Warner Bros. has moved the release date for the highly-anticipated "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie.

Ever since it was announced that "Batman v Superman" would be released on the same weekend as "Captain America 3," it was speculated that one of the two studios would move one of the films. Warner Bros. announced that it would move "Batman v Superman" would be released on March 25, 2016 instead of May 2016.

The move is interesting as Warner Bros plans on releasing it outside of the summer rush and it will become the first film featuring Batman to not open in the summer.

It will also continue the trend for big blockbusters to be unveiled earlier than summer.

"Batman v Superman's" date change demonstrates that audiences are willing to go out to the multiplexes at any time period. This past year alone, "Divergent," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," and "Noah" found huge audiences during that month and proved that the spring season could have big hits. Other films that were released during this time period included "Alice in Wonderland," "Oz: The Great and Powerful," and "The Hunger Games."

Warner Bros. have taken risks with their release schedules in the past. This year, the studio took out "The Lego Movie" in February and it became the second-highest grossing film of the year. It also performed significantly better than the tentpole summer films the studio released this year.

Last October, the studio also released the mega blockbuster "Gravity." The Oscar-winning film went on to make $274 million and performed better than some of the studio's summer films. 

The move also demonstrates that Warner Bros is taking preventive measures. This summer has been one of the slowest summers due to the overcrowded slate with blockbuster films underperforming. For example, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and "Edge of Tomorrow" had decent opening weekends, but eventually disappointed by the end of their runs.

As noted in a previous article, if two superhero films would have opened on the same date, it could have caused confusion among audiences and also would have split the opening weekend grosses. It would eventually lead to huge financial losses.

Along with the date change, Warner Bros. announced that it was planning eight more DC comic films. As a result, it is likely that "Dawn of Justice" will spawn a number of new franchises, including a new Batman, a Wonder Woman movie and possibly an Aquaman film.

The studio is planning on releasing two DC comic franchises a year, which is similar to Marvel's strategy. It is unknown if these films will lead to a Justice League movie or if it will follow the same trend of Marvel. However, the announcement reaffirms that studios are increasingly becoming dependent on franchises and less on original content.

The overcrowded superhero and franchise slate is likely to also complicate release patterns and will make studios have a difficult time choosing dates. However, Warner Bros.' new venture promises to be one of the most exciting events in movie history.

"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons and Jesse Eisenberg. The feature will be written by Chris Terrio ("Argo") and is directed by Zack Snyder.