Change looks good on Superman.
The rebooted Warner Bros. and DC Studios superhero saga topped the box office this weekend, after earning a projected $122.0 million in ticket sales.
The film played in 4,135 theaters domestically, for an average $29,504 per location, Comscore reported. Outside North America, the movie earned $95.0 million for a global total of $217 million.
The reboot is the first DC Studios release under new leaders James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker Gunn directed Superman and wrote the script, based on characters by DC writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster.
Gunn controversially swapped out British heartthrob Henry Cavill for Juilliard-trained American actor David Corenswet (The Politician and We Own This City) in the lead role.
Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) plays Daily Planet journalist and love interest Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Bradley Cooper, Sara Sampaio, Beck Bennett, Frank Grillo, and Wendell Pierce.
Also Read: Ryan Coogler Gives Update on Denzel Washington Joining ‘Black Panther 3’
In this latest installment, Superman gets drawn into global conflicts, giving tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Hoult) a chance to get the Man of Steel out of the way for good. The film mixes action and humor, and delivers a message about the goodness of humans.
The film scored the third best domestic debut of 2025, after A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch, per The-Numbers.com.
But Superman still needs to pull more eyeballs to turn a profit. While its global $217.0 million take is huge, the film cost a massive $225 million to produce and another $100 million to promote, Variety reported Sunday.
Still, the movie is enjoying strong buzz and will likely see repeat business after moviegoers gave it an “A-” CinemaScore in exit polling.
Critics handed the reboot an 82 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes out of 353 reviews.
“It makes you want to cheer. That’s it, that’s the secret ingredient that’s been missing from so many superhero stories,” Glen Weldon wrote in NPR’s review.
“Superman delivers a simple, potent message: You don’t need X-ray vision to see people as people,” wrote Jarrod Jones of the AV Club.
“The best Man of Steel to grace the screen this millennium,” added Rendy Jones of Rendy Reviews.
Although Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian was not remotely impressed and called the film “pointless.”
“The Man of Steel – played with square-faced soullessness by David Corenswet – has an uninteresting crisis of confidence in Gunn’s cluttered, pointless franchise restarter,” Bradshaw wrote.
Elsewhere at the box office, Jurassic World Rebirth slipped to second place $40 million, a week after a gigantic opening over the extended July 4th weekend, Comscore reported.
F1 The Movie was third with $13 million Friday through Sunday in its third week in theaters.
How to Train Your Dragon earned $7.8 million for a fourth place finish in its fifth week, followed by Elio, which rounded out the top 5 with $3.9 million in its fourth weekend.
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