Marvel studios announced this week that a previously unidentified film scheduled for release on 6th May 2016, would in fact be the third installment of the Captain America franchise.
The announcement has caused much debate within the industry, as only last week Warner Bros. announced that the highly anticipated, but as yet unnamed ‘Superman versus Batman’ movie will open, at least domestically, on the same date.
Although at this stage neither studio is willing to budge, that will surely change. To open both films on the same day would be an appalling business decision by both studios, as each movie would eat heavily into the profits of the other.
Of course the studios are blatantly aware of this. Warner Bros president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman, admitted as much to Bloombergs after the announcement. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense for two huge superhero movies to open on the same date.” Although he added that, ”at this time, we are not considering a change of date for Batman vs. Superman.”
Joe Russo, who co-directed Captain America – The Winter Soldier, and will again be sitting in the director’s chair for the third installment was more pragmatic. In an interview with Digital Spy he said, “Everybody likes to imagine a flame war that’ll start over this but it’s not,” he said. “It’s two big movies on a date – neither studio is crazy enough to eat up each other’s profits. At some point, somebody’s going to move off the date.”
New York investment analyst Alan Gould agrees. “I don’t think the studios or the theatres would be happy to see this,” he told Bloombergs. “I would be surprised if they didn’t end up changing these dates.”
What is making the situation even more interesting is the perhaps surprising position of strength that Marvel finds itself in at the moment. Had Christian Bale been willing to reprise his role as the Dark Knight for the Superman vs. Batman film, there is little doubt that Marvel would back down. However with Ben Affleck set to debut as Batman in the new film, the landscape has changed.
Affleck is drawing the same criticisms from the public that Michael Keaton (1989), and Bale (2005) himself received when they were given the roles of the Caped Crusader. Of course now the debate is ongoing about who out of the two was actually the best Batman, and Affleck may end up being better than both. For now though, there is no fan loyalty to the actor playing the part.
That is not the case with Captain America. By the time the third instalment comes along, it will be the fifth time that Chris Evans appears as Captain America (Avengers: Age of Ultron is due for release in 2015), and his fan base is assured. The recently released Captain America: The Winter Soldier, has earned more than 200 million dollars worldwide in less than two weeks, and is the number one movie not only in the States, but in China and Russia as well.
It will be interesting to see who blinks first.
Superheroes: From Comic Books to the Big Screen 