? Either way I know the movie was expensive Hell already and then they still have to factor money spent on the marketing stuff, so I just don’t see how Warners would’ve made that much of a profit off the film.

The DCEU being guaranteed? Well, seeing as Aquaman has been finished, Shazam is supposedly filming early next year and Wondy2 is pretty much a lock, I don’t see the DCEU going anywhere right now. If anything is in question it’s the future of Justice League sequels after a performance like this.

Justice League may have been a box-office disappointment, but at least we get to see Aquaman and other DCEU movies down the line. I'm looking forward to Aquaman, as I love James Wan's horror films. I'm confident he'll nail it.

That being said, WB should learn from their mistakes. Rush Hour is not an option.