The release of Superman this summer was a significant win for Warner Bros. and DC Studios, proving their new cinematic universe strategy was working. The James Gunn-directed film performed well in theaters, earning over $350 million domestically and more than $615 million worldwide. After premiering in July, it became available for streaming on HBO Max in September and quickly became one of the platform’s most popular movies, frequently reaching the #1 spot. However, the film’s viewership has recently declined.
Superman became available on HBO Max on September 19th, ten weeks after its initial release in theaters. For the past six weeks, it’s consistently been popular on the platform, even reaching the number one spot at times. However, with the arrival of Halloween last week and the end of October, viewers seemed to lose interest in the film.
Horror Movies Over Halloween Weekend Finally Defeat Superman
As a big movie fan, I noticed something interesting on HBO Max recently. Superman actually dropped out of the Top 10 most-watched films on October 29th, and it hasn’t been able to get back up there since. It wasn’t necessarily because a new blockbuster arrived – though Zach Cregger’s Weapons did jump right to number one – it was all about Halloween! Once October and spooky season really hit their stride, everyone just started watching horror movies instead, and Superman got pushed down the list.
As of today, Weapons is still the most popular movie on HBO Max, holding the #1 spot since its release just before Halloween. Horror films dominate the rest of the top 10, with IT (2017) and IT: Chapter Two (2019) at #2 and #3. Following those are more scary movies: The Curse of the Necklace, The Substance, and Dreamcatcher. Rounding out the top 10 are a few unexpected hits, including the 2017 film Life and the first two Harry Potter movies.
Despite its initial popularity, Superman’s performance on streaming platforms has recently dipped. According to FlixPatrol, which monitors streaming trends, the movie only made it into the top 10 across all platforms once in the last week—a rare occurrence since its online release. Weapons remained the most popular movie, followed by Netflix’s A House of Dynamite. Horror films dominated the rest of the top spots, with John Carpenter’s Halloween at number three. Other horror titles like Sinners, The Black Phone, Bring Her Back, 28 Years Later, and even It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown also saw increased viewership. The only non-horror film besides A House of Dynamite to make the top 10 was another Netflix original, Ballad of a Small Player.
What does Superman’s recent performance mean overall? Honestly, not a lot. Two main factors held the movie back. First, audiences tend to focus on what’s new, and Superman had already been popular on HBO Max for weeks – something most films don’t achieve. Second, the time of year meant viewers were looking for different types of movies, and Superman didn’t quite fit the bill. This is a normal pattern, and it doesn’t suggest declining interest in the DC Universe. It’s simply how trends work, and we’ll likely see the same thing happen as Thanksgiving approaches and people start craving Christmas movies.
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2025-11-04 00:20