Watchmen scored a good — but not spectacular — $56 million debut, on the mid-to-low end of estimates. The film was a major wild card this weekend as it was a superhero movie marketed as an event film but rated R and based on a property few people knew. Warner Bros. will claim success, but they were probably hoping for something in the $65 million range.
Compared to other superhero films, Watchmen came in about even with the first X-Men and Fantastic Four movies, although ticket prices were significantly lower in 2000 when X-Men was released. It didn’t, however, reach the height of Zack Snyder’s last film, 300, which also debuted in March (and with an R-rating) but to a larger $71 million gross. (Interestingly enough, the female audience for 300 was significantly bigger than the female audience for Watchmen.)
Warner Bros. was probably wise to release the film in March, against no competition, rather than the blockbuster-filled summer months. Iron Man wasn’t a universally known property either, but it was far more commercial (and PG-13) and kicked off last summer with a $98.6 million debut — almost double Watchmen’s.
Whether these comparisons are fair is up for debate. Watchmen’s real test will come next weekend, when we’ll see how well it can hold up now that the built-in audience has already rushed out.
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