It’ll be several more days before we find out if Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice managed to break any box office records (early predictions suggest it might not), but Zack Snyder’s superhero epic has already broke at least one record: the film now holds the record for highest ticketing pre-sales… at Fandango, anyway.

The movie ticketing website has revealed that Batman v Superman made up over 90 percent of their pre-sales last weekend, and while they haven’t released any official totals, Fandango says Snyder’s film has bested the previous pre-sale records held by Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Dark Knight Rises. That’s good news for Snyder and Warner Bros., as a Variety report last week suggested that the film would need to make $800 million worldwide just to break even.

To put it in perspective: Snyder’s Man of Steel made $368 million worldwide, while WB competitors Marvel and 20th Century Fox managed to out-gross that amount with Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool — two films based on characters with whom general audiences were not very familiar. But everyone knows — and loves — Superman. The one glaring difference between these films is, obviously, tone. Marvel and (sometimes) Fox make entertaining, fun superhero movies; Snyder makes grim, gritty and (literally) dark superhero movies.

Batman v Superman’s box office is pretty crucial to the future of the DC Cinematic Universe, as WB relies on Snyder’s creative direction to steer their superhero franchise. Early word on the film is mostly mixed-to-negative, with our own Matt Singer calling ita bloated, frustrating superhero serial featuring a protagonist crowded out of his own movie by a second star, a bunch of villains, and the obligation to lay tons of cinematic universe groundwork.”

And although similar reviews have echoed these frustrations, they likely won’t make much of a difference to general audiences and superhero fans. With the film already breaking Fandango’s superhero movie pre-sale record, it’s clear that the attraction of Batman battling Superman combined with WB’s intense marketing push has been quite effective. Just how effective remains to be seen. 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice arrives on March 25. 

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