UPDATED FRIDAY MIDDAY: Warner Bros/DC Studios‘ is looking at a great $55M first day, including all those $22.5M previews. This puts the James Gunn directed movie on course as of this minute for a $115M+ 3-day. The weekend is still young, and there’s room for upside. Some are spotting $120M.
Is the MAGA sentiment hurting this movie? The notion is ‘No’. According to box office stat org EntTelligence, red county theaters average 33% of the weekend box office for PG-13 family adventure movies, while blue counties for average 61%. Superman‘s presales through Wednesday saw 60% of its business from blue county theaters, and 34% from red county venues. Meaning, business is right in line where it’s suppose to be; there’s not sour sentiment. Also, non-frequent moviegoers don’t make their ticket purchase decisions based on a director and his opinions. EntTelligence is currently seeing 44% percent of the Peter Safran-Gunn production coming from population centers with over a million people (the norm is 44%). That’s a very good sign.
With the major studios crying over fewer moviegoers watching their trailers, here’s a positive sign that in-theater marketing isn’t dying: EntTelligence reports that the in-theater run of the Superman trailer hit 95.7M moviegoers, aided by prominent placement on Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie.
The comps of it all: Matt Reeves’ The Batman posted a $56.6M first day/previews and eased -24% for $43.2M on Saturday for a $134M 3-day. Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 posted a $56M first day/previews, dipped -9% on Saturday for a $146.5M 3-day. Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 posted a $48.1M first day/previews, -19% Saturday decline with $38.8M for a 3-day of $118.4M.
Wait, didn’t you write $140M-$150M? Yes, sources get excited by big numbers. Here in LA, you can forget about getting a good seat at the 7PM AMC Citywalk Imax. Premium seats are selling out.
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UPDATED FRIDAY AM AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is seeing $22.5M all in for previews for James Gunn’s Superman. Not only is that still the best previews YTD and a record for James Gunn, but it’s higher than the previews for 2023’s Barbie ($22.3M, 3-day $162M) and ahead of all the previews for Matt Reeves’ The Batman ($21.6M, $134M opening in 2022).
What do audiences think? It’s a 78% definite recommend on PostTrak for general audiences — you can take that to the bank, seriously. Five stars from kids under 12 and parents. Superman is flying around everywhere.
Will President Donald Trump’s meme posted on the White House X handle be Kryptonite to business in addition to the snarks from right-wingers on Fox News? Not a chance, insiders say. Get out of the way, here comes Superman.
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Gunn told the Sunday Times last week: “I mean, Superman is the story of America … an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country. But for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
The statement was a reflection of the current aggressive immigration policies set forth by Trump. The filmmaker and co-DC Studios Boss in his chat with the Sunday Times isn’t losing sleep over any criticism.
“Yes, it plays differently,” Gunn said. “But it’s about human kindness, and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.”
During an episode of Fox’s table talk The Five this week, Republican operative Kellyanne Conway said: “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and have someone throw their ideology on to us. I wonder if it will be successful.”
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Read Ted Johnson’s coverage here.
Yes, Ms. Conway, the movie will be extremely successful. At this level, industry projections have raised to $140M-$150M+ for the weekend. As we told you, Thursday night’s previews include the Tuesday Amazon Prime Members shows, which collected $2.8M.
It’s gonna be a fun weekend, and Warner Bros, you’ve done it again with an overperformance streak that includes A Minecraft Movie ($162.7M), Sinners ($48M), Final Destination Bloodlines ($51.6M), F1 ($57M) and now Superman. Weekend 28, the second weekend of July last year, brought in $123M with the second frame of Despicable Me 4. The marketplace is going to boom past that easily.
