Man of Steel opens in theaters today, and we’re taking a look at whether director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot will be a summer blockbuster or a superhero bust.

It’s no surprise that Warner Bros. is hoping that Man of Steel will start a franchise similar to director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, and of course, Nolan was even the producer for Man of Steel. Director Zack Snyder took the reigns for the Superman reboot, and it was certainly an interesting choice for the studio seeing as Snyder’s films such as 300 and Watchmen, while massively popular with his fans, haven’t been as financially successful as one would hope – especially considering WB hopes that Man of Steel will start a franchise that may end up leading into a Justice League film in an attempt to mirror its massively successful counterpart The Avengers.

Starting with the film’s actors, we can’t imagine Zack Snyder could have put together a more suitable cast. Henry Cavill as Superman was a great choice considering he’s still fairly unknown, which allows the audience to see him as Superman and not fall into a trap of seeing him as a previous character that he’s played.

Amy Adams as Lois Lane is not only an interesting choice, but she’s also one incredible actress – possibly one of the most talented actors of the last decade. We also have the age defying Diane Lane as Superman’s Earth mother, and Kevin Costner as his Earth father.

These are not only veteran actors, but they certainly feel like the perfect Earth parents for Superman as they embody the midwestern family that Clark gains his core human values.

The big casting surprises in Man of Steel were Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. Crowe as Superman’s alien father is spot on, though the actor has said, essentially, throughout his entire career not to look for him in any comic book movies because he never intended on doing any. He’s stated that Man of Steel’s story is what peaked his interest in the role as Jor-El, and his two young children were the deciding factor on whether he would join the film for the role of Superman’s biological father.

Not only does Crowe look the part, but in an only Hollywood-like story, he had given a 16-year-old Henry Cavill acting advice when they met up on a film set over a decade ago. When Henry was an extra on one of Russell Crowe’s films, he asked him for some advice about a career in acting. While He gave him some words of wisdom there, Cavill would later receive a package from Russell Crowe with a note attached which read, “Dear Henry, a journey of 1,000 miles begins in a single step. Russell.” It seemed as if these two talented actors were destined to meet again, and what better way than to play an alien father and son superhero duo.

Michael Shannon was another great choice, as he’s not only a striking looking actor, but he’s also an untapped talent that often goes unnoticed in films. He’s one of those actors that you are almost always impressed with (Revolutionary Road, Premium Rush, 8 Mile), but rarely does the average moviegoer recall his name when they see him on the silver screen.

This allows him to play a menacing General Zod, and because of this, it may forever change that whole “actor no-name” situation once he threatens audiences around the globe in Man of Steel this weekend in what will undoubtedly become an unforgettable role.

Let’s get the reviews out of the way. So far Man of Steel’s reviews are surprisingly quite mixed, even more so than we would have imagined. Most fans were under the impression that if the film was good, we would be seeing great scores across the board, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Film review aggregate RottenTomatoes has Man of Steel at a 62% at the time of this editorial. This is a bit surprising as it seems the film appears to be polarizing audiences. One would imagine if Snyder nailed Superman, that we’d be seeing four and five star reviews, but sometimes taking reviews from one site isn’t always the most successful way to go about deciding whether to throw your money behind a movie.

Superman has possibly one of the most diverse audiences of any superhero character in history. Nearly every kid growing up wants to be Superman, and every woman believes him to be the perfect man, no matter what the generation. This leads one to believe that if the movie is even somewhat worth watching that we’d be seeing some very solid reviews. This has caused us to scratch our heads a bit.

Man of Steel cost a reported $225 million to produce, which is a hell of a lot of money even in 2013, and what’s interesting is through commercial and endorsement deals, it’s already recouped $170 million of that back. What this means is companies believe that associating their products with Man of Steel is a wise business choice – and it probably will be no matter how the movie eventually turns out.

Superman has always been the more wholesome superhero, which lends well to product placement and family-friendly marketing. But, does this mean that the movie will end up being good?

It certainly isn’t a guarantee, as we know nothing is guaranteed in Hollywood. Marvel’s Iron Man 3 came out recently and has pulled in nearly $1.2 billion at the box office, which is surprising considering fans were also split about whether it was of similar quality as its predecessor/sequel The Avengers. But, Star Trek Into Darkness recently released to very positive reviews and has barely broken even domestically so far. Both of these films were sequels within a franchise, yet both resulted in totally different outcomes at the box office. So what exactly does it take to pull in those impressive billion dollar box office numbers?

Is it simply effective marketing on a massive scale? Is it a leading man/woman which the studio knows will put people in the seats? There doesn’t seem to be an exact formula for a billion dollar movie just yet. It’s hard to dispute though that, lately, if you put Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp in a lead role and throw a couple hundred million into CGI, you will probably end up with a billion dollars at the box office. Man of Steel only has half of that: Cavill isn’t exactly a household name yet, and a couple hundred million in CGI, which according to reviews makes it sound like they’ve used the money wisely and the aerial fight sequences are breathtaking and reportedly an IMAX-must-see.

What’s so intriguing is that there just isn’t a guarantee that Man of Steel will see a billion dollars at the box office, or whether it even deserves it. Maybe the public is growing tired of superheroes, but then why did Iron Man 3 make more money than the first two of the same franchise put together? It’s the billion dollar question, and studio executives are probably wracking their brains about how they can perfect that formula.

The fact is, despite the hundreds of Man of Steel TV spots that have run through the record breaking NBA finals and the massive online presence of the film in the last few months, we have no idea if it will end up paying off dividends. Or if the $225 million dollar film budget will even be visible on screen when audiences head to the theaters this weekend. All the cast and crew can do is hope that the average moviegoer has the $10-15 bucks to spare for a ticket, and feel like getting out of the hot sun for 2 hours and 20 minutes of air conditioning and overpriced popcorn in hopes of experiencing something exciting once again at the theater.

Has Warner Bros. figured out the billion dollar blockbuster formula with Man of Steel? We’re not quite sure yet, but we definitely plan on seeing if they’ve been able to make us believe a man can truly fly again this weekend.