Superman 2025: James Gunn’s reboot soars at box office, powering DC’s future slate

Superheroes can save the world but they can’t always win over a fickle audience. Not Superman. He can do both.

Everyone at DC Studios and its parent company Warner Bros will be breathing a sigh of relief. James Gunn’s Superman reboot has banked impressive returns at the global box office on its opening weekend.

In total, it made $US217 million, including $8.1 million in Australia and $US122 million in North America. In the US, it is only the third movie this year to launch northward of $US100 million, following A Minecraft Movie and the live-action version of Lilo & Stitch.

Box office watchers are expecting the film to have long legs in the weeks ahead off the back of strong audience reaction (A- Cinemascore in the US, 94 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes) and decent critical reviews (82 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes).

Gunn, who wrote and directed the film, posted on social media, “I’m incredibly grateful for your enthusiasm and kind words over the past few days. We’ve had a lot of Super in Superman over the years, and I’m happy to have made a movie that focuses on the man part of the equation – a kind person always looking out for those in need.

“That that resonates so powerfully with so many people across the world is in itself a hopeful testament to the kindness and quality of human beings. Thank you.”

The film stars David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luther, with a supporting cast that includes Wendell Pierce, Isabela Merced, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, Skyler Gisondo and Anthony Carrigan.

While every film that has a production budget around the $US200 million range, as Superman does, has the weight of expectations heaped on its shoulders, this film also had the gargantuan task of launching a new slate of DC films at a time when comic book movies’ successes are far from assured.

Gunn is not just the filmmaker behind Superman, he is also the co-studio head of DC, alongside his long-time producing partner, Peter Safran.

The two took over DC Studios in late-2022 with the remit to reboot what was then known as the DC Extended Universe, the narrative continuity which kicked off with Zack Snyder’s 2015 Superman movie, Man of Steel and also included Wonder Woman, the Ben Affleck-led Batman films, Justice League, Aquaman, The Flash, Shazam, Black Adam, Blue Beetle and Suicide Squad.

The DCEU was plagued by a raft of problems including creative issues, frequent poor reviews, personnel changes and inconsistent box office returns. In the 2010s when Marvel Studios was at its peak with a slate that was often bringing home stellar notices and billion-plus grosses, the DCEU’s output was a point of consternation.

Gunn is best known for his Marvel trilogy, The Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and Warner Bros has Marvel to thank for bringing him over to DC. Gunn was in 2018 fired by Marvel parent company Disney between Guardians two and three when right-wing social media users unearthed his old edgelord-adjacent tweets.

While Disney rehired him less than a year later after an internal and fan campaign, Gunn had committed to make The Suicide Squad at DC, which started his relationship with the rival comic book house. He also created a spin-off series, Peacemaker, starring John Cena.

Gunn and Safran arrived at DC Studios in October 2022 just as the Dwayne Johnson-led Black Adam movie was bombing at the box office. That film also brought back Henry Cavill as Superman, a role he hadn’t played in five years, with the British actor teasing he was returning to the DCEU.

It wasn’t to be. Gunn and Safran cleaned house, cutting loose the existing cast such as Johnson, Cavill and Gal Gadot, and scrapping in-development projects including a third Wonder Woman movie.

There were still four movies to be released in 2023 – Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - but fans understood they would be swan songs for the narrative universe that was the DCEU.

By early 2023, Gunn revealed his long-term plan for DC Studios with a 10-project slate including a Superman reboot which he was already in the middle of writing. Also on the list was a Supergirl movie, which Australian filmmaker Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) has finished filming, and starring Milly Alcock.

An animated series, Creature Commandos, has already dropped, but ahead is the Lanterns streaming series starring Kyle Chandler and Pierre.

Separately to the originally announced projects, Gunn recently revealed a new iteration of Wonder Woman was in the works.

The films that don’t fall under Gunn’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” narrative universe are termed “DC Elseworld” and that includes Matt Reeves’ Batman continuity with Robert Pattinson.

Gunn has big plans for DC, and with a robust opening box office for Superman, the path is looking a little clearer.

Warner Bros boss David Zaslav seemed to agree. He said in a statement, “The DC vision is clear, the momentum is real, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead”.