James Gunn‘s Superman pay leaped the cast’s in a single bound. The first film from DC Studios, which Gunn heads with fellow producer Peter Safran, has already grossed $155 million domestically and $95 million abroad for a $250 million global haul so far against a reported budget of $225 million (not including the $125 million marketing cost). Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav celebrated Superman‘s box office success over its opening weekend, calling the Gunn-helmed film “just the first step” in the rebirthed DC Universe’s ten-year plan.
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As the film’s director, writer, and producer, Gunn earned $15 million for Superman, Variety reports. Gunn, whose salary as co-chairman and CEO of DC Studios is reportedly in the seven figures, was the film’s highest earner.
David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan, in their roles as Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, each earned $750,000, which is in the standard range for superhero first-timers. (Henry Cavill was paid a reported $300,000 for 2013’s Man of Steel, double what Chris Hemsworth made for 2011’s Thor but below the $500,000 that Andrew Garfield earned on 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.) Meanwhile, Lex Luthor actor Nicholas Hoult, who has blockbuster credentials on such films as Fox’s X-Men movies and Warner Bros.’ own Mad Max: Fury Road, was the highest-paid cast member at $2 million.
Hollywood insider Matt Belloni of Puck News reported last week that the lead trio of Corenswet, Brosnahan, and Hoult are “in line for box office bonuses” should the film perform, although exact figures or milestones weren’t disclosed.
Belloni’s newsletter also pointed out that there is “not a single big movie star” in the main cast, which includes Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) as Mr. Terrific, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) as Hawkgirl, Gunn regular Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, and Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho. The film also features unannounced cameos by Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Supergirl and Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy star Bradley Cooper as Superman’s father, Jor-El.
Cooper is the biggest name in Superman when compared to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which co-starred the likes of Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, and Russell Crowe. And 1978’s Superman, which cast the then-unknown Christopher Reeve in the title role, gave top billing to A-listers Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman.
“I think I’m really good at finding people who become huge stars,” Gunn told CNN about his habit of casting relatively unknown actors, which helps keep budgets in check. “I think David Corenswet is the biggest movie star in the world and people don’t know it yet. And that’s what I said about Chris Pratt early on, too. There are very, very few people that have the acting chops, the comedy chops and happen to be extraordinarily handsome at the same time.”
Superman marks DC’s biggest hit since 2022’s The Batman, which received a similar A- CinemaScore, going on to gross $402 million domestically and $369 million internationally for a worldwide total of $772 million. Gunn’s film is likely looking at finishing with a global haul in the $600 million range due to lower international numbers and the string of flops that damaged the DC brand between 2020 and 2023.
“What we always hoped to achieve with Superman was winning back the trust of our DC fans and indeed, they have enthusiastically embraced our first entry in an exciting new theatrical universe,” Jeff Goldstein, President of Global Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, said in a statement.
DC Studios’ Superman is now playing only in theaters.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
