There's no reason to be sad, Ben Affleck...
In late March, Yahoo! released a video showing the 43-year-old actor and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice co-star Henry Cavill, 32, being asked about "mixed" reviews of the movie by critics. A parody clip, which shows Affleck looking melancoly as Simon & Garfunkel's '60s ballad "The Sound of Silence" plays, was soon posted on YouTube. The video, titled "Sad Affleck," went viral. It has been viewed more than 21 million times.
"The Sound of Silence" was one of the biggest hits for the folk duo, made up of Paul Simon, who wrote the song, and Art Garfunkel. The track topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in 1966. This week, after "Sad Affleck" likely introduced the ballad to a few younger generations, it debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Top Rock Songs chart.
An audio-only "The Sound of Silence" YouTube video has been viewed more than 4.3 million times.
"Ben Affleck brought me here," one commentator wrote.
Heavy metal band Disturbed released a cover version of the track in 2015 (with no "Oh WA AH AH AH," sorry). Its music video has been viewed more than 30 million times. The group's cover is also a big hit—it is No. 3 on the Top Rock Songs chart and No. 51 on the Hot 100 Singles chart, rising 18 spots after debuting six weeks ago.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received mostly negative reviews from film critics in the days before its March 25 release. Affleck, who plays Batman, never commented on the viral parody video.
In the original interview, Cavill says, "What is going to really matter, I believe, is, well, the audiences, 'cause they're the ones who are buying tickets, they're the ones who want to see more of this kind of story or not. And so, it's the audience's voices is loudest and after this weekend, the audience will, at least partially, have spoken."
"Ben?" the interviewer asks.
"I agree," the actor replies.
While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice continues to receive mixed reviews from viewers, the movie has made more than $701 million worldwide, including more than $267 million domestically.