Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos Implies James Gunn's 'Superman' Film Was Yanked From Theaters Because It Underperformed
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos implied that James Gunn’s Superman film saw its time in theaters shortened because it underperformed.
Superman released to theaters on July 11, 2025 but was quickly released to digital by August 15th. That’s only 35 days. 10 days shorter than the typical window.
The film did stay in theaters until October 2, 2025. However, it was, for the most part, grossing below $1 million per day by August 18th. September 13th was the last time the film grossed over $100,000 per day.
The film grossed $354.2 million domestically and added only $262.6 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $616.8 million.
It was third highest grossing film at the domestic box office in 2025 only behind A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch and had the fourth highest grossing weekend with A Minecraft Movie, Wicked: For Good, and Lilo & Stitch beating it.
Globally, the film was 10th behind movies like Zootopia 2, Lilo & Stich, A Minecraft Movie, Jurassic World Rebirth, Demon Slayer, and F1: The Movie.
While these rankings and numbers might look good, the film performed worse than Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel film. The 2013 film grossed $291 million domestically and $376.9 million globally for a worldwide total of $667.9 million. And that’s all without factoring in inflation.
Now, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, whose company is attempting to purchase Warner Bros., Superman’s production company, appeared before the United States Senate and implied that the film underperformed.
While discussing theatrical release windows while being questioned by Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sarandos affirmed that the current industry standard is a 45-day theatrical release window.
However, he noted, “Routinely movies that underperform, the window moves a little bit. And Superman was a little shorter window, and Sinners, a little longer window, but they still could refer to it as a 45-day window.”
James Gunn previously claimed the short theatrical window was due to Peacemaker Season 2. He was asked by ScreenRant, “What was the mindset in going to streaming that soon after?”
Gunn answered, “Well, it's very complicated, but the truth is it is because of Peacemaker. I originally thought Peacemaker was going to be coming out next month. There was a lot of things that are beyond our control, so that Peacemaker is coming out now, and, at the end of the day, I wanted everyone to be able to see Superman that wanted to, even those people who couldn't get to a theater before Peacemaker. And that's really the reason for it.”
In an interview following Superman’s release to digital, Gunn told Chris Hardwick he wished it had stayed in theaters longer, but again pointed to Peacemaker. He said, “The truth is, I would have waited for longer… I wanted there to be a longer time that there’s a pure box office run. But Peacemaker was supposed to come out.”
However, he went on to share that he planned to ensure that upcoming DC Studios films would have longer theatrical releases, “You know, honestly, Chris, so next time it’s going to be longer. I don’t want people to get used to it. It’s purely because of Peacemaker that I let it come out at this time.”
Maybe audiences are tired of superhero movies? I know I am.
Fascinating breakdown of how corporate messaging can contradict itself when differnet stakeholders control the narrative. The numbers backing this up are pretty solid, especially comparing it to Man of Steel's performance without inflation adjustments. I actualy think this shows a broader issue where studios are incentivized to shift underperforming films to streaming ASAP to recoup costs, but they can't be fully transparent about that without affecting future box office confidence.