SUPERMAN: New Report May Clear Up Whether The First DC Studios Movie Turned A Box Office Profit

Much has been said about Superman's budget, and whether the movie was able to turn a profit, despite it being the year's biggest superhero hit. A new breakdown may set the record straight once and for all.

News

By JoshWilding - Oct 08, 2025 12:10 PM EST

Filed Under: Superman

Source: Forbes

Superman's box office run ended after 84 days. However, we got a surprisingly early Digital debut on August 15, barely a month after the Man of Steel had swooped into theaters on July 11.

The first DC Studios movie has since premiered on HBO Max, and recently landed on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Combining $354,184,465 million from the North American box office and $261,100,000 from international ticket sales, Superman's theatrical run ended with a total of $615,784,465. That makes it the highest-grossing superhero movie of 2025, leaving The Fantastic Four: First Steps in second place.

It's previously been reported that Superman had a $225 million production budget, with an additional $125 million spent on marketing. So, was the reboot a hit?

"Given that films generally split their ticket sales 50-50 with theater owners, this means that Superman’s theatrical net equates to nearly $308 million," Forbes explained in a recent financial breakdown. "The amount, of course, does not reflect any residuals that are being paid out or other miscellaneous expenses associated with the film."

"Even going with the $308 million before taking the other expenses into account," the site continued, "Superman’s net falls below the $350 million Warner Bros. spent on the production of the film and marketing."

So, chances are Superman didn't make a profit from theatrical revenue alone. However, when various ancillary sales, merchandise, Digital, and physical media sales are taken into account—not to mention HBO Max subscriptions—Superman has almost certainly made money for Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios.

Crucially, the movie was well-received by fans and critics, and has been widely hailed as a much-needed return to form for the DC brand in theaters, following disasters like Black Adam, The Flash, and Joker: Folie à Deux.

Next up for the character is Man of Tomorrow, a Superman sequel which will see the hero team up with Lex Luthor to take on a greater threat believed ot be Brainiac.

When Superman gets drawn into conflicts at home and abroad, his actions are questioned, giving tech billionaire Lex Luthor the opportunity to get the Man of Steel out of the way for good. Will intrepid reporter Lois Lane and Superman's four-legged companion, Krypto, be able to help him before it's too late?

The movie stars David Corenswet in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

Also appearing are Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, María Gabriela de Faría, Wendell Pierce, Alan Tudyk, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, and Milly Alcock.

Superman is now available on HBO Max, Digital, and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

Tom Holland's SPIDER-MAN Meets David Corenswet's SUPERMAN In Awesome Crossover Fan Art

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56 Comments

1 2

epc1122 - 10/8/2025, 12:15 PM

So pretty much what’s already been said or discussed about. Made money but not necessarily through the box office and enough of a profit to warrant a continuation of the story.

thedrudo - 10/8/2025, 12:17 PM

@epc1122 - Don’t worry, we’ll get a handful of new articles and more online fighting about the box office and DCU’s future.

bobevanz - 10/8/2025, 12:41 PM

I'd argue the article because if you know the production budget and you add the marketing budget times 1.5 (2.5 is if you only know the production budget), the profit area is after 525 million. Also the studio makes closer to 90% for the first two weeks and over time the theater eventually gets to that 55% share. It's amazing how Forbes leaves out that significant part considering the most money is made in the first two weeks. So either way this did make a profit in the theatrical run. Regardless, it's the first time in 17 years DC beat Marvel. That's a big deal lol

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 12:54 PM

@bobevanz -
Yes, we should go with your "expertise" on how studios and theaters calculate their revenues and splits rather than with the opinion of Forbes (**checks notes**)...."financial magazine",....whose only claim to notoriety is doing financial analysis and calculating finances, wealth and monetary matters affecting companies and individuals.

That makes sense.

The movie flopped at the theaters just like most of us (with any lick of common sense and not glazing Gunn) said it did and now it's being confirmed by an essentially independant authority on the matter with no ax to grind with either WB or Gunn.