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Here’s how the rest of the week went down:
1.) Jurassic World Rebirth (Uni) 4,308 theaters Thu $7.5M (-25% from Wed), Wk $136.3M/Wk 1
2.) F1 (Apple/WB) 3,732 theaters, Thu $2.5M (-34%), Wk $39.66M (-52%), Total $123.1M/Wk 2
3.) How to Train Your Dragon (Uni) 3,714 theaters, Thu $1.67M (-10%), Wk $19M (-41%), Total $232M/Wk 4
4.) Elio (Dis) 3,235 theaters, Thu $985K (-14%), Wk $10.3M (-42%), Total $59.7M/Wk 3
5.) 28 Years Later (Sony) 2,917 theaters, Thu $557K (-20%) Wk $7.4M (-50%) Total $63M/Wk 3
EXCLUSIVE: Count gravitational pull as a superpower for James Gunn’s Superman as the first movie under the filmmaker’s DC Studios, which he co-runs with Peter Safran, is heading to a massive $21M+ in overall previews, sources tell us tonight.
Oh, and audiences love it at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gunn and Safran and all of Warner Bros can rest easy after the cynics’ snarking over the first trailer back in December. That’s the best RT audience score ever for a Superman movie, even better than Richard Donner’s 1978 original (86%). Take that, trolls.
Superman‘s preview figure includes Tuesday night’s Amazon Prime members screenings cash of $2.8M, plus monies from showtimes which began today at 2 p.m.
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Lots of records flying around here for the first title in DC’s Phase One “Gods and Monsters”: First, Superman‘s previews rep a record for a James Gunn-directed film, besting Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s $17.5M ($118.4M 3-day in 2023). It’s also the best damn previews we’ve seen all year, ahead of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch ($14.5M, $146M 3-day opening) and Captain America: Brave New World ($12M, $88.8M 3-day).
While Warners was hoping for a $100M 3-day start and tracking and exhibition were spotting $115M-$130M, Superman, looks to be leaving all those projections in the dust. The IP has been done several times through history — not just on the big screen but going back to radio with several iterations on TV including the first 1950s George Reeves black-and-white show. So what’s the deciding factor for non-frequent moviegoers to discover this superhero on the big screen again? Why, reviews. This Superman stands at 82% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the second-best reviewed Superman ever after Richard Donner’s 1978 original, which stands at 86%.
Other intriguing benchmarks: Gunn’s Superman is easily ahead of the preview box office of Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Steel ($9M, 10 p.m. start time, different era for previews, which turned into a $116.6M opening). There’s also a shot when we wake up tomorrow morning it could be higher than Matt Reeves’ The Batman from 2022, which did $21.6M in overall previews (including $4M Tuesday shows and Thursday showtimes that began at 3PM; $134M opening). Gunn’s Superman is close to the sun as far preview records go for Superman movies overall, but hasn’t surpassed it (and that’s not a bad thing), meaning 2016’s Batman v. Superman holds the record for the best previews ever for a Superman movie with $27.7M ($166M 3-day).
Social media analytics firm RelishMix has noticed positive word of mouth leading up to opening with a massive social media universe across YouTube, TikTok, X, Instagram and Facebook of 953.8 million, +20% of superhero genre pics’ reach before their openings. That reach buries that of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (709.7M) and The Batman (631.7M), Joker Folie à Deux (567M), and it’s not far from Deadpool & Wolverine (1.15 billion).
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Says RelishMix: “The exuberant tone and dedication to the characters is winning many fans over, i.e. ‘A comic book movie that’s not ashamed to be a comic book is something we desperately needed,’ and, ‘The trailers we’ve gotten for this movie have given me the warm fuzzy feelings…this Superman feels right.’ After his widely popular Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel, James Gunn in the director chair is inspiring a lot of confidence: ‘Mr. James Gunn is going to do us DC fans right for once.’ The nostalgia is strong with this film, capturing the heart of the original 1978 film, ‘His look reminds me of Reeves Superman,’ and, ‘The actors are great. And the theme music a remix of the old theme. Take my money now.’”
These numbers do not come from Warners and by tomorrow business could be higher.