5 Reasons Why James Gunn's Superman Soared At The Box Office

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's one of the biggest box office openings of 2025. After literally years of anticipation, director James Gunn's "Superman" has arrived, ushering in with it a new era for the DC Universe. At least in the early going, audiences turned up in droves to see what the man behind Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy could bring to the Man of Steel.

"Superman" ultimately opened with $220 million at the global box office during its first weekend of release, including an estimated $125 million domestically. That domestic number is just a bit more than Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" brought in back in 2013, with Henry Cavill's debut as Superman bowing to $116.9 million en route to $668 million worldwide. The hope, then, is that "Superman" can avoid having a big drop off in its second weekend. As you may recall, Snyder's "Man of Steel" follow-up, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," kicked off with $166 million domestically in 2016 before dropping off a cliff in weekend two. Thankfully, that seems less likely to happen here.

Gunn's "Superman" carries a budget north of $200 million, so it's going to need decent legs to become a meaningful theatrical hit for Warner Bros. With that being said, it's already gotten Gunn and Peter Safran's vision for the DCU off to a promising start on the big-screen. So, what went right here? How did Gunn manage to get audiences back on board for more DC after a messy few years? We're going to break down the biggest reasons why "Superman" became a hit at the box office in its opening weekend. Let's dive in.

2023 was nothing shy of a disaster for DC at the box office; "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," "The Flash," and "Blue Beetle" all bombed financially, and even "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" had to be qualified as a massive disappointment. That's precisely why Warner Bros. Discovery brought in Gunn and Safran to take charge of DC Studios. Change was very much needed, and that's precisely what Gunn has delivered.

Those who have seen "Superman" can attest to its bright, bizarre, optimistic take on the titular character and the world that he inhabits, with David Corenswet embodying a patently idealistic view of DC's iconic hero. It all runs in stark contrast to Snyder's darker and grittier version for the DC Extended Universe, which began with "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman." While those movies certainly have their fans, they were also rather divisive.

What Gunn has given us, in comparison, is a take on Supes that seems to resonate more broadly, which we'll get into more in just a moment. But the bigger thing is that Gunn and Safran have a long-term vision for a unified DCU, which is something that was sorely missing in the DCEU era. As such, the DCU has a better shot at audience retention when the next film in the franchise, "Supergirl," arrives in 2026.

The defunct DCEU was very much defined by divisiveness. Movies like "Batman v Superman" are hotly debated to this day. There are people who love "Birds of Prey," but it wasn't a big hit. "Suicide Squad" won an Oscar and made boat loads of cash, but it was a critical disaster. Nothing ever seemed to totally gel. In this case, Gunn seemed to bring his usual ability to charm audiences with blockbusters on the biggest scale.

Critics and audiences both responded very well to "Superman" in the early going. The film carries a solid 83% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with a great 93% audience rating. It also earned a pretty good A- CinemaScore. In his review of "Superman," /Film's Chris Evangelista called it a "charming crowd pleaser."

Those indicators suggest that the movie has a good shot at respectable legs as the summer rolls on, which it will need to justify its budget. That might get tricky seeing as Marvel Studios' "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is just around the corner, while "Jurassic World Rebirth" is still going strong, particularly overseas. Still, without being able to predict the future, we can certainly say the majority of people appear to be on this movie's side.

Though Superman, as a character, has never quite had the same box office appeal as Batman (all due respect), he's still one of the most popular and enduring superheroes recognized the world over. As such, people were very much ready to embrace a new "Superman" movie, especially because it's been a surprisingly long time since Clark Kent has been at the center of a major motion picture, as hard as that may be to believe.

2013's "Man of Steel" was the last time that the character led a solo film, despite the many attempts to get "Man of Steel 2" made over the years. "Batman v Superman" and "Justice League" were team-up movies that featured Cavill's Supes, but he was part of a larger story. In fact, Cavill's last meaty appearance theatrically was in 2017's "Justice League," which was a pretty big disaster. After that, the last time we saw him on screen was in the "Black Adam" post-credits scene, which ultimately didn't lead to anything as WB decided to go the reboot route after that.

All of this to say, for a superhero with such a meaningful impact on the marquee, it's more than a little surprising that it's been so long since Superman graced the silver screen in a significant way. While live-action series like "Superman & Lois" aired during that dead period, that's not quite the same as a big-budget feature. So, in this case, Gunn and WB had the benefit of pent-up demand.

Another thing that truly worked in favor of "Superman" was timing. Marvel Studios has released two big blockbusters this year in the forms of "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Thunderbolts*." However, the former made just over $400 million globally while the latter made less than $400 million at the box office. In the end, Sam Wilson's Captain America and Marvel's answer to Task Force X simply didn't equate to must-see A-list events for most audience members.

What that meant for Warner Bros. and Gunn is that there was some additional pent-up demand for a superhero movie that could earn the must-see label from general audiences. Back in the 2010s, Marvel Cinematic Universe films would earn that label just by having the Marvel Studios logo attached to them, but that time has passed. The DCEU's movies, on the other hand, never quite had that. But if your film features Batman or Spider-man, for example, casual audiences are more likely to buy in. That goes double for Superman, even if he's not quite on the same level as those crime-fighting titans.

It just sort of worked out that in 2025, with Marvel in the midst of a slump and DC promising something new, Superman was the right hero at the right time. The real question is whether or not "Fantastic Four" can reach similar heights later this month, but that's a conversation for another time. For now, there's no need to lower one of these superhero tentpoles to raise the other.

In talking about the success of "Superman" both critically and commercially after its impressive opening weekend, we must acknowledge just how important James Gunn has been in all of this. Any movie is a reflection of its director, but Gunn has asserted himself as a rare filmmaker who makes movies on the largest scale, inside of massive franchises, yet manages to give them a great deal of personality, letting them stand out amongst the crowd. From the moment it was confirmed that he would be creatively leading DC Studios and directing the new DCU's first big movie, there was excitement and optimism. There's a good reason for that.

Let us never forget that Gunn is the guy who made "Guardians of the Galaxy," a C-list Marvel property before the movie, into one of the most successful trilogies in the MCU. Indeed, the first "Guardians" film remains one of the most widely revered mainstream blockbusters of the last 15 years. This is a man who has earned the trust of audiences because he made people love a sentient tree and a talking raccoon. He similarly rose to the task of reinventing Superman even while attempting to build an entire universe off this movie's back.

That's by no means easy, to put it very lightly. All the same, Gunn brought his filmmaking A-game, and audiences were on his side. There's something to be said for that. He's an artist people root for. There's a feverish excitement when his name is attached to a project. In the realm of superhero cinema, that's pretty rare. Without getting too ahead of ourselves, DC Studios is in good hands, it seems.

"Superman" is in theaters now.