A recent report has revealed the salaries the leading actors have been paid for in James Gunn’s Superman movie, which confirms what I first told you two years ago.
Via Puck News, it’s revealed that David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan were only paid $750k each (despite Corenswet being the lead) and that Nicholas Hoult was paid $2 million to play the villain, Lex Luthor.
The reason Hoult was paid that much is likely because he has movie experience, whereas Corenswet and Brosnahan are known for their television roles.
Obviously, that also means the other actors in the movie were paid less (Grace Randolph’s industry insider describes the pay as embarrassing: “Zazzy’s always looking to save a buck.”).
Reported salaries for the #Superman cast
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) July 11, 2025
• David Corenswet — $750K
• Rachel Brosnahan — $750K
• Nicholas Hoult — $2M
All three are in line for box office bonuses if the film performs
(via @PuckNews) pic.twitter.com/mc3vUYFJMN
Smaller budget, smaller break-even number
Worth a mention is that when Gunn responded to claims his Superman movie has a budget of $363 million, he basically laughed that off and said he wished he had that budget. It’s been reported the budget is $225M.
Variety also recently came out and said WB only spent $100 million on marketing.
We can also add that Gunn’s decision to put himself at the forefront of the marketing campaign likely contributed to saving money.
The WSJ also recently reported WB will be happy if the Superman box office finishes in the $500 millions, which would be the break-even number of around $560M.
Told everyone this 2 years ago pic.twitter.com/7UnCnih8Q1
— Cosmic Book News (@cosmicbooknews) July 14, 2025
Zaslav demanded the cheaper DCU reboot
My Comic-Con insiders told me two years ago that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made the decision to cancel the DCEU. I was told that Zaslav demanded that Gunn reboot DC with cheaper talent.
Also recall I told you Henry Cavill wanted a lot of money to return as Superman. And get this, per Variety, Dwayne Johnson was reportedly paid a massive $22.5 million to play Black Adam (that’s 30x more than Corenswet’s pay!).
Well, what about Jason Momoa returning as Lobo? As I previously said, that means he took a pay cut.
So following Aquaman, every DCEU movie bombed. Black Adam also bombed, and Zaslav made the decision to go with Gunn and Peter Safran in a rebooted DCU starring actors that were a lot cheaper than Cavill, Ben Affleck, Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Momoa.
WSJ also recently confirmed that Gunn and Safran canceled plans for Wonder Woman 3.
DCEU tidbits
You can read more in everything I was told about the original ending of The Flash. It was supposed to continue the DCEU and lead to a Batman Multiverse. Hence why Affleck was so p-ssed when Gunn mentioned him.
Regarding Zack Snyder, I’ve always been told Zack can come back anytime he wants.
It’s also not Andy Muschietti’s fault that The Flash turned out as bad as it did. They wouldn’t even let the VFX shots be finished and of course had to change things not to continue the DCEU.
I also chatted with my insiders. They got to see Superman in a theater where no one else was in attendance (no idea how that happens). They didn’t like it at all.
