Compared to expectations, “Man of Steel” and its $113.1 million open ($125.1 factoring in Thursday showings) was a gigantic success. In fact, it surpassed “Toy Story 3” for the biggest June opening ever by a good three million, and even more if you factor in those aforementioned Thursday showings.
This was huge, but far behind “Iron Man 3” and its towering $174.1 million opening back in May. Of course, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, and you could easily say that Superman movies have a stacked deck coming against them as people generally have not enjoyed their Superman experience in recent years (while Iron Man is a character whom people love in film form thanks to Robert Downey, Jr.
The question is what kind of legs “Man of Steel” will have at this point. With a more even gender split than IM3, there’s a decent chance it might hit a wider audience and ultimately connect with a bigger audience, but with a CinemaScore coming in at “A-” (CinemaScore being a poll for people having just left the theater) and middling reviews from critics, I imagine it will do well overall but come up on a tier just below the other comic giants that have come out the past few years. Still, huge tidings for Superman and DC’s film future, and here’s hoping it has the legs to do reach an even larger audience.
