(Yes, of course, there are major caveats here about the differences in moviegoing behavior in the '70s and '80s, and how per-theater averages tend to decrease as the theater count increases. So, what happens when we level the playing field by taking the inflation-adjusted per-theater average of the previous Superman movies, and plugging it into Man of Steel's astronomic theater count? Or, put another way, what if the earlier Superman movies opened in today's multiplex marketplace? Which Superman movie would end up on top? The higher the average, the busier the theater, the more popular the movie. the number that tells you roughly how packed each theater really was. There is, however, a rather imperfect solution to this problem, but it means getting pretty nerdy with box office numbers: the per-theater average, i.e. Man of Steel, meanwhile, just opened in 4,207 theaters - that's more than eight times more locations. 15, 1978, it appeared in 508 movie theaters (and ultimately expanded to 817). Consider: According to Box Office Mojo, when Superman opened on Dec. Even when adjusting for inflation, the explosion in movie theaters in the last 20 years greatly skews the numbers. But how does today's modern Superman, with his sci-fi suit and shredded pecs, compare when matched up against Christopher Reeve's classic superman of the late 1970s and 1980s? and DC Comics when considering it's more than double the opening weekend gross for the last Superman movie, Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman Returns. Man of Steel's debut is especially gratifying for Warner Bros.

Maybe this means we can finally get a Wonder Woman movie this decade? Please? The news is even better for DC Comics, which had struggled for years to establish a comic book movie franchise that didn't feature Batman while Scrooge McMarvelStudios built their giant money pit next door. That is by far director Zack Snyder's best box office take to date, reversing a sharp downward trend for the filmmaker ever since his breakout 2007 blockbuster 300. Man of Steel proved pretty damn mighty at the box office this weekend, bringing in an estimated $113.1 million - or $125.1 million when counting Thursday night promotional screenings with WalMart.

Man of steel 2013