Box Office: 'Superman' Continues Warner Bros. Winning Streak
The DC Studios flick is WBD’s fifth movie in a row to open above $45 million, a record such run, and indicative of the overall health of a studio not entirely dependent on comic book superheroes.
Superman earned another $12.9 million on its fourth day of domestic release, bringing its four-day total to $138 million amid a 59% drop from Sunday to Monday. It is about to pass the unadjusted $140 million domestic total of Shazam! (the actual “best DC movie since The Dark Knight,” all proper respect to Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Birds of Prey) to become the second-biggest DC Films flick since Aquaman ($335 million) in December 2018. Superman should pass Black Adam’s $167 million domestic cume (from a $67 million opening in October 2022) by early Thursday morning. Oh, Dwayne Johnson, you set out to change the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe, and it has been changed. But not for you. Not for you...
Superman’s first Monday gross is better than the $12.6 million Monday ($17 million adjusted for inflation) for Man of Steel in 2013, the $12.2 million Monday for Spider-Man: Homecoming on its fourth day in July 2017, the $12.1 million day-four total for Thor: Love and Thunder in July 2022 and The Batman’s $10.8 million day-four gross in March 2022. It’s just below the $13 million Monday for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in June 2023.
In terms of Sunday-to-Monday drops, Superman Version 3.0 fell 65% (following a $128 million opening weekend), while Spider-Man Version 3.0 fell 58% following its $117 million debut. Meanwhile, Spider-Verse part 2 of 3 fell 58% following a $121 million debut, Batman Version 4.0 (!) fell 69% amid the school year, following a $134 million opening and Thor 4 dropped 63% after debuting with $144 million in mid-summer 2022.
Respectively, their four-day totals are/were $129 million for Spider-Man: Homecoming, $134 million for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, $138 million for Superman, $141 million for Man of Steel, $145 million for The Batman and $156 million for Thor: Love and Thunder.
In terms of holds and daily grosses, as long as Clark Kent stays closer (especially after Monday) to Bruce Wayne and Miles Morales than to Thor Odinson and the previous Clark Kent(s), then there’s little reason for (domestic) concern. It will be fascinating to see how Big Blue holds up both on “Cheap Ticket Tuesday” and on the second go-around for AMC’s (for Stubs members) “50% Off Wednesday.”
By the way, the other big movie likely to benefit from two days of cheaper tickets, Jurassic World Rebirth, earned another $4.5 million on Monday. Universal’s dinosaur sequel has now amassed $237 million in North America after 13 days of domestic release. It’s about to pass How to Train Your Dragon ($241 million) to become the year’s fourth-biggest domestic grosser. Wow, the studio that released that live-action DreamWorks remake is going to be *pissed*.