Years in the making, the new DCU officially made its way to theaters.

Superman flew as high as possible, delivering a pretty great debut domestically. But overseas tells another story; it was below expectations, and suggests America will have to do the heavy lifting.

The Top 10 earned a combined $195.6 million this weekend. That's up a massive 66% from last year, when Despicable Me 4 stayed at #1, and Longlegs over-performed projections.

Debuting at #1, Superman earned a pretty great $125 million in 4,135 theaters. That number is simlar to Man of Steel, which debuted with $116 million back in 2013 (although it earned an additional $12 million from early Wal-Mart screenings). It's also James Gunn's second biggest debut as director, behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146 million). The debut is also among the strongest for DC; it's the seventh best debut for a DC film, and it's also the first to open to $100+ million since The Batman ($134 million).

This is a very strong debut for DC, as the brand has taken a huge dive at the box office. The DCEU had an incredibly poor run in its last years, with their last 8 films all flopping at the box office. That's an astonishingly horrible record, and the inconsistent run is what led to the current DC Universe. Sure, The Batman was a hit, but it's still an Elseworld film that won't change plans in the DCU.

For quite some time, Warner Bros. heavily backed Superman, emphasizing James Gunn's involvement as writer and director. Now, the general audience doesn't really pay attention to directors outside some like Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, etc. They might not know who Gunn is, but his quality track record is what gave WB confidence in Superman's prospects.

WB bet high on the film's marketing. The Hollywood Reporter said that WB could spend up to $200 million in marketing, which is insanely high even for a blockbuster. When the first trailer debuted in December 2024, it was viewed by 250 million viewers within 24 hours, a record for DC. Obviously, that didn't pan out to the absolute best debut for them, but it was still a sign of high interest. All the trailers highlighted the dazzling action sequences, Superman's iconic characterization, and Krypto's involvement (with the latter going viral on social media). And finally, Gunn delivered the quality: it's sitting at 83% on RT.

Now obviously, there's the question: could it have debuted higher? Perhaps, yeah. But as mentioned, DC's brand is at an all-time low and they're currently struggling to gain good will with the audience. Superman is the first step in building that good will. After all, the character has had very rough decades; the Christopher Reeve films fizzled out by the end, Superman Returns disappointed, and the DCEU Superman didn't fully connect with audiences.

According to Warner Bros., 68% of the audience was male, and 66% was 35 and under. They gave it a solid "A−" on CinemaScore, which is actually the same grade as Man of Steel, and below Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. That suggests word of mouth is good, but not incredible. It remains to be seen how it will be impacted by the arrival of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in two weeks. But for now, Superman should easily cross the $300 million milestone. This is a very good way to start the DCU, at least domestically (we'll get to the overseas performance in a moment).

In second place, Jurassic World: Rebirth earned $40.3 million this weekend. That's a rough 57% drop, although considering how high Superman opened and its weak word of mouth ("B" on CinemaScore), it could've been worse.

F1 dropped 49%, grossing $13 million. Not a bad drop, considering it lost IMAX screens to Superman this weekend***, although it's still not holding as great as its strong word of mouth suggested. The film has amassed $136.2 million domestically, and it should cross $160 million by the end of its run.

Through 2 weekends, it has earned $232.4 million. For reference, it was ahead of Dominion on its first Sunday by $2 million, but it's now $18 million behind it (and that's with two full extra days). It's very likely that gap will continue getting bigger. Should definitely hit $300 million for now.

How to Train Your Dragon eased 30% and added $7.9 million this weekend. The film has earned $239.9 million, and it's set to close with around $255 million.

In fifth place, Elio eased just 30%, earning $4 million. That would be commendable, but considering its domestic total is a pretty brutal $63.8 million, there's not a lot to celebrate. Now let's see if Smurfs impacts it this week.

28 Years Later dropped 40%, grossing $2.7 million this weekend. The film has amassed $65.7 million so far, and it will finish with slightly close to $70 million.

Lilo & Stitch added $2.7 million this weekend, which was just 31% off from last week. The film has earned $414.5 million so far.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning dropped 46% and earned $1.4 million this weekend. With $194 million domestically, it has officially cleared the 3x multiplier. It will pass Rogue Nation ($195 million) by next week, but it will close so damn close to $200 million domestically.

M3GAN 2.0 is nearing the end of its run, and it's barely on its third weekend. It has fallen all the way to ninth place, dropping a poor 64% and making just $1.4 million this weekend. The film has made a poor $22.4 million, and it's set to finish with just $25 million domestically.

Rounding out the Top 10 was A24's Materialists. It dropped 46%, earning $720,498 this weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $35.1 million, and it's nearing the end of its run.

OVERSEAS

So yes, Superman was off to a great start domestically. Overseas, however, is another story.

