Entertainment Weekly
[source: Entertainment Weekly]
The first film in the newly-rebranded DC Universe has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of six out of the company’s 10 most recent films
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s the great blue hope of DC Studios!
Superman, the first film under the comics giant’s newly rebranded media franchise, the DC Universe, soared past expectations this weekend for a stellar $122 million open at the domestic box office, and $217 million globally. While that number comes up just short of the projection from the tracking mainstay the National Research Group — $125 million to $145 million domestic opening — it surpasses DC and distributor Warner Bros.’ own projections of $90 million to $125 million. With an estimated budget of $225 million, Superman is poised to become profitable, even adjusting that number for marketing expenses, usually hidden from the publicly-available bottom line.
Placing the first new take on the last son of Krypton in over a decade in context shows just how welcome a boon Superman is to DC. The film’s opening take is the best since 2022’s The Batman, outgrossed the supe’s last solo outing, Man of Steel ($116.6 million domestic premiere), and represents a greater sum than the lifetime grosses of a staggering six out of DC’s 10 most recent films. Blue Beetle, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, and Birds of Prey all failed to cross $100 million in their domestic runs.
Superman director James Gunn, producer/DC co-head Peter Safran, and stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicolas Hoult are currently sitting pretty, and it’s guilt-free to boot — their success didn’t come at the price of other film’s failures at the box office this weekend.
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