Credit: DC / Warner Bros.There has been plenty of speculation and rumors about the Zack Snyder era of DC movies, mainly regarding how much they have made. A former DC executive has come to the defense of Snyder and his Snyderverse (otherwise known as the DECU), revealing that the films he made weren’t the box office bombs that everyone seems to think they are.
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Zack Snyder certainly had a vision all his own, and that vision led to some massive hits and some misses. His earliest DC film was the Superman reboot, Man of Steel, which also introduced the world to Henry Cavill. Cavill played an amazing part, and we would argue that it’s the best Superman movie to date. However, behind-the-scenes drama led to Snyder and Cavill being cast out from the DC Universe.
That more recently happened, but not before Snyder built out his now-dubbed Snyderverse. Man of Steel kicked the universe off, leading to other DC ventures like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).
During a fan interaction on Twitter, a fan called out Zack Snyder for having lost millions of dollars while under the creative banner of Warner Bros. However, former DC and Warner Bros. Executive Greg Silverman debunked that by revealing the only movies they had lost money on were Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Sucker Punch.
Snyderverse Profits Revealed
Not true. We lost some money on GAHOOLE and a fair amount on SUCKERPUNCH. The rest of his films at WB were very profitable. Very. https://t.co/5WuQMuRriH
— Greg Silverman (@gregsilverman) July 31, 2023
For clarity purposes, the Snyderverse movies that Silverman is referring to are the ones that Zack Snyder had direct creation over. Though films like Wonder Woman and Aquaman are under the Snyderverse banner, they weren’t produced, written, or directed by Snyder.
Though Silverman did indicate that the bizarre Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010) and Sucker Punch (2011)movies did not turn a profit, we have some numbers that detail Snyder’s creations made millions of dollars.
Starting with Man of Steel, numbers pulled from Deadline revealed that the Snyderverse origin story made $668 million at the worldwide box office. Against a reported budget of $228 million, additional funds going to crew and actors totaling an additional $58 million, and promotions—Deadline revealed it made $42.7 million back for Warner Bros. While that might not seem like a lot at the end of the day, it still did not lose anything.
This led to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which made $873 million at the global box office. Based on numbers once again totaled by Deadline, the Snyderverse sequel also had expenditures from production costs, promotions, and more that led to the film’s profit of $105.7 million.
Justice League is a bit tricky here, as the film is considered a Zack Snyder creation, but he left the film to attend to his personal family tragedy, and Joss Whedon took over. Whedon all but ran the film into the ground with his direction and on-set issues with star Ray Fisher. Justice League bombed at the box office and lost money, but it is not entirely attributed to Snyder.
Everyone thought the Snyderverse was a colossal waste of time and money, but the numbers indicate otherwise. Silverman also showed that in his Twitter reply. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that his choice of words saying the Snydverse was “VERY” successful is accurate, but Zack Snyder certainly is no failure.
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He also brought back his trilogy during an event in California called SnyderCon, which drew thousands of people. Some loyal DC fans still consider the Snyderverse to be some of the best films ever produced under the Warner Bros. banner, and they are certainly welcome to think so. We doubt Snyder will ever get a chance to continue his DC stories now that James Gunn is running things, but at least he doesn’t have to deal with the current box office bombs.
What do you think of the Snyderverse? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!