After months and years of speculation, James Gunn’s Superman-slash-kickoff to a brand new cinematic DC Universe just opened to $122 million across its first three days at the North American box office, according to Warners Bros. estimates. That figure marks WB’s second movie to cross $100 million this year, and only the third to do so in all of 2025. It has therefore been cause for celebration for many, including it would seem James Gunn, who thanked fans for “your enthusiasm and kind words over the past few days” on social media Sunday evening.Yet that $122 million cume at the domestic box office—and a total of $217 million worldwide—raises a question of just how big this thing might get, particularly for those hopeful to see Gunn continue building a visibly sunnier and more eclectic DC cinematic universe.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Indeed, the elephant in the room regarding Superman is the expectations Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders, plus CEO David Zaslav, have for the new DCU, as well as how Superman (2025) might measure up to the reception experienced by Man of Steel. Twelve years ago, that flick about the boy from Krypton had a lot of hopes and aspirations pinned to it by WB which (under different management) marketed the movie masterfully as the second coming of the recently concluded The Dark Knight trilogy. Right down its title and prominent placement of Nolan with a “producer” credit in the trailers and posters, Man of Steel seemed to have a ton of excitement baked into it—but then the film opened to $116.6 million in its opening weekend (or about $160 million today).It signaled a “disappointing” reception to WB’s expectations in 2013, culminating in a movie that globally grossed $670 million. Subsequently the studio began a series of franchise-destabilizing pivots installment after installment, beginning with squishing Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Godot’s Wonder Woman into the Man of Steel sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was also perceived as a disappointment by the studio when it grossed $874 million in 2016.So if Superman (2025) is demonstrably selling fewer tickets than Man of Steel did, why are so many folks at WB and DC apparently happy about these numbers? Well, for starters, it’s wise to remember that none of these are released in a vacuum.As aforementioned, Superman is only the third movie to gross over $100 million during its opening weekend frame in the U.S. this year. The other two movies to do so are A Minecraft Movie ($162.7 million) and the Lilo & Stitch remake ($146 million). Both of those numbers were higher, but both of those numbers also were for films bathed in nostalgia for younger moviegoers in the Gen Z and Gen Alpha demographics. In other words, they appealed to younger target demos better than most recent superhero stuff, including this year’s Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World.In fact, the last superhero movie to cross $100 million domestically in its opening was 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine ($211.4 million), which aimed squarely at the nostalgia for those old enough to remember previously seeing Hugh Jackman play Wolverine in theaters. Prior to that, the last live-action superhero movie to kickstart past the $100-million milestone was another Gunn film: 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which premiered at $120.7 million.In this context, Superman is Gunn’s biggest opening since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which debuted at $146.5 million way back in 2017. It also is in the ballpark of Matt Reeves’ highly successful retooling of the Dark Knight in 2022, The Batman ($134 million). Superman is thus performing closer to the ceiling for decade superhero movies in this decade—or at least those not riding high on nostalgia for caped stuff from the 2010s and 2000s (also looking at you, Spider-Man: No Way Home).It also should be noted that this is a significant course correction from DC’s previous “shared universe” continuity, which concluded in 2023 with The Flash flopping out of the gate via its $55 million debut and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sinking the DCEU for good when it was buried at sea with its $27.7 million opening. When your comparison for franchise health is Aquaman 2 instead of The Dark Knight Rises, the world Superman is flying into this summer is quite different than the one Man of Steel attempted to conquer 12 summers ago.Yet the real measurement of success will be how Superman plays for the rest of the season. The film received an “A-” CinemaScore, which is good for a superhero movie, albeit again intriguingly reminiscent of Man of Steel. Zack Snyder’s Kal-El kickoff earned the same grade from polled audiences back then. It’s a good rating, but not the coveted “A” that marks supreme word-of-mouth. How it plays out remains to be seen though. Man of Steel might have had a solid CinemaScore, but the actual box office receipts tracked a more mixed word-of-mouth when the film dropped 65 percent in its second weekend and then another steep 50 percent for a third weekend.Comparatively, Gunn’s own Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 from two years ago opened smaller than Guardians 2, leading to some raised eyebrows in the industry. The threequel, however, proved to still be compelling to audiences. Word of mouth spread enough recommendations to prevent Gunn’s final Marvel movie from falling more than 50 percent during its next seven weekends, including a near identical 48 percent droop in its second weekend and third weekends. If Superman enjoyed a similar multiplier to Guardians 3, which domestically tripled its opening weekend, it could be at the launch of a fantastic run… Granted, there is the actual Fantastic Four: First Steps to contend with in two weeks, which might make such a multiplier elusive.Be that as it may, Superman opened to better than half of its reported $225 million budget (which in ye olden days was the benchmark for a successful opening weekend, back before marketing and promotion could add a cool $125 million to a tentpole’s price tag). If the film is meant to rebuild audiences’ trust after the last dregs of the DCEU had demonstrably turned the brand toxic, it’s a solid enough start to be playing at the high-ish end for 2020s superhero blockbusters absent a Hugh Jackman or Tobey Maguire cameo—or perhaps Christian Bale for this side of the street. Also recall, Bale’s first turn as the Batman opened painfully soft in 2005 ($48.8 million) eight years after Batman & Robin, but still rebuilt audience interest. Granted, how much latitude a single blockbuster is provided 20 years later in an era where interconnected shared universes underwrite entire fiscal decades makes things a lot vaguer, and likely might have something to do more with whether a film gets over a, say, $800 million threshold.Superman is definitely airborne, but just how high it can fly remains to be seen.The post Superman Box Office Asks How High Can This Thing Fly? appeared first on Den of Geek.