The Batman opened in Australian cinemas on March 3 with the film — which is being referred to as the Caped Crusader’s darkest outing yet — generating glowing reviews, despite its three-hour run time.
It seems the tortured tale of a younger Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) in the early years of his crime-fighting career is exactly what moviegoers around the world were craving because the Matt Reeves directed blockbuster has been giving the box office just the boost it has needed after two years of the pandemic.
The DC film made USD $134 million in North America on its opening weekend, making it the most successful debut of 2022 and only the second pandemic-era movie to cross the $100 million mark in a single weekend following Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Internationally, The Batman drew in USD $124 million from 74 overseas markets — including an Australian haul of USD $9.2 million (AUD $12.2 million) — pushing its global total to USD $258 million.
One of the reasons for the film’s success, aside from people’s love of the franchise, could be that Warner Bros. has made The Batman an exclusive theatrical release, after making its entire 2021 slate available in theatres and on HBO simultaneously due to the pandemic. The company will now show all of its films in theatres for 45 days before they become available on the streaming platform.
In addition to Pattinson, The Batman stars Zoë Kravitz, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. The film also stars Jeffrey Wright as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál.
Many have praised the film for being a true representation of Batman as he’s portrayed in the comic books with reviewer Josh Wilding of ComicBookMovie.com, writing, “Never has the Dark Knight been portrayed in such a thoroughly authentic and exciting way.”
Reeves has said that he wanted to use the opportunity to explore Batman’s detective side, which doesn’t typically feature as heavily in other adaptations, and was instead drawn to darker Batman comics like Frank Miller’s Year One.
The producer and director has also said that he styled his version of dark knight on Nirvana’s tragic frontman Kurt Cobain to explore the psychology and mental anguish of the pressure of justice and responsibility.
The Batman is now showing in HOYTS cinemas.
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