As the first theatrical release in the new DC Universe franchise, Superman has a lot riding on it. Fortunately, director James Gunn’s reboot is off to a great start at the box office. According to Deadline, Superman earned $22.5 million domestically from preview screenings. That figure includes grosses from the special Amazon Prime early access showings that took place earlier this week before Superman opened in theaters nationwide. With this development, the comic book adaptation has the year’s highest-grossing preview screenings, easily beating out the likes of Lilo & Stitch ($14.5 million) and Captain America: Brave New World ($12 million).
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Superman also posted the most lucrative preview screenings of Gunn’s career, topping the previous mark set by 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($17.5 million). Deadline notes that Superman “looks to be leaving [its box office estimates] in the dust,” suggesting the film will exceed the early projections and become one of 2025’s biggest hits.
In the early part of 2025, Warner Bros. was seemingly in dire straits. Sci-fi film Mickey 17 became the studio’s latest high-profile box office bomb, putting even more pressure on Superman to perform. But now, Gunn’s film is the latest in a string of WB-distributed hits that have revitalized the box office this year. Superman follows the strong showings of A Minecraft Movie and Sinners. Heading into its opening weekend, Superman was estimated to earn between $125-145 million domestically.
Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly will be happy if Superman makes over $500 million worldwide, a moderate target figure considering the film’s position as the company’s premier summer tentpole. Gunn has always maintained that the box office conversations surrounding Superman were overblown, stating that the reboot didn’t need to rewrite the record books in order to be considered a success. He would have been pleased as long as the film recouped its production budget.
This year has already seen two Marvel movies underperform at the box office, so many were curious to see how Superman would fare. Even with the presence of fellow blockbuster Jurassic World Rebirth, the combination of Superman’s status as a pop culture icon and the positive reviews has given Gunn’s film a boost at the box office. It’ll be interesting to see how high Superman goes for the full weekend. Jurassic World could have decent legs (particularly in international markets, where the franchise is a huge draw), but Superman is poised to have one of the biggest openings of the year so far. It’s an excellent burst out of the gate for the DCU, getting the new franchise off on the right foot after the DC Extended Universe was undone by rocky reception.
Any concerns that Warner Bros. is about to be sold off a la Fox should be a thing of the past now. Not only has the studio rebounded with some strong box office hits, DC Studios has given Warner Bros. Discovery a major franchise to build over the years moving forward. Superman‘s success should give Gunn and Co. even more confidence as they continue to formulate the slate, which already has two movies set for release next year (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Clayface). Perhaps the biggest question remaining is when will audiences get a chance to see David Corenswet’s Superman again. DC will likely want to strike when the iron is hot and capitalize on the first film’s momentum.
