Superman Soars Past $300 Million at Domestic Box Office, Marking a High for DC Studios

James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ Lands as Ninth DC Film to Hit Three-Century Mark Since 2008, Outpacing Previous Iterations While New Horror Film ‘Together’ Faces Lawsuit Amidst Weekend Box Office Battles.

Washington D.C. [US]: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Superman flying past a major box office milestone! The latest iteration of the iconic hero from DC Studios and Warner Bros., helmed by James Gunn, officially crossed the $300 million mark at the domestic box office on Thursday. This triumphant feat makes it the first DC film to hit that impressive threshold since Matt Reeves’ critically acclaimed The Batman achieved it back in 2022.

This latest success firmly places Superman as the ninth DC movie to breach the coveted three-century mark in the U.S. and Canada box office. It joins an elite club that includes blockbusters like 2008’s The Dark Knight ($534.9M), 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1M), 2017’s Wonder Woman ($412.8M), 2022’s The Batman ($369.3M), 2019’s Joker ($335.4M), 2018’s Aquaman ($335.1M), 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.3M), and 2016’s Suicide Squad ($325.1M).

Starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, this new Superman movie hit the $300 million milestone on just its 21st day in theaters. Its performance is certainly strong, pacing only 4% behind The Batman at the same point in its release, and impressively, 2% ahead of Wonder Woman, showcasing solid audience engagement. It has also comfortably surpassed Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel ($291M domestic) and 2017’s Justice League ($229M), the latter of which also featured the Kryptonian hero.

The Weekend Box Office Heats Up: New Horror, Anticipated Sequels, and a Legal Battle

Meanwhile, the cinematic landscape is buzzing with other new releases and ongoing performers. Today, indie distributor Neon launched the highly anticipated Dave Franco-Alison Brie horror movie, Together, into theaters. The film debuted with $2.65 million, a figure that includes $1.3 million from preview screenings. Neon had acquired writer-director Michael Shanks’ body-horror pic, which garnered buzz at Sundance, for approximately $16 million worldwide. The current outlook for Together projects an $8 million to $10 million haul over its five-day opening weekend.

This new entry arrives in a bustling marketplace. Looking ahead to the weekend, it’s expected that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will maintain its No. 1 spot, aiming for a strong $45 million to $47 million in its second weekend. DreamWorks Animation and Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 is eyeing a healthy $20 million, while Paramount’s reboot of The Naked Gun is hoping for around $15 million.

For Together, a good comparison for its opening performance might be Ari Aster’s pre-Covid 2019 horror hit, Midsommar. That film opened over a five-day period (though it benefited from the July 4th holiday), bringing in $3 million on its first day and a total of $10.9 million over five days, ultimately finishing its run with $27.4 million. Interestingly, Together shares the same CinemaScore as Midsommar — a C+, indicating a mixed audience reaction. However, Together boasts significantly better critical and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with 94% critics approval and 78% audience approval, compared to Midsommar’s 83% critics and 63% audience scores. This suggests critics and a majority of the audience might find more to appreciate in Together.

Adding a layer of drama to Together‘s release is a lawsuit filed back in May against WME, Neon, Shanks, Franco, and Brie. The suit alleges that Together is a “blatant rip-off” of Better Half, a 2023 indie film written and directed by Patrick Henry Phelan. According to the court filing, the script for Better Half was pitched to Franco and Brie in August 2020. A casting director reportedly sent the material to their WME representatives, approaching them for the lead roles. The lawsuit claims that Brie and Franco rejected the offer because “they wanted to produce the film themselves and have WME package the project with one of the agency’s own writers.”

In a swift response to the allegations, Shanks, Neon, and WME issued a joint statement. Neon and WME asserted: “The plaintiff is doing nothing more than drumming up 15 minutes of fame for a failed project, demonstrated by the fact they contacted the press before filing their lawsuit, and did so without doing the most basic due diligence.” Despite this legal spat, the release of Together proceeded as planned, seemingly unhindered by the controversy.