“Batman v Superman” also grossed a whopping $424.1 million worldwide, the biggest opening for a superhero film, though that’s not accounting for inflation, as the $381.7 million take for “Spider-Man 3” in 2007 is $436.5 in today’s dollars. Savvily, Warner Bros./DC opened the film simultaneously in every major foreign market. “Batman v Superman” also set the North American record for the biggest March opening ever.

“Dawn of Justice” currently has a lowly critic-average rating of 44 at Metacritic and a far-less-than-fresh 29 at Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences are more forgiving: The user score at Metacritic is 7.3, and the filmgoer CinemaScore is a B.

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Two-thirds of the audience was male, and nearly the same percentage was between 18 and 34 years old, according to Variety.

The bottom line is that this $250 million bet by Warner Bros. appears so far to have paid off as the launchpad for a connected DC cinematic universe, in the mold of Marvel’s Avengers films. “Batman v Superman” also introduces Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who is scheduled to get a solo film next year, and provides the runway for two planned Justice League films.

Elsewhere this weekend, past champ “Zootopia” grossed $23.1 million to land in second place, boosting the Disney Animation flick to nearly a quarter-billion domestically. Finishing third was Universal’s panned sequel, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” ($18.1 million).

FUN WITH NUMBERS

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* “Batman v Superman” significantly outperformed Snyder’s “Man of Steel,” which in 2013 opened to $117 million domestically.

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* The seven modern Superman films (starring Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh or Christopher Reeve) have now grossed nearly $1 billion domestically.

* The eight modern live-action Batman films have now grossed more than $2 billion domestically.

* For now, the biggest superhero film of the year remains “Deadpool” ($739 million worldwide).