Deadline says: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Box Office Hit’
Hollywood Reporter says: Box Office: ‘Superman’ Saves the Day for DC Studios’
Variety says: ‘Superman’ Soars to $125 million, Third-Biggest Box Office Opening Weekend of 2025’
These ‘in unison’ headlines from three of the more prominent entertainment news sites touting Superman’s unmitigated success reveal several things about the entertainment business that interested readers should know.
FIRST, it’s no coincidence they tout the same thing because they are owned by the same company—PMC (Penske Media Company). PMC also owns IndieWire Rolling Stone and others. When there is a message that certain people in the business want to gaslight readers into believing, the coordinated headlines are the best way to do it. To us, it’s clear that someone behind the scenes is in the tank for DC Head James Gunn (at a minimum) and/or Warner Bros Studio head Mike DeLuca and/or even top dog David Zlaslav to add a little shine to what could end up being a rough landing.
SECOND, opening weekends don’t prove anything is ‘a box office hit’ or ‘saves the day’ or ‘soars’ unless the film budget and marketing dollars were low enough for a ‘front loaded’ first weekend to put the film in an almost guaranteed position to make money (ie. the low budget Blumhouse Films model). Superman was not cheap to make and it definitely wasn’t cheap to market. We’re talking between at $300-350million all-in…
..which leads to what matters most…the 2nd weekend of a film’s release. It’s the most important because it tells you how much lower the grosses are from the 1st weekend which gives you a much more accurate projection of where the film box office totals are going to end up. On average, if a film only drops 25-30% in the 2nd weekend and that 1st weekend was big, then the film has a much better chance of becoming a hit or soaring or saving…and the subsequent weekends will continue to narrow the projections.
THIRD, hiring a unobjective, mouthy filmmaker to co-run a studio is a terrible idea. Since Day One, James Gunn has boasted about re-inventing the DC superhero world and just about everything else in a way that suggests he’s yelling every single word to the world to cover for his insecurities.
And how does this relate to the favorable box office headlines? Well, at first glance, these headlines suggest that a publicist for James Gunn wrote them to support something that James Gunn recently told Rolling Stone (another PMC owned brand) about what would equate to success for Superman. Never mind that Superman is one of Warner Bros.’ most important properties. Never mind that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on Superman. Never mind that there hasn’t been a truly great Superman movie since the second one in 1980. Never mind that this film has to make at least a billion dollars worldwide to be truly considered a launching pad for spin-offs and such. Never mind that James Gunn has talked up this film for several years like it was going to be the next TITANIC.
Instead, James has backed off big-time by telling Rolling Stone that Superman doesn’t have to even make $700 million to be successful. Really? According to the guy whose bravado suggested a bigger box office than that once upon a time? It’s basic math and it’s expectation based on his own setting of the bar. This film does need to make at least $700 million (a lot more) at the box office to truly be a transcendent success and to meet the original enthusiasm that James Gunn expressed…and he knows it.
Stay tuned for the 2nd weekend and the 3rd…and let’s see how the box office shakes out…and if Superman doesn’t make at least $700million, let’s see how James Gunn gaslights himself into believing he succeeded.