Zack Snyder’s Snyderverse films made hefty money, former WB President reveals

Critics have been trying to persuade fans that Snyder’s DC films either did not make money (or enough money) for the studio. They based their argument on reports that suggested some of these films’ box office earnings were below studio expectations, implying that a movie with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman ‘should’ have earned a billion dollars at the box office.

Silverman challenged this criticism and disputed these claims.

Silverman replied to a critic who said Snyder’s films were not profitable for the studio by stating that this was only true for Legends of the Guardians and Sucker Punch.

Silverman said that “the rest of his films at WB were very profitable. Very.”

Man of Steel earned $668 million at the box office on a $225 million budget, and this was after Superman Returns, which only earned $391.1 million. Batman v Superman was withdrawn early from theaters after earning $872.7 million on a $250 million budget, and this was with the studio having cut 30 minutes from the theatrical release, resulting in poor critical reception that affected word of mouth.

But, the Ultimate Edition fixed many Batman v Superman issues in the theatrical cut.

DCEU films that are considered part of the Snyderverse, such as Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and the billion-dollar success of Aquaman, have all performed significantly better than what came after under former WB executives Toby Emmerich and Walter Hamada.

Man of Steel, the first DCEU and Snyderverse film, earned more than Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman 1984, and Shazam!: Fury of the Gods combined at the domestic box office (though not worldwide). Despite WB saying the Snyder Cut shouldn’t have happened, the studio would probably prefer to have those same box office numbers for its DC films again.

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Generally, a movie must earn about 2.5 times its reported budget to break even and start making a profit, so Man of Steel and Batman v Superman were profitable according to gross numbers. Despite Zack Snyder’s Justice League being the top-selling Blu-ray, and the most tweeted movie of 2021, WB did not release the streaming numbers. However, the HBO MAX servers crashed on the day of its release, and the film reportedly out-streamed Avengers: Endgame in China.

This puts an end to the narrative that Snyder was somehow not profitable for the studio. But the Snyder controversy does seem to sell in pop culture entertainment, and the quality of the films is still debated, so it might be naive to think that the former WB President coming out in Snyder’s defense does anything to end the conversation.