The producers of James Gunn’s latest theatrical version of Superman asked reviewers not to release their thoughts on the film until Tuesday, but several outlets ignored the demand and posted their reviews early. And some don’t bode well for the film.
Popular website The Daily Beast, for instance released a damning piece entitled, The Terrible New ‘Superman’ Movie Is the Final Nail in the Grave for the Superhero Genre, before pulling it down not long after it went live.
The Beast’s review, by writer Nick Schager, tears the film to pieces, calling it “superficial,” “overstuffed,” and even “silly.”
“The movie lacks emotional depth and feels superficial and silly, much like the criticized versions of Justice League,” Schager exclaimed.
In the U.K. The Sunday Times also broke the review embargo, but the paper’s review was far more positive, calling the film a “triumph.” On the other hand, Variety’s reviewer tweeted that the film is not that great, though he didn’t post a full review yet, Forbes reported.
The film is crucially important for the DC Universe of films as Gunn’s Superman is supposed to serve as a total re-boot of DC’s struggling superhero film franchise, which to date has not been able to capture the success of its rival, Marvel.
There are warning signs, though. Many have pointed out that the cost of the film is going to make it difficult for Superman to recoup its budget. According to some sources, with a $225 million production budget, the film will have to make more than $500 million to break even and $700 million to start getting into the profit zone.
Director James Gunn, though strenuously disputes this claim.
Gunn is calling the $700 million target claim a bunch of “nonsense.”
“Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be,” Gunn said, according to Variety. “They hear these numbers that the movie’s only going to be successful if it makes $700 million or something and it’s just complete and utter nonsense. It doesn’t need to be as big of a situation as people are saying.”
Still, the film is important to DC’s future. If Superman bombs, the prospects for the already filmed and nearly completed follow-up, Supergirl, will definitely be dimer. And the chances of producing the other films, such as a new Batman and Wonder Woman, will be cast into doubt.
Superman has already stirred controversy. Last week, the film’s star, actor David Corenswet, raised eyebrows by refusing to repeat the words “the American way,” when he invoked the long-time Superman motto, “Fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.” In place of the American way, Corenswet said “and good stuff.”
Director Gunn also blurted out some controversial remarks by insisting that his film is all about politics and immigration, and to those “jerks” who don’t like that, he said “screw them.”
This is the same man who was fired by Disney after a decade’s worth of tweets he wrote about child rape, Mexicans, AIDS, and the Holocaust went viral; who said “Trump wakes up every morning hoping more kids are murdered by immigrants so it will help him in the polls”; who called Sen. Ted Cruz a “traitor;” who peddled the Trump “pee tape” hoax; and who said in 2023 “there is such a thing as superhero fatigue,” is now telling a large segment of America that his new superhero movie might not be for them.
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