James Gunn says ‘Superman’ is “not as big as people make it out to be”
Filmmaker James Gunn has denied claims that the upcoming new Superman movie needs to be a box office smash in order to sustain DC Studios, as he says the stakes are “not as big as people make it out to be”.
The studio head and director has attempted to douse the rumours in a recent interview with GQ alongside the film’s lead actor David Corenswet, who plays the titular superhero.
He said: “This is not the riskiest endeavour in the world,” before conceding, “Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be,” allaying fears of “superhero fatigue” at the Hollywood box office.
In an attempt to contextualise the stakes the movie will hold, Gunn reasoned: “They [the public] 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.”
Despite this, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film has accrued production costs of $225million, not including the marketing budget which allegedly nears the same total, so therefore Superman will still need to make a significant amount in order to be deemed a success.
Regarding the plot of the movie, which stars Corenswet alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luther, Gunn said previously that its principles were rooted in the stories of immigrants and the concept of “basic human kindness”, which he feels has been lost in the current social and political climate of the United States.
However, the director also sees a pressing issue with the current state of Hollywood, which he said is “dying” due to a poor quality of scripts being produced.
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