Warner Bros promoted the movie like crazy. The fact that Christopher Nolan was producing and Zack Snyder was directing also helped and it looked like it had the serious tone of recent superhero movies but plenty of action as well.
This movie is actually getting a positive response from movie goers unlike Superman Returns.
Superman Returns gets paid dust now because it deserves it. How were they going to start a movie franchise off an uninteresting Superman dealing with baby mama drama? Psssh.
Man of Steel is an excellent beginning to what could be a fantastic trilogy.
Promo
Chris Nolan is the producer
I think people wanted to see a grittier Superman
People are jumping on the Henry Cavill bandwagon
While it has mixed reception, the viewers seem to enjoy it a lot more than Superman Returns.
Henry Cavill