James Gunn’s new DCU made its theatrical launch earlier this year with the release of Superman, and the film quickly became a favorite among critics and audiences. Now, IMDb has revealed Superman as the most popular film of the year, too.
IMDb released their Most Popular Movies of 2025 list as part of their year-end Best Of features, which revealed Superman at the top spot. As the most popular movie of 2025, Superman was ranked the highest on the IMDbPro MOVIEmeter chart throughout the year, which is based on the actual page views of the site’s more than 250 million monthly visitors. Surprisingly, the only other comic book movie on the list was Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, which came in much lower at #8 on the rankings.
In second place was Zach Cregger’s breakout horror hit Weapons. The rest of the Top 10 included Sinners (#3), One Battle After Another (#4), Jurassic World: Rebirth (#5), Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (#6), Happy Gilmore 2 (#7), Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (#9), and lastly, Brad Pitt’s F1: The Movie (#10)
“Superman topped our charts for the first two weeks of its global release and returned to the top 10 in September as it hit streaming,” IMDb writes, adding: “When Superman was released this summer, Kal-El faced an uphill battle in fictional Metropolis as well as at the real-world box office. By most measurements, however, the first movie in James Gunn’s DC Universe qualified as a hit.”
IMDb also noted how Superman had to combat one of the growing problems both DC and Marvel are facing in theaters: superhero fatigue. “The franchise reboot had to shoulder some heavy lifting: introducing a new Clark Kent and battling a force stronger than Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor — the movie-going public’s increased superhero apathy.”
Nonetheless, Superman emerged victorious, grossing over $600 million worldwide during its theatrical run and also becoming an instant hit on streaming. Gunn has already announced a sequel, Man of Tomorrow, scheduled for release on Jul. 9, 2027.
Superman’s Popularity Helped the Film Emerge Victorious Against MCU Heavy Hitters
With Superman crowned the most popular movie of 2025, it’s now clear that Gunn’s new DCU has quickly established itself as a breath of fresh air in the landscape of superhero movies. Despite establishing a new cinematic universe, the film was able to go head-to-head with Marvel’s established dominance and even emerge victorious, beating out Fantastic Four: First Steps ($521 million) and Thunderbolts* ($382 million).
Superman was also able to notch out a symbolic victory with its box office run, surpassing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s own debut film — 2008’s Iron Man. While it remains to be seen if Superman and the DCU will be able to enjoy a long-running string of success like what spun out of Iron Man, DC certainly has bold plans for its new universe. Studio execs recently revealed there’s a 10-year plan for the DCU, with Superman being only the beginning. The DCU’s next release will be Supergirl with Milly Alcock, hitting theaters on June 26, 2026.
Superman is now available on HBO Max.
- Release Date
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July 11, 2025
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Director
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James Gunn
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Rachel Brosnahan
Lois Lane