Will ‘Batman v. Superman’ Break the Coveted $1 Billion Mark?

Next week, two of the most iconic comic book superheroes will be hitting the big screen together for the first time in a live action film. The hotly anticipated Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice from Warner Bros. will be the first blockbuster release of 2016.

According to Deadline, ticket pre-sales for the film are outpacing Deadpool, The Avengers, and Furious 7 two weeks ahead of their release dates. Those three films had an opening weekend gross of $132.4 million, $207.4 million, and $147.1 million, respectively, and The Avengers and Furious 7 went on to gross over $1 billion worldwide. It is currently estimated that Batman v. Superman has already earned over $25 million in advance ticket sales.

The film is poised to have a big opening weekend and may set the record for the biggest domestic opening in March ever. The current record holder for March is 2012’s The Hunger Games, which earned $152.5 million in its opening weekend. If Batman v. Superman earns more than that in its debut, it will also be the biggest pre-summer opening of all time.

Industry experts project the film will rack up between $120 million and $140 million for its opening weekend, which is more than the film’s predecessor Man of Steel earned back in 2013. Man of Steel had opened with $128 million and went on to earn a worldwide total of $668 million. The last Batman film to hit the silver screen, 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, opened with $160 million and grossed over $1 billion worldwide. 2008’s The Dark Knight also managed to surpass the $1 billion mark.

In addition to featuring many of the biggest DC Comics superheroes, the film also has the advantage of not facing any tough competition at the box office for the weekend of its release as well as for the month of April. The only April release that could challenge it is Disney’s The Jungle Book, which hits theaters April 15.

But only time will tell if audiences with gravitate toward the film and bring its worldwide box office earnings to over $1 billion. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Fishburne, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Holly Hunter, Michael Shannon and Jason Momoa, soars into theaters Friday, March 25th.