On its first day in theaters, Superman is absolutely soaring at the box office. After setting records with the highest previews of the year and a personal best for writer-director James Gunn, the DCU’s first official film is eyeing a very strong $55 million on Friday as of midday projections. There’s a lot of weekend ahead of it, but David Corenswet’s debut as the Man of Steel is on pace to rake in over $115 million domestically across the three-day stretch, including the $22.5 million on Thursday. Between the long absence of Clark Kent on the big screen and the extensive marketing efforts of Warner Bros., it’s looking like everything paid off for Gunn and company as they look to get the rebooted superhero franchise off on the right foot. Not only is Superman on pace to exceed expectations so far, but it may still have room to grow depending on which projections you trust. Some models are more bullish and are spotting the film at over $120 million over the weekend. Glowing reviews may give the hero an extra boost too, with Rotten Tomatoes currently showing the film at a Certified Fresh 82% from critics and, crucially, a very strong 95% Verified Hot score from audiences. If there was any fear of right-wing or Zack Snyder fan backlash, all of that appears to be assuaged today with box office statistics organization EntTelligence seeing no real signs that any one demographic is showing up less than the rate for a typical blockbuster. Simply put, the people have spoken, and the majority of them appear to like, or at the very least are interested in, Gunn’s vision for Superman. Another likely factor in getting viewers interested in coming out to the theater was the rollout of the film’s trailers. Warner Bros. assured that moviegoers who watched the studio’s other global hit, A Minecraft Movie, also saw the Superman trailer before Jack Black and Jason Momoa ever took the screen. EntTelligence also reported that over 95.7 million people watched the first trailer on the big screen in addition to the record-breaking number of viewers the first-look garnered online. In all, the effort added up to a start that rivals the $56.6 million Friday opening of Matt Reeves’s The Batman and outpacing the $48.1 million start for Gunn’s final MCU effort, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Assuming it keeps on course, it would also be the first DC film to post an opening weekend of over $100 million since 2017’s Wonder Woman, which kicked off with $103.3 million. In terms of the global box office, the domestic projections mean Superman is all but assured to start somewhere north of $200 million.
‘Superman’ Is Just the Beginning of James Gunn’s New Universe

The success of Superman is a big vote of confidence for Gunn as he begins to establish his new DCU with longtime partner and studio co-head Peter Safran. In terms of reception, he’s batting a thousand after the animated Creature Commandos launched last year and earned the ragtag group of heroes plenty of fans. There’s a lot more from where they came from, too. On August 21, Peacemaker Season 2 will integrate John Cena’s anti-hero into the new universe, and on the big screen, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is geared up to premiere next June with Craig Gillespie at the helm and Milly Alcock playing Clark’s more jaded Kryptonian cousin. Already, though, the show of support for the new Man of Steel has Gunn kicking the tires on new spin-off shows following some of its side characters, like Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen and Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific. Those are in addition to the many other ideas outlined for the DCU’s Gods and Monsters era. Superman is now in theaters. Stay tuned here at Collider for more as it begins to soar at the box office.

Superman

Release Date

July 11, 2025

Runtime

130 Minutes

Director

James Gunn

Producers

Lars P. Winther, Peter Safran