“Superman” remains up, up and away at the box office. The superhero reboot retained its crown as three new releases, “Smurfs,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” failed to pack a punch in theaters.
In its second weekend of release, “Superman” collected $57.3 million from 4,774 venues — a standard 54% decline from its $125 million debut. After strong weekday holds, the Warner Bros. comic book adventure has earned $236 million domestically and $406 million globally.
The studio needs the well-reviewed film to keep flying high during the competitive summer movie season, which will pick up steam next weekend as Disney’s Marvel adventure “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” touches down on the big screen. Beyond earning back the $225 million production budget, “Superman” is intended to launch a new phase of superhero movies for the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned DC Studios. Two interconnected spinoffs, “Supergirl” and “Clayface,” will launch in 2026 with a new “Wonder Woman” movie in the works.
Among newcomers, Sony’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” had the strongest start at No. 3 with $13 million from 3,206 theaters. The film added $11.6 million overseas from 58 markets, bringing its worldwide total to $24.6 million. Those soft ticket sales suggest that nostalgia isn’t nearly as potent as Sony might have hoped when greenlighting the slasher and reuniting the original 1998 film’s stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Although “I Know What You Did Last Summer” opened behind projections, the film cost a modest $18 million to produce and won’t take a ton of coinage to justify its budget.
In terms of big screen longevity, though, it doesn’t help that neither critics (38% on Rotten Tomatoes) nor audiences (“C+” grade on CinemaScore) liked the film, a fact that didn’t seem to bother the director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. She gamely tweeted the word “camp” over a screenshot of the movie’s bleak Rotten Tomatoes score.
Paramount’s “Smurfs” opened in fourth place with $11 million from 3,504 venues, a disappointing result for the $58 million-budgeted musical. The animated adventure earned $22 million at the international box office for a global tally of $33.6 million. Though reviews usually don’t have too much a bearing on the turnout for family films, “Smurfs” has the lowest Rotten Tomato score (a 21% average) in the entire box office top 10. Moviegoers were kinder, awarding the film a decent “B+” grade on CinemaScore exit polls. Although this kind of reception might not spark a new cinematic universe, the “Smurfs” big screen return will likely be a big driver of consumer products. Rihanna leads the voice cast of “Smurfs” as Smurfette alongside the sprawling ensemble of James Corden, Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer and John Goodman.
Elsewhere at the box office, A24’s Western satire “Eddington” tumbled to the No. 7 spot with $4.2 million
from 2,111 venues its debut. Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal star in the polarizing film, set in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as a sheriff and mayor that sparks a powder keg in their small town. Aster has scored big with pure horror, such as 2019’s “Midsommar” ($48 million) and 2018’s “Hereditary” ($87 million), but the filmmaker has been less commercially consistent when he’s deviated to other genres like 2023’s surrealist comedy “Beau Is Afraid” ($12 million). “Eddington” has mixed reviews (67% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a poor “C+” grade on CinemaScore.
Universal’s “Jurassic World Rebirth” remained in second place with $23 million from 3,854 venues, a 42% drop from the prior frame. After three weekends of release, the dinosaur reboot has earned $276 million domestically and $600 million globally. Although those are strong returns — one of only three Hollywood films to surpass the $600 million mark in 2025 — the latest “Jurassic” has ways to go to reach the heights of the prior sequel trilogy, all of which grossed $1 billion globally.
Rounding out the top five is Apple’s “F1: The Movie” with $9.6 million from 3,094 theaters in its fourth lap around the track. That’s a 26% decline from the previous weekend, bringing ticket sales to $153.6 million domestically and $460.8 million worldwide. Though the film, which stars Brad Pitt and is being distributed by Warner Bros., cost a massive $250 million price tag and might not turn a theatrical profit, those ticket sales are notable for an original, adult-skewing property. It’s by far Apple’s highest-grossing movie to date.
Overall box office returns are currently 15% ahead of the same point in 2024 though about 24% behind 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, according to Comscore. After “Fantastic Four” closes out the month of July, the summer season will continue with August releases like “The Naked Gun,” “Freakier Friday” and Zach Cregger’s thriller “Weapons.”
“This weekend is a breather between the two giant superhero openings,” says David A. Gross, who runs the FranchiseRe movie consulting firm. “The current lineup in theaters is strong, with a broad selection of big titles including superheroes, action, monsters, horror and animation.”
Now Hollywood just needs audiences to continue showing up to theaters.