So How Did Superman Did In its Second Box Office Weekend?

 

It was clear earlier this week that something special was brewing with Superman's domestic box office run. After a strong $125 million start, this title kept having incredibly remarkable holds from one day to the next during the week. That included leaping 33% from Monday to Tuesday, a significantly better than usual hold across those two days for a July superhero movie. Good word-of-mouth was clearly working in Superman's favor...but would it hold on for its second North American frame? The answer turned out to be a resounding yes.

Superman grossed another $58.5 million this weekend, a great 53% drop from its opening. That's slightly better than the second-weekend declines than Deadpool & Wolverine and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It's also way better than typical July superhero movie second weekend holds. Usually, these family-friendly titles burn off enough demand in the week that Spider-Man: Homecoming, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Ant-Man and the Wasp have 60-61% drops before stabilizing the following frame. Superman, meanwhile, held steady with a drop in the low 50s. 

Meanwhile, its second gross was noticeably bigger than the second frame of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, despite that 2016 feature having a $40 million bigger debut than Superman. What's going on with these holds and strong figures?

This is totally conjecture on my part, but one has to wonder if there was a segment of the population that was a bit dubious about a new Superman movie. Those individuals may have sat out last weekend, but then decided to give James Gunn's newest feature a go thanks to the positive word-of-mouth of this motion picture. Superman's certainly become a point of positive conversation online and in the real world. Just look at the affectionate memes sprouting up in the last week over things like David Corenswet's Superman grinning while lying down. With the feature taking off like this, initially hesitant moviegoers might've finally dived in just to join in on the chatter. Meanwhile, the bouncy, colorful, and upbeat atmosphere of Superman makes it prime for revisits, which could've also contributed to the smaller holds.

Plus, hey, maybe something this hopeful is actually something people didn't know they desperately needed until the word-of-mouth on Superman took off. The biggest hit movies throughout history tend to satiate audience demands that nobody in Hollywood could've predicted before they debuted. Who thought, for instance, moviegoers would gravitate towards Avatar's classical and brightly-colored storytelling in an era of gritty reboots? Similarly, Superman turned out to be just the blockbuster palette cleanser folks were looking for when it came to the superhero movie realm. Even with The Fantastic Four: First Steps on the way, it's doubtful all this good word-of-mouth is about to vanish. Expect this title to keep on rocking and rolling for the rest of the summer.