James Gunn’s Superman is easily the most anticipated movie of 2025. This comes in the face of other anticipated hits for the summer box office, such as M3GAN 2.0 and even Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
While M3GAN and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are well-established brands that are popular with moviegoers, it’s hard to imagine that anything will surpass Superman in reaching the $1 billion milestone – a number Warner Bros. Pictures has been chasing ever since Christopher Nolan concluded his Dark Knight trilogy in 2012.
Aside from the fact that Gunn already achieved worldwide success in the MCU with the Guardians of the Galaxy movie trilogy (and holiday special), there’s plenty more the Man of Steel has going for him. For starters, Gunn’s Superman is fully embracing DC’s larger mythos, which hasn’t truly been seen in past adaptations.
As excellent as Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie is, Christopher Reeve’s Man of Tomorrow doesn’t exist in the wider DC Universe. Similarly, while Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel exists in a world with the Justice League, Henry Cavill’s portrayal of the Last Son of Krypton doesn’t truly capture the heart of the iconic hero. The same can be said of Tyler Hoechlin’s Kal-El in Superman & Lois, despite having the warmth of Reeve’s Superman and the grounded approach of Zack Snyder. But unlike his Arrowverse counterpart, he doesn’t exist in a larger DC Universe.
By fully embracing Superman’s world as it exists on the comics page, Gunn’s take on the Man of Tomorrow is already a standout among its competitors. But in addition to offering the most faithful adaptation yet, Gunn’s upcoming movie is also checking other important boxes that will make a massive difference at the box office: a robust marketing campaign, the movie’s rating, and the Chinese box office.
Superman Has a Robust Marketing Campaign
Since the first poster and teaser trailer dropped in December 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery has been heavily investing in Superman’s marketing. This has included the release of a five-minute preview in April to further drum up hype. In the sneak peek, fans got a taste of a more vulnerable Man of Steel – not just physically, but emotionally as well. The sneak peek also displayed a brighter color palette, humor, and witty dialogue before cutting to scenes already previewed in December’s teaser.
The official trailer for the movie dropped just a month later in May, with Warner Bros. Discovery also releasing a Behind the Scenes Look around that same time. Further hyping the movie was McFarlane Toys announcing various toy lines for different age groups very early in 2025. This included various toy sets for very young children, and more sophisticated action figures for adult collectors. Most of these toys were released in May, with many more scheduled to be released in June, leading up to the movie’s release.
A more recent way Warner Bros. Discovery is building hype for Gunn’s movie is the newly announced Superman: Fortnite. Following in the footsteps of Batman: Fortnite, the new game is set to release on the same day as the movie. The game will also come with a Superman movie skin. Additionally, Warner Bros. has been releasing more character posters in the first week of June, including posters of the movie’s various villains, and the Daily Planet press.
The most exciting announcement, which will no doubt fill cinema seats, is the advanced Superman screenings for Amazon Prime members on July 8 – an event co-sponsored by Fandango.com. In addition to the advanced screening for Amazon Prime subscribers, Fandango is also pre-selling tickets for the Superman Opening Night IMAX Fan event on July 10. Overall, Warner Bros. Discovery has been knocking the marketing side of Superman out of the park, but it’s not the only thing that will make it a $1 billion hit. The rating and the international box office will also play a role.
The PG-13 Rating Will Attract the Widest Audience
DC Studios
It cannot be underestimated how vital the PG-13 rating is for reaching the widest audience possible. While past superhero movies banked on the marketability of the R rating to an adult audience (such as Logan, the Deadpool trilogy, and even two of Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies featuring Superman), the R rating also limits who can see the movie. Many cinemas in the United States require minors under the age of 17 to be accompanied by an adult to be admitted to an R-rated movie.
In other cases, a minor won’t be admitted to an R movie at all, even if an adult accompanies them. The latter is especially true in the United Kingdom, where the 15 rating functions as the country’s equivalent of the US R rating. In the UK, cinemas will not sell tickets to anyone ages 14 to a 15-rated movie, and the same goes for Blu-ray and DVD sales – stores will not sell 15-rated movies to anyone under 15. This proved to be a point of controversy for 2022’s The Batman in the UK, which got a PG-13 rating domestically, but a 15 rating in Britain due to its strong violent content.
By making the movie PG-13, Superman facilitates a middle ground between pleasing adult fans and younger moviegoers, but that’s not all – the PG-13 rating also allows for the movie to be shown to the widest audience possible outside the US. While this may not be a problem in China, Superman’s PG-13 rating will be significant everywhere else. In the UK alone, a PG-13 movie will usually get either a 12/12A rating by the BBFC.
In the case of Superman, the movie can even get a PG rating in the UK if the BBFC decides the language, sexual, and violent content is mild enough for a younger audience. This will be the best-case scenario for the UK, since a PG rating will easily attract more families to the cinema. But the rating is only the tip of the iceberg in how the movie will fare at the international box office. China will heavily determine the other half of the movie’s success outside of US borders – the country that earns studios the bulk of their international revenue.
The Chinese Box Office Will Boost Sales
Domestically, studios make the bulk of their money on opening weekend. This is why studios pay the most attention to how a movie does in the first three days of release: investors can better predict if the movie will be profitable in the upcoming weeks. In the US, studios earn 50% of their revenue from domestic ticket sales, while cinemas earn the remaining 50%. This also means that movies need to earn double their budget to break even, and triple their budget to make a profit.
On the international stage, studios earn only 25% of a movie’s revenue. This is largely due to distribution fees, as well as the need for international cinemas to generate a profit. While the international box office is still a major source of revenue for studios when movies get a worldwide release, not every movie will get this. In many cases, smaller-budget movies receive limited international distribution. This is where China tends to make the biggest difference for movie studios: US movies that get released there have a higher chance of augmenting domestic sales.
Not only is China a much larger country with an equally huge population, but China also doesn’t restrict who can see a movie the way most other countries do. Instead of using a movie ratings system, China just evaluates movies based on whether the general public can view them or not. It’s very much a simple case of approving movies for Chinese release if censors decide their contents are appropriate for everyone to see. If censors decide a movie’s contents are too offensive for the entire population, it doesn’t get an official Chinese release.
Since James Gunn already confirmed Superman will be released in China, this will give the movie an extra boost in ticket sales. The movie is already expected to perform well domestically, thanks to its robust marketing campaign. However, the movie’s PG-13 rating will also make it more accessible to audiences worldwide, especially in China. With the Chinese box office now set to contribute to the movie’s total revenue, there’s no reason Superman can’t make $1 billion in the 2025 summer box office.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that there’s a chance the movie may not reach the $1 billion milestone, given the superhero fatigue that has been affecting the MCU over the last six years. The political landscape in the US could also potentially hurt sales with the current US president being tariff-happy and burning bridges with many countries around the world, many of them US allies.
But with global reach, smart marketing, and a return to the heart of the character, Superman has everything it needs to soar past expectations—and bring superhero cinema back to life.
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