It’s no secret that Superman’s box office is soft internationally, at least compared to its big success domestically. So why is the movie performing better in North America? James Gunn has a number of theories.
Superman topped the global box office once again in weekend two with $102.45 million ($57.3 million domestic / $45.2 million international) and now has an impressive global total to date of $406.8 million. $236 million of that total has come from North American theaters, which means the international haul is lagging behind with $171 million.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gunn acknowledged the difference in performance, but expressed positivity around the international figures. As for why Superman is trending this way, Gunn said Superman simply isn’t as big of a superhero character globally as, say, Batman is, but he also pointed to another crucial factor: international sentiment on the U.S.
“We’re definitely performing better domestically than we are internationally, but internationally is also rising and having really good weekday numbers in the same way we are,” Gunn said.
“So obviously the word of mouth is very positive both here and everywhere else. Which is the thing that we needed to do the most. At the same time, there are certain countries in which it’s really performing well. Brazil and the UK.
“Superman is not a known commodity in some places. He is not a big known superhero in some places like Batman is. That affects things. And it also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn’t really helping us.”
Gunn didn’t mention specifics, but it’s hard to read his comments and not think of things like Trump’s policies on things like tariffs and border control. In April, the Trump administration’s high-profile deportations and detentions at the border were predicted to cause the U.S.’s travel and tourism industry to miss out on billions of dollars this year.
“The way we are perceived globally is we are blowing up not just our economy but everyone else’s economy,” Jackie Filla, president of the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, told the LA Times at the time. “People don’t think it’s good, they don’t think it’s fair, so why would they go to America?”
For Superman, however, Gunn is bullish.
“So I think it’s just a matter of letting something grow,” he said of the international performance. “But again, for us, everything’s been a total win. Having the movie come out and be something that has been embraced by people everywhere — this is just the seed of the tree that Peter [Safran, DC Studios co-CEO] and I have been watering for the past three years. So to be able to have it start off so positively has been incredibly overwhelming.”
For his part, 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 said.
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.”
We likely won’t get an accurate picture of Superman’s performance until Warner Bros. boss David Zaslav has his say during a financial call, but it’s easy to see why there’s more box office pressure on Superman than your average superhero film.
It is, after all, kickstarting Gunn and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU, which already has a number of eye-catching follow-ups in the works. For example, Superman leads into the events of HBO Max series Peacemaker Season 2. Then, next year, the DCU continues on the big screen with Supergirl starring Milly Alcock, and Clayface starring Tom Rhys Harries. If Superman flops, it will call into question the viability of everything that follows.
Check out IGN’s Superman review to find out what we think of the film, and then head over to our Superman Ending and Post-Credits Explained to find out what it all means.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
