Superman Soars Into First Place with a Character Solo Best… Not Adjusted for Inflation
It should be no surprise, Superman took the top spot of the weekend box office with an impressive $125 million domestically. The movie grossed an additional $95 million internationally for a worldwide debut of $220 million. It’s definitely a boost for DC’s film slate and a good sign for the start of the new DC Studios which is attempting to reinvigorate the comic publisher’s cinematic universe. It’s also a solid debut for the classic character, though when adjusted for inflation, not the best for the Man of Steel.
Let’s see how that compares to previous releases with adjusted numbers for inflation (worldwide gross is adjusted with the same U.S. Inflation Calculator when it needs to be done for each individual country):
- Superman (1978)
- Domestic Debut: $7.5 million ($36.8 million adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $134,478,449 ($663,038,567.60 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $300,478,449 ($1.481 billion)
- Superman II (1980)
- Domestic Debut: $14,100,523 ($55,010,007.60 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $108,185,706 ($422,062,111.40 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $216,385,706 ($844,179,987.61 adjusted)
- Superman III (1983)
- Domestic Debut: $13,352,357 ($43,095,536.58 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $59,950,623 ($193,494,247.22 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $80,250,623 ($259,013,720.11 adjusted)
- Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
- Domestic Debut: $5,683,122 ($16,082,084.63 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $15,681,020 ($44,374,111.75 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $30,281,020 ($85,689,155.76 adjusted)
- Superman Returns (2006)
- Domestic Debut: $52,535,096 ($83,770,806.72 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $200,081,192 ($319,043,156.68 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $391,081,192 ($623,605,731.08 adjusted)
- Man of Steel (2013)
- Domestic Debut: $116,619,362 ($160,926,880.09 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $291,045,518 ($401,623,249.97 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $670,145,518 ($924,755,765.84 adjusted)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
- Domestic Debut: $166,007,347 ($222,349,980.64 adjusted)
- Domestic Gross: $330,360,194 ($442,483,926.57 adjusted)
- Worldwide Gross: $874,362,803 ($1,171,120,169.27 adjusted)
The last Superman is an impressive debut, especially for a franchise with a shaky past for success, in a post COVID cinema, and in a world struggling in every way you’d expect, but when adjusted for inflation, it’s the second best for the character. There’s tough competition coming with the reboot of Marvel’s Fantastic Four which will eat into its audience but also really turn it into a race of word of mouth from previous movie goers to determine success. To also achieve the billion dollar mark, the movie will need to up its international gross which currently accounts for 43.8% and it’s a franchise that traditionally hasn’t done great internationally, though that shifted with the last two releases. It’s a lot to celebrate, but the film has a lot of headwinds against it in the coming weeks.
In second place was Jurassic World: Rebirth which dropped 56.5% in its second week to gross $40 million and bring its domestic total to $232.1 million. Internationally, it grossed $126.2 million of the week to bring that to $297.3 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $529.4 million.
F1: The Movie came in third with $13 million domestically which increases that total to $136.2 million. Over the week, it grossed $73.1 million internationally for a total of $257.2 million for a worldwide gross of $393.4 million.
How to Train Your Dragon slipped one spot to come in fourth with $7.8 million to increase its domestic gross to $239.8 million. Over the week, it grossed $28.1 million internationally to bring that to just under $321 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $560.8 million.
Elio rounded out the top five with $3,900,000 to bring that to $63.7 million. Internationally, it grossed $11.9 million over the week where it has now grossed $53.6 million. Worldwide, the movie has grossed $117.3 million.
In comic movie news…
Thunderbolts* added $9,000 to its domestic total this weekend to bring that to $189.9 million and internationally it added $100,000 over the week where it has now grossed $192.1 million for a worldwide total of $382 million. Between the budget and marketing, the film needs around $425 million to break even.
The weekend box office saw a total of 59 films gross $201,148,969 from 27,585 theaters compared to last weekend’s $155,578,531 from 57 films and 30,520 theaters. This weekends average was $7,291.97 compared to last weekend’s $5,097.59.










































