The trades are reporting that James Gunn’s Superman will be flying to $400 million this weekend at the box office.
What are the box office estimates?
The flick will remain #1 for the second week in a row, estimated to bring in $55M, which would be a drop of 56% from its opening weekend of $125M, which is on the high end. Some reports suggested a drop of as low as 40% to 50%. It’s still early, so maybe similar to the opening weekend, Superman will overperform.
That $55M brings the domestic box office up to around $232.8M. So if Superman is going to hit $400M by Sunday, that would mean an international gross of around $167.2M.
Sunday Update: Domestically performed a bit better, coming in at $57.25M for a 54.2% second weekend drop. International gross is now at $171,800,000, for a current worldwide gross of $406,833,462, with a split of 57.8% domestic and 42.2% foreign.
The question is: are those good numbers?
I think it’s fair to say the international numbers aren’t good. Presently, the worldwide box office, as of this weekend, is looking at 58% domestic compared to 42% foreign. It’s not usually a good sign when the domestic percentage is a lot higher than the international percentage.
For comparison, Minecraft, which is at $955.1M, has a split of 44.4% domestic vs 55.6% foreign. Likewise, Lilo & Stitch, which is over a billion, has a split of 41.6% to 58.4%.
I think it’s also fair to say Superman won’t come close to a billion.
Superman vs. The Batman
Let’s take a look at The Batman: 47.8% domestic to 52.2% foreign. The flick finished with a domestic box office of $369,345,583 vs $402,900,000 foreign, for a worldwide gross of $772,245,583. If Gunn’s new Man of Steel hits that it would be a miracle, IMO, as of right now.
That said, The Batman, after its second weekend, also had similar numbers to the estimates for Superman, bringing in $239M domestically. The Batman also hit the $400 million mark by its second Saturday. The Batman dropped only 51% in its second weekend and brought in $65.2M. Gunn’s Superman has actually been outperforming The Batman during the week, but not the weekends.
The Batman also hit the $500 million mark by its second Wednesday, with $258.3M domestic and $247.5M internationally. I think Gunn’s Superman could hit that domestic mark by Wednesday, this coming week, but again, internationally looks slow.
The Batman also brought in $25.3M in China, where Superman appears to be a massive flop, along with the other Asian markets. Superman has already fallen out of the top ten as of Friday in China.
In #China’s #BoxOffice, received with mixed WOM locally, #SUPERMAN crashes and burns, falling out of the Top10 today, in #12 after grossing horrible $97k on 2nd FRI over 3k screenings (-64k from last FRI), disastrous -95.9% drop from last FRI Opening Day, for a $8.2M cume after 8… pic.twitter.com/18WgfIUXg9
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) July 18, 2025
No Sequel for Superman? Déjà Vu of Man of Steel
We’ll see if Superman can keep pace with The Batman, but with weak international turnout and China already dropping off, the Man of Steel might not carry it much further compared to the Caped Crusader. Still, hitting $400 million in two weeks isn’t nothing to complain about.
However, it’s already said that Superman isn’t getting a sequel. Recall how I said Gunn’s Superman has been playing out similar to Man of Steel (similar reactions and a box office that ran out of steam). Instead of getting Man of Steel 2, we got Batman vs Superman. We all know how that turned out.
