Batman v Superman Hits Kryptonite

Word of mouth might be kryptonite for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which fell a steep 68% in its second weekend in theaters, reports the AP. The superhero pic earned an estimated $52.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $261.5 million. Superhero movies are generally frontloaded at the box office, but this is on the higher end of second week drops. It still easily took first place again, crushing new openers like Pure Flix's faith-based sequel God's Not Dead 2, which opened in fourth with $8.1 million, and Freestyle Releasing's The Purge parody, Meet the Blacks, which earned only $4.1 million. Second and third place spots, meanwhile, went to holdovers Zootopia with $20 million and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 with $11.1 million.

"It is a pretty significant drop, but this was expected," a comScore analyst tells USA Today. "You have to consider it a box office winner, but on the critical front, it took a pretty hard beating. This was the poster child for that disconnect between critics and fans." (More box office stories.)