Recent reports indicate that with its extensive shooting schedule, the Justice League budget soared to worrisome heights. According to Comic Book Movie, it was necessary to make the film fairly short to ensure that there are as many theater screenings as possible, since more screenings mean more opportunities for the studio to recoup the titanic $300 million budget.
This is a huge and unwelcome surprise to many of us, since CBM mentions a 120-minute runtime, which was explicitly demanded Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara in response to the budget. Fans feel that as Justice League’s big-screen debut, it shouldn’t be cut short.
However, the Wall Street Journal (via CBM) reports that Justice League is a crowd-pleaser. The website also notes that test-screening scores were nearly as high as those for Wonder Woman, which was a critical and financial success for the studio.
Some fans felt that the biggest problem with Wonder Woman was its villain, a common complaint about comic book movies. Justice League apparently has the same problem, as Steppenwolf hasn't been mentioned as a stand-out character (but Flash has!)
It remains to be seen what kind of antagonist he actually is. But if these reports are accurate, we can expect to see online commentary about having a B-lister go up against the Justice League.
Justice League will be released on November 17. According to the most recent estimates, its opening weekend in the US should bring in around $110-120 million. If that’s the case, the movie will have to have very strong legs for the studio to make a profit and eventually greenlight a sequel.
