Batman or Avengers?

[Typhon]

Here's two questions for you all.

A: Do you think TDKR would have beaten the Avengers weekend box-office of $207?  (Please let's not go into tragedy in Colorado)     

B: Which film did you enjoy more?

I know these polls are everywhere, but I'm just curious how you guys feel. 

[Stark Resilient]

Truth be told, I wasn't sure what to think.  I think the The Dark Knight was pushed over the edge when Heath Ledger died to be honest.  The anticipation for that movie was already huge due to viral marketing and what not, but once that happened, I feel like there wasn't much to stop anyone from seeing that movie.  Everyone was so curious about his portrayal of the Joker after that. 

It felt like this movie was really going to build off that, but the Avengers set an incredibly high bar. I was hopeful that it wouldn't beat the Avengers, but I was really undecided about whether or not it would. 

I like the Avengers more, it was just a more fun movie, that I had much less problems with.

[Iron Centurion]

A:  I think the Aurora shootings has affected TDKR's box office.  I saw it earlier today, the second weekend of its release, and there were around 20 people in the theater.  When I saw Avengers again in it's third weekend release, the theater was packed.

B:  Avengers was a lot of fun.  I liked TDKR, but I walked out thinking it could have been better.

[Chaos]

A) No, for the sole reason you've got fans of IM, Cap, Thor and the Hulk all wanting to see it for their character that might not see it if that character wasn't in it. Further along that line, Marvel built up the Avengers with four other movies leading into it

B) Avengers, and it's not even close. Avengers was amazing, TDKR was pretty good but failed to impress in just about every aspect.

[Wiredwizard]

A: No. It just didn't have the pull that The Avengers did. I saw Avengers the week after opening night & the theater was still packed to capacity. I saw TDKR also a week after opening night, same theater and it was 1/3 full at best.

B: The Avengers, no question about it.

[Tetragrammaton]

A. I am not sure if I fully understand the first question. If you meant "did" I think Dark Knight Rises (DKR) would beat the opening weekend domestic box office of the Avengers at $207M, then my answer is no.

1. The runaway success of the Avengers was incredible and not the new norm for comic book movies. I doubt any of the upcoming individual Marvel films (Iron Man 3, Cap 2, Thor 2) do half as well. Similarly, it is unreasonable to have assumed DKR would have out performed the Dark Knight.
2. The Avengers was a more family accessible film than DKR, so you could take the whole family to see it. Now some parents have no problems taking even small children to a film like the DKR, but this, thankfully, isn't everyone.
3. The DKR, while I applaud the decision not to release in 3D, as I personally dislike the format, it did mean that the average ticket prices were lower than that of the Avengers.
4. As DKR is such a long film, it will have less showing over the same period of time than the Avengers did.
5. DKR has one huge advantage of the Avengers in coming out so late in the summer movie season. It really does not have any major competitors from here on out and I can see it closing the box office gap over time. My predictions, the Dark Knight Rises settles into second place ahead of the Hunger Games at around $500M domestic by the end of its run.

The second weekend results should  be very telling as to how the film does overall.


B. While the Dark Knight Rises offers the more layered story than the Avengers, I preferred the Avengers.

[Stark Resilient]

4. As DKR is such a long film, it will have less showing over the same period of time than the Avengers did.

I'm a Theater Manager, and this is a yes and no kind of thing.. While some theaters MIGHT run with that logic, the majority of the others  are trying to cram in as many shows as they can.. Avengers ran at 2 hours and 20 minutes.. The Dark Knight Rises is something like 2 hours 45 minutes..  The extra time of TDKR was made up for us staying later.  Rather than getting out of work around 12:45am when Avengers was in theaters, we would get out around 1:15am.  We also were able to fit in 4 shows a day in each of the three auditoriums we had it in.  Avengers was exactly the same way.

[H.O.M.E.R.]

Here's two questions for you all.

A: Do you think TDKR would have beaten the Avengers weekend box-office of $207?  (Please let's not go into tragedy in Colorado)    

B: Which film did you enjoy more?

I know these polls are everywhere, but I'm just curious how you guys feel.  

A: NO. I dont think it would have, even tho this tragedy sucks, the monetary impact i dont feel was that much.

B: I enjoyed Avengers much much more. I seen it 5 times in theaters. Every time it was even more fun and fun. This morning i saw TDKR again for my second time, there were only 7 people in the showing,  and i find even more things that no longer "wow" me, considering i understood more details this time around.  While i loved the movie, i feel there  should have been more batman, more scenes to clarify how he goes from 8 yrs of being cripple to kicking a brick wall.... it was a brace, not a armored leg!!  same  with punching a vertebrate back into place? travel from the remote place from earth to gotham, after being broke.... only one hand grenade that the cop uses, a few bat tranquilizers, one smoke pelet at bane..... i was hoping for more gadgets......Im nit picking, but just noticing more and more things that just takes away from the first wow factor i got from my first showing.

[IMJ]

A) No. I think that Nolan fans are rabid and strange at times. I love Nolan's films for the most part, but I remember at the release of BB and also TDK, Lord help you if levied a criticism or observation against either movie.  But even with a rabid fan base spending dollars, I think that Avengers was a juggernaut.

B) With that said, TDKR was a more intriguing film I think and most of my criticisms were because I enjoyed the movie enough to think about it. I was also very impressed with Hardy's Bane. But after looking at the things in the movie that didn't make sense, I'd say that TDKR was a great movie, but not a great Batman-movie.  In retrospect, Avengers was a better flick in almost every way, although I'm left thinking about TDKR more than I am The Avengers.

[Typhon]

To answer my own question:

A: I don't think TDKR would have beat Avengers's weekend box office under any circumstance.  Avengers appealed to just about everybody.  I have an aunt who sees maybe 2 films a year and saw Avengers because of Cap.  She had never seen IM, Thor, or Hulk.  I had two coworkers, both iffy on comic films, because of Whedon.  I even got a date to see it because it looked like a lot of fun.  Everyone in my immediate family saw this film.  Some twice.  Maybe half saw Batman.  The others either didn't want to or will wait for DVD. 

B: Avengers was the clear winner in my book.  Nothing in TDKR was as thrilling as seeing the Thor\IM\Cap fight, or still has me chuckling like the Hulk\Loki "fight."