DC and Warner Bros. are in for a disappointing week as the release of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” in China is expected to receive a passive reaction from the Chinese audience.
The movie revolving around the epic battle between two of DC's greatest superheroes was highly anticipated mainly because of its rarity as it would be the first live-action film to pit Batman and Superman against each other.
Unfortunately, Global Times writer Wei Xi believes that the film will not be as big a hit to the Chinese audience as expected.
According to him, moviegoers in China do not care much for the storyline as much as diehard fans of the superheroes do, which is why director Zac Snyder's hope to make a mark in the country through the film may not succeed.
Wei explained that while his opinion may not represent those of the fans of the iconic characters, he believes that "the vast majority of moviegoers in China" have the same knowledge and opinion as he does.
"The film is unable to avoid some extremely typical clichés, such as having a crazed maniac playing the leads from behind the scenes," he noted. "This setup is so obvious, the first time the cackling Lex Luthor shows up any suspense the film may have had goes right out the window."
Furthermore, his review is backed by a couple of opinions from netizens who believe that the storyline has a weak foundation, noting that the characters were written to look stupid considering the logical way things should happen.
"I don't know why Superman didn't take 10 seconds to tell Batman why he was looking for him before they fought, instead of waiting until after they were done fighting," Sina Weibo user Youdelin Luosi said.
Despite this, Forbes still thinks that the film started strong in China after earning $21.22 million on Friday alone, which is higher than that of "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" with $18 million during its opening day.