It's made its money back and a tidy profit for WB in streaming and ancillaries, and now you're getting a sequel.
....just like the DCEU after Man of Steel (....which didn't in fact, flop at the box office)..

Take the "W" (if you can call it that) and quit embarrassing yourself like this.

ElJefe - 10/8/2025, 1:52 PM

@spr0cks - The guy writing the article is an entertainment reporter and a movie reviewer, not a financial analyst.

Also, you should read the full article and take more notes, because later on he writes that he has no idea if it’s going to turn a profit overall or not.

But, yeah, I’m calling it a W, my man. I loved the film.

Apophis71 - 10/8/2025, 2:00 PM

@bobevanz - I've never read anyone ever say the studio gets a 90% cut in the first two weeks, it does start out higher but can vary a lot depending on the deal struck by studios from what I have heard said before BUT, and it's a big BUT that still only applies to domestic BO and not international ones.

ALL of that said I've been saying for years now studios will increasingly being looking at BO to cover some of the costs not all these days as there is a far higher profit margin with digital sales and audience trends are increasingly moving towards digital and streaming not BO.

As such I still hold that best rule of thumb is a film does fine is it hits 2.5x or more reported production budget even if good reasons not to trust those numbers. However increasingly it won't be the end of the day if any film fails to hit that IF it is well recieved as increasingly could make more with digital sales/rentals for a studio than ever likely at the BO sadly.

JackDeth - 10/8/2025, 2:14 PM

@bobevanz - How do you account for the massive amount of revenue gained from the synergistic marketing brand deals (Purina, LUCKY, GAP, Fossil, Reebok, Kith, Crocs, FUNKO, Keebler, Chuck E. Cheese, Samsung, etc.), of which this film reportedly had more than any other WB production in the last decade at least. I feel like adding the 'marketing budget' creates for an erroneous number in this case, don't you?

Will44482 - 10/8/2025, 12:18 PM

They wouldn’t have greenlit a sequel if the movie was the huge failure Snyder cultists pretend it is

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 12:56 PM

@Will44482 -
Man of Steel got a sequel too.

It just happens that it wasn't called Man of Steel 2..........just like Superman 2025's sequel.

But unlike Superman 2025, it didn't need to wait until streaming release and ancilliary sales to make a profit for WB.

It did that shit at the theaters while it was still playing.

Will44482 - 10/8/2025, 1:06 PM

@spr0cks - it didn’t claim Man of Steel didn’t get a sequel but it released during the height of superhero movies any superhero movie that was somewhat decent was making money. if Superman had been released then it would have made more than Man of Steel did.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 1:15 PM

@Will44482 -

RE : >>>" it didn’t claim Man of Steel didn’t get a sequel but it released during the height of superhero movies any superhero movie that was somewhat decent was making money. "

Deadpool and Wolverine was released LAST YEAR and made over $1.3 Billion at the Box office.

And 'The Batman' was released DURING COVID.....and when the second biggest movie market in the world in China was totally locked down...
.....and it still managed to make over $160 Million more than Superman 2025.

Sooo.......

MuadDib - 10/8/2025, 12:20 PM

As long as it was successful enough that they can continue work on the greater DCU and eventually push out a DCU Batman which is all I care about. Reeves and Pattinsons Batman just isn’t my cup of tea. Looking forward to a more fantastical Batman, preferably in a grey and blue suit or black and grey.

LenSpiderman - 10/8/2025, 1:02 PM

@MuadDib - as long as he’s not anything like Afleck’s Batman in the Flash movie. Double woof. But there are so many Batman vibes that haven’t been explored. It’s like the movies go dark and gritty or campy and corny. The animated series did a good job of making the entire bat universe feel cohesive from cat burglars and mobsters to mud monsters and giant bat creatures to ventriloquist themed killers.

Malatrova15 - 10/8/2025, 12:24 PM

Oh yes that movie where a winged evil woman kills a chief of state for no reason other than defend His country AND the leads to a HBO series of orgies AND name falling portraying a good América as nazi

foreverintheway - 10/8/2025, 12:48 PM

@Malatrova15 - well at least it's consistent since current (bad) America is also nazi now.

