James Gunn Reportedly Earned 5 Times More for Directing ‘Superman’ Than David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult Combined

The new Superman movie is finally playing in cinemas, and while fans are enjoying the story and action, there’s also a lot of talk about how much the stars and crew were paid.

According to industry reports, Nicholas Hoult, who plays the villain Lex Luthor, was actually the highest-paid actor in the film. He reportedly earned $2 million for his role. David Corenswet, the actor behind Superman himself, earned a much smaller paycheck. He was paid $750,000, which is the same amount that Rachel Brosnahan earned for playing Lois Lane.

Both Corenswet and Brosnahan have bonus deals that could give them extra money if the movie performs well at the box office. This is pretty normal for actors who are not yet huge movie stars. While Corenswet is new to big films, Brosnahan is better known from TV shows, not movies.

What’s surprising is that the biggest paycheck didn’t go to the actors, but to the film’s director, James Gunn. Sources report that Gunn was paid around $15 million just to direct the movie. That’s about twenty times more than what Corenswet and Brosnahan were paid. On top of that, Gunn also gets a separate salary in the millions because he’s the boss of DC Studios.

Making the film wasn’t cheap. It reportedly cost $225 million to produce. And Warner Bros. spent another $125 million on marketing around the world. That marketing included some pretty expensive ideas, like putting a huge Superman figure at the top of The Shard, London’s tallest building, right before the film’s release. One executive from a competing studio guessed that stunt alone may have cost over a million dollars.

Warner Bros. knew from the start that Superman might not perform as well outside the U.S. The reason, according to reports, is that Superman is too connected to “the American way”, which makes it harder for audiences in other countries to relate to him as much as U.S. fans do.

For the movie to be considered a success, it needs to make at least $500 million just to cover its costs. Ideally, Warner Bros. hopes it will hit around $700 million to really count as a hit. As of July 17, 2025, Superman has earned about $155 million in the U.S. and Canada, plus around $159.4 million from other countries. That brings its total to about $314.5 million so far. It’s still working its way toward breaking even.

Whether or not Superman will reach those big numbers remains to be seen, but fans are definitely keeping an eye on how the movie performs in the coming weeks.

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