Co-director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Joe Russo, felt that DC and Warner Bros. made the smart choice after removing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from the May 6, 2016 date that was already claimed by Marvel. He also believes the DC film will be a huge success when it release at the box office on March 25, 2016.
We've all wondered what was going on when Warner Bros. announced that it would release Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on the same day as Captain America 3. We also knew that DC and Marvel would not want to have both films released on the same day; someone had to move no matter what.
As it turns out, Warner Bros. broke first; the studio chose to release the film on March 25, 2016 instead.
Russo also knew for certain that someone had to move, as it wouldn't have been a good idea for both films to release on the same day.
"That's nothing we spent a lot of time with because we can't control it," Russo said. "But also at the same time we've been in this industry long enough to know that those films were never going to land on the same day with each other, so we knew that somebody was going to move."
We understand that Captain America: The Winter Soldier, saw an increase in merchandising sales due to releasing early in the year. The movie also did pretty well at the box office, so there's a chance for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to experience similar success, according to Russo.
When we look at Warner, and DC choosing the same date a Captain America 3 to release the sequel to Man of Steel, we had a feeling that something wasn't right. Warner must have had some motive up its sleeve because no way was Marvel going to bow out after claiming the date first.
Before Warner came running, Marvel did not announce which movie it would release on the date, but did so after Warner's announcement. We were wondering if Warner made the move just to learn which movie Marvel would release, so the studio could better prepare.
