James Gunn‘s Superman has taken flight at the box office.
The highly anticipated superhero tentpole, from DC Studios and Warner Bros., earned $22.5 million in Thursday previews and other sneak showings at the North American box office. That’s the biggest preview of the year to date.
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Tracking shows the movie opening to $130 million domestically, but DC Studios has been far more conservative in sticking with a forecast of $100 million-plus. The hype around the film is enormous — even prompting President Donald Trump to post a meme of himself on social media as the new man of steel.
Gunn is in the unique position of being both the film’s writer-director and the co-head of the Warner Bros.-owned DC Studios, so he has plenty of sway in controlling the messaging. Superman is also opening in 78 markets overseas, where it is likewise predicting an opening of $100 million-plus.
Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice broke records for a film featuring Clark Kent/Superman with a domestic opening of $166 million in 2016, not adjusted for inflation. The last solo Superman movie, Snyder’s 2013 film Man of Steel, debuted to $116 million domestically. And almost two decades ago, Bryan Singer‘s Superman Returns posted a six-day North American opening of more than $84 million.
It’s understandable why Gunn and his DC Studios co-head Peter Safran are skittish when it comes to tracking, which has been all over the map in recent months.
Superman stars David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Rounding out the cast are Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho and Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific.
The movie marks the first DC film entry for Gunn since he took over the reins of Warner Bros’ superhero label with Safran in November 2022. Other upcoming DC Studios projects include HBO’s Green Lantern series Lanterns, and a Supergirl movie due out in 2026.
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