Just How Historic Could Superman’s Opening Weekend Be?

James Gunn’s Superman kicked off its premiere weekend by breaking a record: It scored $22.5 million in the Thursday preview box office. That makes it the highest-grossing preview day of 2025 so far and puts it ahead of juggernauts like Barbie, which made, for reference, $22.3 million, and Matt Reeves’s Robert Pattinson–starring The Batman, which made $21.6 million, per Deadline. It’s a big deal for this movie to do well — it’s the first movie in a full reboot of the DC Comics cinematic universe, headed by Gunn. The success of preview day means that it’s safe to predict that Metropolis is due for a major box-office weekend. How major? Let’s count the potential milestones.

He lifts off

Warner Bros. set the tracking for Superman at $100 million, per The Hollywood Reporter, which is almost certainly a lowball estimate designed to make sure that the movie exceeds its expectations. Still, if it clears $100 million, CEO David Zaslav can definitely say it’s a hit. If it clears this certainly achievable bar, Superman will also have the best opening weekend for any superhero movie in 2025.

He takes flight

If Superman makes at least $120 million in its domestic opening weekend, it will beat out the most recent Superman pilot film, Zack Snyder’s 2013 hit Man of Steel. That film made $116.6 million in its opening weekend, per Box Office Mojo. Snyder fanboys have dogged this film since it was announced. Gunn even acknowledged them to Rolling Stone, saying, “Some of the things get ridiculous — I just know that every time something comes out, it doesn’t matter how positively received, there’s gonna be something that is of great controversy.” So beating that film would certainly be a feather in Gunn’s cap.

He starts to fly

Despite Warner Bros.’ $100 million tracking, the top trackers in Hollywood have it at $130 million, per THR. If it beats out that number, this movie is officially in “big ol’ hit” territory.

He reaches the sky

If Superman can manage to get to $150 million over the weekend, that will make it the best opening weekend for a non-children’s movie in all of 2025, beating out last weekend’s Jurassic World Rebirth. And, notably, because it came out over the July 4 weekend, Rebirth got a five-day window to call its opening weekend, while Superman has a more typical three. Rebirth made just $92 million in the three-day window, per Variety, and Superman is likely to beat that.

He blows through the atmosphere

If Superman can, by some miracle (which he’s had before), make it to a $170 million opening weekend, then it would break two major box-office records. For starters, it would have the highest opening weekend for any Superman movie ever — beating out Snyder’s Batman v. Superman from 2016, which scored $166 million in its opening weekend. It would also be the best opening weekend for any movie in 2025, beating out A Minecraft Movie, which made $162 million in its opening weekend. Now, is that likely? Probably not. But it also wasn’t likely that David Corenswet could pull off an outfit with underwear outside the supersuit, and he managed.