Yes, but that was largely thanks to WB stupidly releasing it just nine days before "Pirates of the Caribbean 2". That ended up being suicide.
Yeah, but it's not like it was on the same weekend...it was more than a week apart. Also, there are only so many strategic weekends during the summer--end of June, July fourth, Memorial Day. And all the studios want the same ones. It's hard to schedule a film so it doesn't end up being within the range of other would-be blockbuster films.
Plus look at Batman '89 and what that film had to compete with that summer: (it came out on June 23, 1989)
Ghostbusters II (a sequel to a huge, huge, HUGE hit from only four years earlier) I think it was RIGHT before Batman, maybe only a few days before (I think it was June 20th) Believe it or not, the film might not be "great", (I liked it though) but there were BIG expectations for it. It had a really big opening weekend, I think.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: It was only about two weeks after Batman from what I can remember, maybe less. And it did amazing, especially with that Roger Rabbit short attached to it.
And...Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
I think this was also only a week or so before Batman. Indy grossed so high that I think it was (along with Bats) in the Guiness Book of World Records (that year) for highest grossing film in history.
There were a bunch of other films too, some hits, some not. And Batman, despite having some wonderful leaps in cinema and cinema music was not a SPECTACULAR film--it was certainly entertaining and had some great acting. But the script has some real spaces of dead air, plot holes and near-horrible acting from Kim Basinger. But it was completely new, and ahead of its time in many ways.
SR had some great stuff too (I think) but for some reason it just didn't "click" with the public the way Superman did. Trust me, that summer, IT WAS IMPOSSABLE not to know about this film and that Keaton and Nicholson were starring. The merchindising was ridiculous--EVERYWHERE you went you saw T-shirts, toys, action figures, caps, (especially caps) eveything under the sun. Not just places like Hot Topic (which didn't exist then) but every Hallmark store, toy store, and clothing store.
If you had a Batman or Joker shirt, (quite expensive) YOU WERE COOL.
Period.
Male or female--it didn't matter.
SR was merchidised, yes. I think it sold some stuff. But I didn't see a whole lot of it. And not too many people I know saw it, for some reason it just didn't "take".
But like you said, practically EVERYONE saw Dead Man's Chest.
(Yeah, in hindsight, Honey and GII not "great" movies, but the public is fickle and sometimes there's no absolute way to know what someone will like)
But it DID gross $200M in the US, so I'm not gonna call it a flop.
It totally isn't, ESPECIALLY since it had to share the summer with Pirates 2 and Cars.
But it could have done a lot better.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
J/K 
or Superman Reborn
