Superman‘s movie box office needs $770 million to break one truly game-changing record. With Superman now almost a month into its theatrical release, the level of success the DCU movie has garnered is clearer than ever. However, there does still seem to be enough time on the proverbial clock for certain records to be broken.
Superman has already exceeded some of the estimations made about what its theatrical box office would be, and is encroaching on even more of them thanks to its momentum. One $770 million record would arguably be the biggest game-changer for the DCU movie – but it does seem this bar would currently be a big challenge for the 2025 DC release.
Superman Making The Same Or More Than James Gunn’s First Guardians Of The Galaxy Movie Would Be A Total Game-Changer
There are many records that would mean a lot for Superman to break – and several it’s already met too. Thanks to its overall $503 million box office results (via The Numbers), Superman is the highest-grossing superhero movie of the year, and the highest-grossing Superman solo movie of all time in terms of its domestic box office.
However, there are other major box office margins that could be even bigger for the movie – in a metaphorical sense, and also in a literal sense, since they would require Superman to make substantially more in terms of its box office. One of the biggest of these would require an almost $800 million box office result.
Over the course of its 2014 run, James Gunn’s first Marvel movie – Guardians Of The Galaxy – made $770 million in its worldwide box office, marking the director’s earliest MCU success story. As Gunn’s first fully canon DCU film – since Gunn has stated The Suicide Squad may not be fully canon – Superman‘s box office is easy to compare in this regard.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy released on August 1, 2014.
With Superman‘s theatrical run still ongoing, this is arguably one of the highest potential bars the film could still reach. While hitting the $1 billion mark seems more concretely too far away, the possibility of an extra $200 million feels more tenable, although the challenge this presents underlines just how successful Guardians of the Galaxy was.
Why Guardians Of The Galaxy Made Almost $800 Million
The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy are often overlooked as box office big hitters. This seems to be in part because major movie successes tend to happen in the superhero genre around the time of their releases, and in part because the way the movies balance comedy, sci-fi, and action are simultaneously immensely popular and yet also easily underappreciated.
Guardians of the Galaxy is actually the lowest grossing movie of the MCU trilogy, with the sequels earning $869 million and $845 million in that order. That said, the original’s success is more significant in some ways as the film that first showed audiences how gripping the team’s stories could be on every level.
Guardians of the Galaxy did also release at something of a peak time for superhero movies in terms of their box offices. In the same year, Captain America: The Winter Soldier made $713 million, X-Men: Days Of Future Past made $747 million, and The Amazing Spider-Man made $709 million.
Indeed, Guardians of the Galaxy is only succeeded by a few of its peers at this time – though films like 2013’s Iron Man 3 and 2015’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron making over $1 billion do overshadow it. Ultimately, this does underline the challenge of Superman breaking Guardians of the Galaxy’s box office bar all the more.
Whether Superman Will Make More Than The Guardians Of The Galaxy Isn’t Yet Clear
As the movie that already has the strongest box office of 2025 out of all the superhero genre, there’s plenty of potential for Superman to reach its higher projections. However, with most other 2025 superhero movies having fallen short of expectations, there’s also plenty of evidence to suggest the trust and interest in the genre simple isn’t there right now.
That said, since several 2025 movies have netted themselves well over this sum – as evidenced by A Minecraft Movie making $954 million and Lilo & Sтιтch making over $1 billion, for example – it’s clear to see this isn’t impossible. With the clock ticking down, though, there’s plenty of reason to consider the alternative option might end up being the case.
Hitting the $770 million mark would ultimately require an almost $220 million increase from Superman‘s current box office. While it’s clear Superman‘s box office journey isn’t done yet – and that word of mouth has benefited the film’s legs and later box office results – it’s hard to say whether this benchmark is possible to clear.
Whatever happens, though, both Superman and Guardians of the Galaxy can at least share the result of helping flesh out their respective universes – and managing to net themselves a fair box office bounty as their reward. Given Superman‘s success, it seems the DCU will have plenty of other opportunities to challenge this box office record, too.
