Superman has inched towards the $600 million mark at the global box office after six weekends in theaters and the home digital release of the DC Universe kickstarter.
James Gunn’s Superman has a global tally of $594.5 million after earning an additional $8.4 million over the weekend.
Last week, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn made the surprise announcement that Superman would see its digital release on Friday, August 15 — just over a month after the film launched in theaters. Gunn has blamed this relatively early home release on HBO Max TV series Peacemaker Season 2, which follows on directly from the events of Superman.
Is $600 million good enough for DC Studios and parent company Warner Bros.? Warner Bros. said last week that Superman is the highest-grossing Superman film in the U.S. with more than $331 million at the domestic box office, and is also the largest grossing superhero film year-to-date (The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t look like it will come close to beating Superman. More on that below.)
Superman is the highest-grossing Superman film in the U.S. Zack Snyder’s 2013 DCEU kickstarter Man of Steel made $291 million at the domestic box office, well behind Superman’s North American haul. But Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill as Superman, did much better internationally, bringing in $379.1 million for a global total of $670.1 million — a figure Superman almost certainly won’t beat. (Gunn has offered his thoughts on why Superman is doing better in North America than internationally.) Indeed, the disparity is bigger when you adjust these figures for inflation.
Does any of that matter? Gunn has said rumors surrounding exactly how much money Superman needs to make in order to be considered successful are wide of the mark. In a profile of Superman actor David Corenswet published on GQ, Gunn downplayed the box office pressure on the movie. “This is not the riskiest endeavor in the world,” Gunn insisted.
Gunn then called the $700 million figure that had been touted online as the minimum Superman needs to make during its theatrical run to avoid flop status as “just complete and utter nonsense,” but admitted there is of course some pressure on the movie to deliver for Warner Bros.
“Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be,” Gunn said. “They hear these numbers that the movie’s only going to be successful if it makes 700 million or something and it’s just complete and utter nonsense. It doesn’t need to be as big of a situation as people are saying.”
Meanwhile, it’s a more troubling situation for Marvel Studios. After four weekends, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has grossed $468.7 million ($247 million domestic and $221.7 million internationally). Will First Steps break the half a billion dollar barrier?
Marvel Studios is full steam ahead on putting next year’s Avengers: Doomsday together, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day also due out in 2026. While both feel like billion dollar films, the era of guaranteed MCU box office success is clearly over.
And, for those keeping count, Jurassic World Rebirth is now up to $828.594 million globally, The Naked Gun is on $72.8 million, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is at $596.510 million. Weapons earned $43.4 million globally in weekend two and is now on $148.8 million.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
