Nielsen’s data confirms what many suspected that James Gunn’s Superman didn’t fly high on HBO Max.
The film generated 513 million minutes of viewing over its first three days on the platform, ranking #4 on the Movies chart and failing to break into Nielsen’s overall Top 10.
Compared to recent Marvel movies
In comparison, Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World started with 750 million minutes over four days, and Thunderbolts hit 702 million minutes in five, both of which made the Nielsen overall and movies charts.
On a daily average, Superman still trails Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, pulling 171 million minutes per day compared to 187 million.
And since Superman debuted on a Friday, its weekend surge was likely followed by a sharper drop during the weekdays, meaning the average almost certainly declined after Nielsen’s three-day window, bringing it down closer to Thunderbolts.
Superman Flops Harder Than Black Adam
Perhaps the bigger story, and adding to the continued embarrassment for Gunn’s new DCU, Superman performed worse than Black Adam — the film that was branded a flop when Gunn took over DC Studios.
Nielsen reported Black Adam at 632 million minutes in its first three days on HBO Max, a stronger opening than Superman despite the negative press surrounding Dwayne Johnson’s movie.
When Gunn was named co-head of DC Studios in late 2022, it came right as Black Adam’s theatrical run struggled. Yet on streaming, Black Adam managed a healthier debut than Gunn’s own rebooted Superman (and continued with big success on Netflix). That’s a telling sign of how much audience interest has cooled under Gunn’s leadership.
A Troubling Trend For Gunn’s DCU
The weak streaming turnout adds to Gunn’s recent streak of failures.
Peacemaker lost nearly 40% of its audience in Season 2, and Creature Commandos didn’t chart on Nielsen at all. Peacemaker has since been canceled and will not receive a third season.
Now Superman follows with lower engagement than Black Adam, a movie Gunn’s camp once mocked as a flop.
Dwayne Johnson even publicly said his Black Adam was a financial success, yet recent reports suggest Gunn’s Superman was a financial flop.
The data for Gunn’s Superman seemingly shows audience interest peaked early and declined fast, likely not the response Warner Bros. Discovery hoped for from its supposed DCU cornerstone.
With theatrical numbers already disappointing ($615M box office, and it barely did better than Johnson’s Black Adam internationally which didn’t come with a China release) and now streaming performance falling short, Superman looks less like a reboot and more like another warning sign that Gunn’s “new era” of DC might already be losing its power.
Gunn’s Superman also isn’t getting a sequel, but instead it’s Man of Tomorrow, which sounds like it’s more about Lex, a character Gunn has said is more relatable to him than Superman.
Insiders have told us Gunn is out with the sale of WBD.
Warner Bros. films, led by Mike De Luca, also scheduled the Minecraft sequel just two weeks after Gunn’s Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, hits theaters in the summer of 2027.
