Superman is strong, but maybe not strong enough. His return opened in theaters this Wednesday, and pulled in a $21 million total according to Box Office Mojo. That may seem like a lot of money for a single day worth of ticket buying in the middle of the week, but it's only good enough to make Superman Returns the eight biggest Wednesday opening of all time. If you talk simply biggest opening day, regardless of day of the week, it falls way down at 29th.
By way of reference, Star Wars Episode III holds the biggest single-day opening with $50 million. That may make Superman sound pretty paltry, but last year Batman Begins opened on a Wednesday with only $15 million. With similarly glowing reviews in hand, Batman Begins went on to gross $205 million domestically and $166 million internationally.
I guess what I'm getting at is that while Superman Returns isn't going to be another Spider-Man, don't worry. It'll do just fine. The film should have no problem passing $200 million domestically, even with the looming specter of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 sailing just one week from now. Of course there are rumors that Superman's production costs may have been nearly $350 million (though Warners is sticking to a $200 million figure), but that simply means it'll need international box office to break even. Woops.
