Does Superman Hype Equal Sales?

If you watch TV, read the paper, or otherwise pay attention to any kind of media, you know that a new Superman movie is coming out. Superman Returns starts hitting theaters tomorrow, and with the hype machine going full-bore, I wondered what the interest level was like on the site.

Turns out that people definitely have taken an interest in Superman lately, at least in regards to the movies. In the last two weeks, sales of Superman items in the DVDs & Movies categories, according to eBay Marketplace Research, have jumped around 75% compared to their levels in mid-May. And Brandon Routh has enjoyed a similar spike - he's the guy playing the new Superman. Granted, the total number of his items sold isn't that high because he wasn't all that well known prior to this role, but still, he was cruising along at about 40 items a week (give or take) over the last few months. In the last two weeks? That total has gone up, up and away to around 150 per. Even Christopher Reeve items (he played the Man of Steel in the films from the '80s) have jumped by about 50% in the last two weeks.

So is everything related to Superman spiking? Kevin Spacey (he's playing Lex Luthor) and Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane) both saw their sold items jump a little bit, but not hugely. And fortunately, Superman's popularity isn't taking away from other franchises. DVDs & Movies sales for Batman and Spiderman have stayed roughly steady.