Malatrova15 - 10/8/2025, 1:12 PM

@foreverintheway - how daré you call América that..this country fought to Smash the nazis, ITS non sense to call América nazi when we stand for what Is rigth ..for people like you that...that person killed that young ukranian refugee. Lets stop división now

McMurdo - 10/8/2025, 12:27 PM

it's getting a sequel so.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 12:57 PM

@McMurdo -

Like Man of Steel did.

(which actually made a profit in theaters and didn't need to rely on toys and action figure sales.)

HashTagSwagg - 10/8/2025, 1:00 PM

@McMurdo -

DarthMauve - 10/8/2025, 1:20 PM

@spr0cks - Maybe you aren't aware Man of Steel garnered $170 million in product placement and branding deals before a single ticket was sold. So it kind of did.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 1:23 PM

@DarthMauve -
None of that factors into the profit it made at the box office thanks to what it made at the box office compared to what it cost to produce it.

It was all bonus on top of it.

And yes, I was aware that Man of Steel was profitable for WB both at the box office and also outside it.

DarthMauve - 10/8/2025, 1:33 PM

@spr0cks - Of course it affects the profit made at the box office, when you start $170 million up on a $225 million budget movie, it bumps up the profit margin massively.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 2:00 PM

@DarthMauve -
It didn't start at $170 Million.
It started at the box office at ZERO just like any other movie.

The profit I talk about when I say it made a profit at the box office is what you get what you take what it made (STRICTLY) AT THE BOX OFFICE ($670 Million) and subtract the production and marketing costs ($225 Million + (Est.) $150 Million) per the industry standard multipliers and splits.

Why are you James Gunn fanboys so spectacularly bad at math and all this?
It's beyond laughable at this point, and just plain disturbing.

Are you allowed to operate complicated machinery without supervision?

DarthMauve - 10/8/2025, 2:04 PM

@spr0cks - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/superman-is-already-a-170m-brand-superhero-as-man-of-steel-tops-the-product-placement-charts-8651215.html

It had already banked $170 million beofre it sold a single ticket.

Whoo says I'm a James Gunn fanboy? The actual [frick] are you talking about?

Why so rude, [foo foo]?

ClungeOfSteel - 10/8/2025, 12:29 PM

Sure this MIGHT be true if you use simple maths, but when you factor in things such as denial, shilling, goalposts moving, RT scores, fanboy tears, Gunn's ability to greenlight a sequel and the overall desire for the trades to shit on what came before...then this is a gazillion dollar success

#inGunnWeTrust

Forthas - 10/8/2025, 12:35 PM

I think it lost more than that, but at least they are starting to end what has to be the most blatant - and as a result - most embarrassing example of out-of-control shilling I have ever seen for a film. Man of Steel beat this film in

Adjusted domestic box office
Adjusted foreign box office
Adjusted worldwide box office
Unadjusted foreign box office
Unadjusted worldwide box office
Ticket sales
...and soon will beat it in the overall box office ranking for its respective year

YET...the spin doctors tried to make it seem as though it was more successful than MOS based on the Unadjusted Domestic box office.

I hope this experience will demonstrate that all the fake marketing and spin in the world will ultimately give way to truth!

epc1122 - 10/8/2025, 12:58 PM

@Forthas - nobody but you bring up man of steel.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 1:00 PM

@epc1122 -
It's implied.

The whole reason this discussion exists at all is because of Man of Steel and the supposed failure, the Gunn glazing fanboys told us that movie was.

Now we know what a REAL (Box office) Superman movie failure looks like.

Forthas - 10/8/2025, 1:09 PM

@epc1122 - You mean there were NOT a series of articles highlighting how Superman beat Man of steel on the third Wednesday of release, domestically, at 1130 PM, during a full moon...? I am the one who kept brining up Man of Steel.

What is funny, I don't even think that Superman 2025 SHOULD be compared to Man of Steel no matter how much better MOS turned out to be. Superman was NOT and origin story AND it was NOT a solo film. So the film it should be compared to is Batman v Superman.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 1:20 PM

@Forthas -
RE : >>>" Superman was NOT and origin story AND it was NOT a solo film. So the film it should be compared to is Batman v Superman."

