‘Superman’ Flies Past Expectations: Official Box Office Haul Tops Early Estimates

Superman is having a big moment at the box office. Warner Bros and DC Studios’ latest superhero movie opened with $125 million, which is actually higher than what many people expected just a day before, according to Deadline.

James Gunn’s new take on the iconic hero is showing strong numbers as fans keep showing up in theaters. Sunday alone brought in $31.3 million, and that was only a 17% drop from Saturday, which is rare for superhero movies these days.

Warner Bros updated their Friday and Saturday numbers too. Friday made $56.1 million and Saturday brought in $37.6 million. With that kind of momentum, Superman is expected to keep doing well in its second weekend. Deadline reports that the film should drop about 50% next weekend, landing around $62.5 million.

That would put it on the same path as Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which also fell 50% in its second week. James Gunn’s past work with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies had similar patterns. Vol. 2 dropped 56% in its second weekend, while Vol. 3 fell just 48%. People were pretty impressed with how well that third Guardians movie held up after its first week.

Right now, Superman doesn’t have much real competition. Other movies like Paramount’s new Smurfs animation, Sony’s I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot, and A24’s unusual film Eddington from Ari Aster aren’t expected to slow Superman down. But this winning streak might not last long. Marvel Studios and Disney are releasing The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25, and that could finally challenge Superman at the box office.

Globally, Superman is also overperforming. The movie has already made $220 million worldwide, which is about $20 million more than experts thought it would, Deadline shared.

It’s actually a surprise since Superman movies usually don’t make as much money outside the United States. For example, Man of Steel made only 57% of its total earnings from other countries. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns did even less, getting just 49% of its money from international markets.

One of the most surprising things about this opening weekend is how small the drop from Saturday to Sunday was. It fell only 17% which is unheard of for superhero movies nowadays.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!