Warner Bros. Discovery’s Superman reboot took flight at the box office its opening weekend, generating $125 million in domestic ticket sales and ranking as 2025’s third-largest film debut so far. And ahead of the weekend’s theatrical release, the company leaned into Roku’s connected TV interface to drum up interest and promote the DC comic book-based superhero movie, which represents the first title in WBD’s broader effort to revive the DC Universe franchise.
WBD and DC Studios had a lot riding on the success of the James Gunn-directed Superman, which according to Variety, cost $225 million to produce and roughly $100 million to promote.
Some of those promotional dollars landed on Roku, which counts a streaming household base of more than 90 million. Before the film’s July 11 opener, WBD teed up a custom campaign and CTV takeover that featured several first-to-market elements on Roku.
Here’s how WBD levered the Roku TVOS interface to promote the movie:
- Search platform takeover: Last week, Roku’s search experience featured branded elements tied to the theatrical release of Superman – a first ever for Roku. That included a Superman logo next to the Search tab on the home screen and a branded pinned row on the Search homepage. Additionally, Roku’s home screen featured a branded theme for the film.
- Promoted search row: A Superman-branded row appearing in Roku’s search results, triggered by relevant and custom user queries like “Look Up,” – directing fans to a dedicated destination on Roku featuring trailers and exclusive behind-the-scenes content for the film.
- Voice search integration: The campaign also involved a custom voice search integration, allowing viewers to say prompts like “Look Up” through Roku’s voice-enabled remote and jump directly to the promoted search and dedicated film destination on devices.
It’s not the first time WBD turned to a TVOS partner for custom, on-device integrations to promote upcoming theatrical films. Last year it teamed up with Vizio on a special custom sponsorship integration that leveraged the home screen and content hubs to promote the release of Tim Burton’s BeetleJuice BeetleJuice film, including voice-activated features and the ability to buy tickets for opening weekend.
Success of the Superman reboot, under the leadership of Gunn and Peter Safran, is good news for WBD – which separately is splitting its studios and streaming businesses from traditional linear networks into two distinct entities – as it marks the start of a 10-year plan to revitalize the DC Universe franchise after an earlier string of film misses.
“Three years ago, I hired James Gunn and Peter Safran to reimagine and unify the creative direction of DC under one leadership team,” said WBD CEO and President David Zaslav in a statement published by Variety.
Added Jeff Goldstein, WBD global distribution president, in a separate statement to The Hollywood Reporter, “What we always hoped to achieve with Superman was winning back the trust of our DC fans and indeed they have enthusiastically embraced our first entry in an exciting new theatrical universe.”
And the media company has additional DC titles in the pipe.
“Superman is just the first step. Over the next year alone, DC Studios will introduce the films Supergirl and Clayface in theaters and the series Lanterns on HBO Max, all part of a bold ten-year plan,” Zaslav said in a statement provided to industry trade publications. “The DC vision is clear, the momentum is real, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.”