And even then it STILL falls short
(...even HARDER, in fact).

SAD!

Many many many smart people are saying this.

centaur - 10/8/2025, 12:35 PM

TheVisionary25 - 10/8/2025, 12:42 PM

Looks at comments…

God , this site is so beyond annoying now.

It’s just alot of people being negative about most if not everything and trying not to enjoy things which I find odd…

Ya’ll take this shit too seriously and make me embarrassed for us fans.

The movie made money and them moving forward with another installment is proof of that…

Also for people who say that Gunn can do whatever he wants and thus greenlit his movie even though Superman was a flop are idiots because do you really think a cheapskate like Zaslav would allow that?.

Overall , it was a solid film and has me excited for DC on the big screen which I hadn’t been for a long while!!.

Clintthahamster - 10/8/2025, 1:51 PM

@TheVisionary25 - I've moved on from only blocking racists, transphobes, homophobes, and misogynists and have added "miserable [frick]s" to the list. Though I imagine there's quite a bit of overlap.

ModHaterSLADE - 10/8/2025, 12:47 PM

Couldn't have been that much of a failure if we're getting a sequel🤷🏾‍♂️

HashTagSwagg - 10/8/2025, 12:49 PM

Getting some heavy Dwayne "Black Adam didn't bomb" Johnson vibes.

thedrudo - 10/8/2025, 12:50 PM

Truthfully, since this was the big kickoff to the new DCU, this could have lost them $100 million and they would continue. They might alter focusing on Superman as the main figure but there is no way they would pass up potential millions after just one movie.

TheJok3r - 10/8/2025, 12:54 PM

I like how people are turning themselves into pretzels to find a way to claim this movie was profitable. It's been common knowledge for the longest time that whether or not a movie broke even, made a profit, or lost money depended entirely on its box office numbers. Now it doesn't ? Since when ? No one was bringing up Captain America's non-box office numbers, or Thunderbolt's numbers.

spr0cks - 10/8/2025, 1:03 PM

@TheJok3r -

Yep!!

Nobody was touting Captain America 4's or Thunderbolt's, or Fantastic Four's ancillary sales numbers or streaming, to tout how those movies still made money or a profit for Marvel.

As far as all those people were concerned, all those movies were flops at the box office due to the same formula they (up until now) declined using to show that Superman 2025 was EQUALLY a box office flop and failure.

ElJefe - 10/8/2025, 2:03 PM

@TheJok3r - By who’s yardstick? The online self-proclaimed pundits?

Studios have made money off licensing IP since I had a Star Wars lunchbox.

So the conversation isn’t “profit” but just ticket sales. And even that gets sticky because no one knows the actual theater hold. Even the article above is carefully worded using assumptions based off of financial reporting from other magazines and articles.

But none of that matters. Art is subjective. Love it or hate it, that’s our Superman for the foreseeable future!

Apophis71 - 10/8/2025, 2:13 PM

@TheJok3r - Erm, since never in our lifetimes? I mean sure the BO WAS the biggest part of covering costs and profit for films but it was NEVER the only part of it the second broadcasting to homes became a thing and quite simply as habbits shifted with more folk having televisions, then VHS, then DVD and now digital the equations are shifting. Sure BO will still be a BIG part of the maths with HUGE budget films, likely still by far the biggest part of it, but to think it is ALL that matters or is/always will be the biggest part of where the money comes from to the studio is kinda being blind to the reality of the world we live in now.

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SUPERMAN: New Report May Clear Up Whether The First DC Studios Movie Turned A Box Office Profit

Much has been said about Superman's budget, and whether the movie was able to turn a profit, despite it being the year's biggest superhero hit. A new breakdown may set the record straight once and for all.

Tom Holland's SPIDER-MAN Meets David Corenswet's SUPERMAN In Awesome Crossover Fan Art

A QUIET PLACE PART III's Release Has Been Pushed Back To Avoid James Gunn's MAN OF TOMORROW

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.