"I'm incredibly grateful for your enthusiasm and kind words over the past few days," Gunn wrote in an Instagram Threads post following the film's successful opening weekend

Writer and director James Gunn is celebrating after Superman — the first film under his watch as DC Studios launches its Gods and Monsters phase — soared to a US$122 million box office opening at North American movie theatres over the weekend.

Director Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, which premiered in 1978, is a classic piece of cinema that continues to shape the superhero genre today. Most recently, it led the way for writer-director James Gunn to release Superman, a more modern imagining of the Man of Steel’s adventures, with David Corenswet portraying the titular hero.