James Gunn's Superman arrived earlier this year to great reviews and a respectable box office haul. DC Studios' first feature is often labeled as a massive success for Warner Bros. Discovery. In November, for example, Forbes published a report stating the film had made $100 million in profit, and would end up making $150 million by year end's time.
Superman made $616 million worldwide during its theatrical run. It was a good amount, but with a reported $225 million budget not including marketing (another report put it at over $300 million, which James Gunn debunked), the film's initial haul didn't seem enough to reach that $100-million profit milestone. As such, it was clear the project's success had largely stemmed from ancillary markets. Now, we finally know the exact markets its profit came from.
Bloomberg published "Netflix Has a Huge Opportunity With the DC Studios Superheroes," a profile focused on DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. A major part of the piece was the duo's successful start at the company, largely stemming from Superman's previously cited $100 million profit. The outlet proceeded to list the exact markets that allowed the David Corenswet-led film to reach said figure. Per Bloomberg, its profit came from a combination of three pivotal branches:
Ticket sales, online rentals and merchandise deals.
Such markets guiding the movie into the realm of profitability isn't surprising. Merchandising has historically been a pivotal source of post-theatrical revenue for superhero films. Superman was a prime example of that. The film was (and, for the most part, continues to be) everywhere—food products, clothing, kitchen items, toys and collectibles. It hit every possible market. The film has also been widely recognized as a success on video on demand. As an example, it was revealed the project was on Google TV's top-three movies of 2025, alongside Ryan Coogler's Sinners.
Given those aspects, it makes sense Superman was able to turn in such a large profit. Regarding the studio's success, co-CEO Peter Safran told Bloomberg he and Gunn had only scratched the surface in their efforts to turn the DC brand into a "crown jewel" for Warner Bros. Discovery: "When we took the job, obviously the goal was to turn DC into the crown jewel that we knew it deserved to be. We've only literally started scratching the surface.
Despite the brand's prior monetary struggles, Superman's theatrical and post-theatrical performance served as a reminder of how profitable DC can be. Talking to Bloomberg about Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, media industry analyst at LightShed Partners, Rich Greenfield singled out DC's enormous financial potential: "DC is probably the single greatest opportunity in this transaction. [...] DC has been one of the most undermonitized franchises in all of Hollywood , and while it's certainly showing signs of life, it's still a tiny fraction of where Marvel got to under Disney."
Superman is available to stream on HBO Max. Its follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, will fly into theaters on July 9, 2027.
What do you think about this new information about Superman? Which of these markets did you contribute to ? Let me know in the comments!