2025 MCU/DCU Box Office Rundown

Today we will be breaking down the box office performance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe films released in 2025, ranked from best performance to least performance. By performance I mean the amount grossed at the worldwide box office not the profitability of the film. Just because a film was a theatrical flop doesn't mean it wasn't profitable after considering streaming/TV licensing, home entertainment, merchandising, and post-theatrical deals money, which I did not in this list.

Thunderbolts* (MCU Film)

May 2, 2025

Domestic (US & Canada) Box Office Performance: $190,274,328

International Box Office Performance: $192,162,589

Worldwide Box Office Total: $382,436,917

Reported Production Budget: ~$180,000,000

Reported Marketing Budget: ~$100,000,000

Estimated Total Cost: ~$280,000,000

Estimated Theatrical Loss/Profit: Loss of ~$108,000,000 before ancillary revenue/tax incentives

Status: Theatrical flop

Captain America: Brave New World (MCU Film)

February 14, 2025

Domestic (US & Canada) Box Office Performance: $200,500,001

International Box Office Performance: $214,601,576

Worldwide Box Office Total: $415,101,577

Reported Production Budget: ~$180,000,000 (Possibly up to ~$300,000,000 - ~$350,000,000 with reshoots)

Estimated Marketing Budget: ~$100,000,000 - ~$150,000,000

Estimated Total Cost: ~$280,000,000 - ~$500,000,000

Estimated Theatrical Loss/Profit: Loss of ~90,000,000 - ~$315,000,000 before ancillary revenue/tax incentives

Status: Theatrical flop

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (MCU Film)

July 25, 2025

Domestic (US & Canada) Box Office Performance: $274,286,610

International Box Office Performance: $247,572,118

Worldwide Box Office Total: $521,858,728

Reported Production Budget: ~$181,000,000 (Actual cost ~$229,600,000, tax breaks brought it down to the ~$180 million production budget I listed here)

Reported Marketing Budget: ~$170,000,000

Estimated Total Cost: ~$351,000,000

Estimated Theatrical Loss/Profit: Loss of ~$115,000,000 before ancillary revenue/tax incentives

Status: Theatrical flop

Superman (DCU Film)

July 11, 2025

Domestic (US & Canada) Box Office Performance: $354,184,465

International Box Office Performance: $262,500,000

Worldwide Box Office Total: $616,684,465

Reported Production Budget: ~$225,000,000

Reported Marketing Budget: ~$125,000,000 - ~$200,000,000

Estimated Total Cost: ~$350,000,000 - ~$425,000,000

Estimated Theatrical Loss/Profit: Loss of ~$60,000,000 - ~$135,000,000 before ancillary revenue/tax incentives

Status: Theatrical flop

It has been a rough year for big superhero movies in the theater. Even major Marvel and DC releases struggled to make enough money to cover what they cost. All four films listed made decent money at the box office, yet none of them reached their break-even point. That means the studios spent more on making and marketing these movies than they earned back in theaters. Thunderbolts* earned just over $382 million worldwide, which sounds strong at first. The problem is that the movie cost around $280 million to produce and market. With a break-even point near $425 million, it fell short and likely lost a little over $100 million in theaters. Captain America: Brave New World did a bit better, reaching about $415 million globally, but had an even bigger cost problem. Reshoots reportedly pushed the budget much higher than expected. With a total cost that may have been as high as $500 million, the movie could have lost anywhere from $90 million to more than $300 million. Even at the lowest estimate, it still counts as a flop. The Fantastic Four: First Steps had the strongest showing of the three Marvel films with a worldwide total of about $522 million. Normally that would be a success, but its costs were also very high. After tax breaks, the production budget still sat near $180 million, and marketing added around $170 million more. That left a total cost of roughly $351 million, and the film still came in below its break-even point, ending with an estimated loss of about $115 million. Even DC’s Superman, which earned the most money of all four movies at about $617 million worldwide, wasn’t able to escape the trend. With costs possibly rising to around $425 million, the film also ended up losing between $60 million and $135 million.

There is an important point to clear up about the numbers I just said. Everything I talked about earlier was only about how these movies performed in theaters. That means we were looking at ticket sales and nothing else. A movie can lose money in theaters but still earn profit later through other sources. A good example of this is Superman. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Superman made over $100 million in profit once you include ticket sales along with online home media rentals and merchandise partnerships. This shows that the full financial picture can look very different once all income streams are counted. Even with that extra money, Superman still did not earn enough in theaters alone to cover its total cost. That is why it was listed as a theatrical flop in the earlier analysis. It is also worth mentioning that both Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are getting sequels. Box office totals do not tell the whole story. Theatrical numbers show how a movie performed when it first released, but long term revenue can change how successful it really becomes.

Next year, I'll be breaking down the DCU’s Supergirl and Clayface, as well as the MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars.