‘Superman’ Reignites Interest in ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Peacemaker’

Now that Superman is out in theaters, audiences have come out of it wanting to see more of him. And what better place to get more of Supes than HBO Max?

According to a recent Deadline report, viewership for Man of Steel, the 1978 Superman, and the Christopher Reeve documentary Super/Man have all received massive viewership spikes in the past week. Where Steel’s week-over-week viewership grew by 218% and Superman: The Movie by 322%, Super/Man had the biggest growth at 1,206%. All three make sense: Man of Steel was the last solo Supes movie, and James Gunn’s film is courting fans who saw and loved the Reeve films.

Interestingly, this knockback effect has also hit Peacemaker, Gunn’s TV spinoff for The Suicide Squad. The show’s second season arrives in August, and in light of the film’s cameos featuring John Cena’s titular antihero and Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., viewership grew 91% week-over-week for season one. Deadline’s report only mentions that show and three films, so it’s difficult to know how or if other pieces of Superman media like Creature Commandos and the unconnected Superman & Lois and My Adventures with Superman—or heck, even Smallville and Superman Returns—got spikes of their own.

Regardless, it’s certainly another point in the win column for Warner Bros. and the superhero himself. Between this and the news of rising interest in adopting dogs, it’s safe to say Superman’s impact extends beyond making money. (Which it continues to do.)

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