Superman debuted with $95 million overseas, for a $220 million worldwide debut. That's below the $100+ million projections, which is very perplexing. It was a mixed bag in the rest of the world. Its strongest debuts were in the UK ($9.8M) and Mexico ($8.8M), Australia ($5.3M), Brazil ($5.9M), and India ($3.8M), although they were expected to perform better. Europe was so-so: it had very soft debuts in France ($4.2M), Spain ($2.9M), and Italy ($2.5M). Asia was pretty much bad: it flopped with just $6.9M in China (amidst very poor word of mouth), $4.2M in South Korea, and Japan ($2.5M).

This is where things start to unravel. This is not a great start for the film. WB spent $225 million on the film, and it mounted a very extensive marketing campaign around the world. Superman is obviously considered more an American icon than a worldwide icon, but even Man of Steel made $670 million back in 2013, and overseas accounted for 56.6% of its gross. Where does Superman go from here? Well, clearly it's gonna be up to the domestic market to do the heavy lifting, cause word of mouth isn't strong outside America. It should hit $550 million worldwide, but it's unlikely it can clear $600 million. Hell, if word of mouth isn't strong, it can also miss $550 million. That wouldn't be good news for the film's extensive budget, and for the future of the DC Universe.

Jurassic World Dominion fell 51% overseas, earning $68.1 million, and its total is now $532 million worldwide. That's quite a bad drop, even with Superman's disappointing debut. The best markets are China ($62.7M), the UK ($26.4M), Mexico ($22.8M), Germany ($15.5M) and Australia ($12.6M). Only Japan is left for now, but based on other patterns, it should close its run with around $750 million worldwide.

F1 was not affected in the slightest by Superman. It dropped just 34% overseas for a $38.5 million weekend, taking its worldwide total to an incredible $393.4 million after just 3 weeks. The big story was China, where the film is enjoying extraordinary word of mouth. In the market, the film's third weekend was actually higher than its prior weekends, adding $8 million this weekend. The film's best markets are China ($35.8M), the UK ($21.6M), France ($17.7M), Mexico ($15.4M) and Australia ($13.1M). Based on these drops, the film is heading for over $500 million worldwide by the end of its run.

How to Train Your Dragon added $13 million, taking its worldwide total to $561 million. The best markets are China ($37.8M), Mexico ($35.1M), UK ($26.2M), Brazil ($19.1M) and France ($16.6M).

Lilo & Stitch added $7 million, and its worldwide is now $994 million. The best markets are Mexico ($66.9M), the UK ($48.8M), France ($42M), Brazil ($37.2M) and Germany ($32.1M). By next week, it will cross the $1 billion milestone.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

Movie Release Date Studio Domestic Opening Domestic Total Worldwide Total Budget Karate Kid: Legends May/30 Sony $20,302,016 $52,547,391 $103,347,391 $45M Turns out no one was really interested in seeing a new Karate Kid movie in theaters. Sony's latest attempt, Legends has closed with a very underwhelming $52 million domestically and $103 million worldwide. The domestic total is below the 2010 version's opening weekend ($55.6M), and managed to finish below the first two films in the franchise. Worldwide, it's a colossal 71% drop from the 2010 film. Even with a $45 million budget, this is not really a success and it's even more disappointing considering the film was selling nostalgia by having Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio teaming up. Maybe the future of the franchise lies with streaming now.

THIS WEEKEND

With a weak slate of newcomers, Superman will easily hold on to the top spot.

Perhaps the biggest newcomer will be Sony's I Know What You Did Last Summer, which arrives 27 years after the previous installment. A legacy sequel with new characters, who are joined by Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, as they are targeted by a new hook-wielding killer. The first two films were big hits, although their popularity was still inferior to the Scream series, which was released around the same point. The plot is pretty much the same as the original, so we'll see if Gen Z (a big horror audience) cares for this franchise.

Another wide release is Paramount's Smurfs, another reboot of the iconic franchise. Well, "iconic", cause it's definitely well known, but its popularity has dwindled in the past decade. The 2011 film earned $142 million domestically and $563 million worldwide, the 2013 sequel made $71 million domestically and $347 million worldwide, and the 2017 animated film tapped out at $45 million domestically and $197 million worldwide. But with Elio failing to perform well, family audiences could tune in here if they're desperate for something. Or they can simply wait for The Bad Guys 2 instead.

And finally, A24 is releasing Ari Aster's new film Eddington, which stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward, Austin Butler, and Emma Stone. This cast is bigger than Aster's previous films, and he has amassed a cult following with horror fans. Even though Hereditary and Midsommar were hits, Beau Is Afraid was very polarizing. And judging by its very polarizing reviews, it looks like Eddington is more Beau than the other films. His fans are definitely showing up, but it remains a question mark if the general audience will do the same.

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