The Batman has already made more than $20 million

Back in December, when Spider-Man: No Way Home was just beginning its absurdly lucrative box office run, we reported that a number of analysts seemed somewhat oddly surprised that No Way Home was making so much money. We offered the theory that people just like movies with Spider-Man in them, which could also be used to explain the (smaller, yet still notable) box office success of Uncharted, but now Matt Reeves’ The Batman has arrived and shot our theory full of holes like its Joe Chill.

Deadline says that the movie, starring Robert Pattinson’s emo Batman, made $4 million on Tuesday and Wednesday from preview screenings and IMAX showings, and then another $17.6 million from additional early screenings on Thursday. That means, even before its opening weekend, the movie has made more than $21 million. That’s more than some movies make at all in this depressing pandemic era!

But it’s still a meaningless number without context, so here’s some context: The Dark Knight made $18.5 million from preview screenings, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice made $27.7 million, and The Dark Knight Rises made $30.6 million. So this is basically right on trend with other Batman movies, and it probably means The Batman will make good money this weekend.

Then again, unless the movie takes some inspiration from the Sega Genesis game Revenge Of Shinobi, it seems pretty unlikely that there will be a Spider-Man in it. The only movies to do any real box office business this year have had at least one Spider-Man (or a Spider-Man actor), so it will be interesting to see if The Batman’s lack of Spider-Man will harm its chances. (We’re being facetious for the sake of justifying that Revenge Of Shinobi reference, since Scream and Jackass Forever also made good money without any Spider-Men.)