James Gunn’s $618M Sci-Fi Hit Is Officially One Of The Biggest Movies In The World On Netflix

Published Sep 21, 2026, 1:11 PM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

James Gunn is taking over Netflix's charts with a sci-fi fantasy movie that has already proved itself a massive franchise starter. Gunn has traversed many different genres, finding success in horror, comedy, sci-fi and more. That said, Gunn's most popular movies to date are in the superhero genre, which mixes elements of sci-fi and fantasy to huge box office success. Gunn initially made his home at Marvel Studios, where he helmed the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, making an unknown group of aliens and a single human some of the most popular superheroes in the world. Gunn also directed a Disney+ Special Presentation.

After that, he moved over to lead DC Studios alongside fellow co-CEO Peter Safran, announcing his plans for the new DC Universe, which would begin with the DCU Chapter One, titled "Gods and Monsters." Since then, Gunn has been hard at work crafting this shared universe that is closer to the spirit and tone of the comics than the DCEU movie timeline. Gunn has helmed projects like the animated Creature Commandos, John Cena's Peacemaker season 2, and the 2025 Superman movie starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel. Now, Superman has become a global streaming sensation on Netflix a year later.

James Gunn's Superman Is Soaring On A New Streaming Platform

At the time of writing, Superman stands as the 7th most-watched movie on Netflix worldwide, according to FlixPatrol. This is a huge development for the first movie in Gunn's DC Universe, as Superman is now trending at a different streaming home. After all, Superman is available on streaming in the United States on HBO Max, not Netflix. However, the DC film has arrived on the streamer in several countries, and it is performing well. Gunn's Superman ranks higher on Netflix than movies like the animated The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants and the hit rom-com Crazy Rich Asians.

The streamer's global chart is currently led by the new Netflix Original movie Best of the Best. As for Superman, the DC film is trending on Netflix in 19 countries. Out of those, Superman is the streamer's most-watched movie in 9 nations, including Australia, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, and Sweden. Superman's streaming resurgence on Netflix comes at a time when DC is dominating streaming, as Milly Alcock's Supergirl movie, which also features Corenswet's Superman, is the most-watched movie on HBO Max in the world, per FlixPatrol. It arrived on September 10, the same day Krypto Saves the Day! Season 2 premiered on HBO Max.

How Did It Set Up The DC Universe

Via MovieStillsDB

Superman was the first movie in the DCU and its first major release, as the animated TV-MA Creature Commandos, the first release in the shared universe, was a more experimental project. As such, Superman did a lot of the heavy lifting in setting up the franchise, introducing not only the Superman family of characters, but also the concept of the Justice Gang, a Justice League prototype with heroes like Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern, and establishing interdimensional travel in the DCU.

With a box office total of $618.7 million, Superman was a major hit, and it trends on Netflix a year before 2027's Man of Tomorrow builds up on its foundation.