US$ 160M
More than 100 promotional partners
In June 2013, Ad Age, an American magazine that covers advertising, counted more than 100 promotional partners around the world for Man of Steel, totaling around US$160 million in marketing support. Nokia was the biggest of them, and next to it were Walmart, Sears, Chrysler, Gillette, Kellogg, Twizzler, Carl's Jr. and even the United States National Guard. To give you an idea of size: The Lorax, the previous year's partnership champion, had 70.
This money did not go into the film's budget, as many people repeat. This is what each partner spent on their campaign with the Superman brand. In practice, Warner won a second marketing campaign without paying for it.
Source: Ad Age 06/03/2013 / TIME 06/04/2013
CONFIRMED US$ 170M
The Other Count, from the Hollywood Reporter
Three days after Ad Age, the Hollywood Reporter published the same story with different numbers: 98 partners worldwide and around $170 million in support. And the THR text highlighted the detail that almost everyone ignores, that this support comes on top of paid advertising, and not within it. Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, the previous summer, had grossed $150 million.
The two counts are of the same phenomenon, measured on different dates and using the criteria of each house. Warner never commented on either number.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter 06/06/2013
CONFIRMED US$ 42.7M
What's left for Warner?
Every year, Deadline sets up a tournament that calculates the real profit of major releases, adding budget, marketing, participation, DVD, VOD and TV. In the 2013 account, published in March 2014, Man of Steel returned US$42.7 million to the studio. It's small for the size of the film, but it's blue: it paid for itself and also planted the entire universe that would come later.
Source: Deadline 03/21/2014
CONFIRMED US$ 225M to 258M
The budget has two accounts
The official number is US$225 million, which is what is on Box Office Mojo's record along with the US$670.1 million at the global box office. But analysts interviewed by Deadline in 2014 put the real cost at US$258 million, plus US$58 million in participation for people like Nolan, Costner, Crowe, Amy Adams, Snyder and Cavill.
Both numbers exist and come from a serious source. The first is what is declared by the studio, the second is the estimate of those who model production costs from the outside.
Source: Box Office Mojo 09/17/2026 / Deadline 03/21/2014
PARTLY 
