James Gunn’s new Superman is a massive success as the film turned in big numbers at the box office, close to equaling its production budget. Original estimates from Warner Bros. put the film’s domestic opening at $122 million. As of Monday, the actual number was even higher with an opening weekend of $125 million.

Going into the weekend, Superman was estimated to take in about $115-121 million at the domestic box office, with the worldwide total expected to be $210 million. This would put the film just a tad bit shy of its estimated $225 million production budget. Combine production and marketing costs and we’re looking at $400 million needed for the film to break even. This shouldn’t be a problem as the film is likely to make at least $1 billion globally at the box office. The $125 million opening weekend numbers places the film in third for biggest weekends of 2025, just behind A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch.

Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth and How to Train Your Dragon brought in $40 million and $7.8 million, respectively. WB and Apple’s F1: The Movie made $13.06 million, good enough for third. Disney-Pixar’s Elio earned $3.9 million while Lilo & Stitch continues to bring in the money with $2.7 million. Sony’s 28 Years Later took in $2.725 million. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning brought in $1.45 million for Paramount. Another Universal title, M3GAN 2.0, was just behind with $1.35 million. A24’s Materialists rounds out the top ten with $720K.

A lot can be said about Elio‘s failure to perform at the box office. To date, it saw the worst opening weekend numbers to date for Disney-Pixar. Opening shortly after both Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon, the original animated sci-fi film never stood a chance. None of this takes into account what happened behind the scenes with the script changes.

To put things into perspective and not accounting for inflation in the years since their releases, Man of Steel earned $116 million in 2013 while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened with a massive $166 million in 2016. There’s no doubt that moviegoing habits have changed and AMC Theatres adding 25-30 minutes of post-listed showtime ads is putting a damper on the moviegoing experience. But at the same time, DC Studios really needed this win at the box office. The current weekend numbers put the film just outside of the 2025 top ten at the domestic box office.

The Zack Snyder cultists were hoping for the film to fail. It didn’t. It’s the best opening weekend ever for a solo Superman film! As far as James Gunn’s filmography, it’s his second-best film behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which had earned $146.5 million during its 2017 opening weekend. DC Studios co-Chairmen/CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran should be thrilled after Superman opened their first phase, titled Gods and Monsters, at the theaters. Two characters, Mr. Terrific and Jimmy Olsen, are being eyed for spinoff series while a sequel film is a no-brainer.

Of all the top grossing films entering the weekend, Sinners was the only wholly original IP in the top ten. Everything else was a sequel or movie based on existing IP. Six films have already passed $200 million:

• A Minecraft Movie
• Lilo & Stitch
• Sinners
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Jurassic World Rebirth
• Captain America: Brave New World

Both Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Thunderbolts* And again, these are just the domestic box office numbers! With the latter having just arrived on digital this month, passing the $200 million domestic plateau is going to be easier said than done after playing in theaters for just over two months. It’s currently doubtful that Thunderbolts* will hit the global $425 million in theaters that it needs to break even. Rounding out the yearly top ten entering the July 11 weekend are Final Destination: Bloodlines and F1: The Movie. With its $125 million opening, Superman is just on the outside and is likely to pass up F1: The Movie at the box office by the end of the week.

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