Man of Steel Has Made Almost Its Entire Budget Back Already

Even before they start counting up any of the revenue generated at the box office, The Hollywood Reporter says Man of Steel is well on the way to recuperating its production costs. The movie, which had a reported budget of $175 million (but is estimated to have really cost closer to $200 million to $225 millions), has reportedly already generated $170 million in revenue from promotional partners like Chrysler, Gillette and the National Guard. The film has already secured 98 promotional partners who are helping to fund the film in the form of both cash and paid advertising (think of all the PR Wal-Mart did for Warner Bros., basically for free, when they got those exclusive early screenings). The $170 million is already $20 million more than they generated through similar channels for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and Man of Steel hasn't yet begun to count international backers. THR's Warner Bros. sources wouldn't confirm dollar amounts for them, but did say that Zack Snyder's Superman reboot presents "a much easier movie to pitch to partners than The Dark Knight Rises, which was darker in theme and plot." Deals like this could make Justice League look like an even more attractive film prospect; the studio has maintained that whether a super-powered team-up film gets greenlit will depend largely on Man of Steel's success, but if there were five or seven times as many characters to well t-shirts and action figures for, these numbers might look even more impressive than they already do.