James Gunn Pushes Back on High Superman Box Office Expectations As “Nonsense” (but Why?)

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“This is not the riskiest endeavor in the world,” Gunn said. “Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be. 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.”

The latest report from The Wrap estimates that Superman will debut somewhere between $125 and $145 million domestically, which would be a pretty healthy return opening weekend. There have also been previous reports regarding how important Superman is to Warner Bros. and DC Studios as a whole, but as James mentioned in his response, those are perhaps overblown. Granted, it is still important for Superman to do well at the box office, but it doesn’t need to hit a billion to be considered a success either.

Another element of this Superman is that it steps into a new era of DC superhero stories on the big screen, leaving the previous era in the rearview. During a previous interview with EW about 10 years ago, David Corenswet revealed his dream role was actually Superman, and also sort of predicted that things would move from the darker elements of the Zack Snyder universe to a brighter place and tone. Looking back on that, he isn’t thrilled with his answer, as it’s important for franchises to try different things, especially with characters that have been around for decades.

“I think that’s the least interesting thing I could have said,” Corenswet said. “Simply because with a great character like Superman, you want great artists and writers and actors to explore all of the possibilities of them. The one way they become boring is if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again. And so, just like Chris Nolan took Batman and did something darker and more grounded with the character, Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill explored a side of Superman that hadn’t been explored on the big screen. So, all I was saying was they’re doing it so well. Whenever they’re finished, I’d love to see the next one go the other way, and let’s see the other side. In the same way, after Chris Nolan’s Batman films and after Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson, there are a lot of people who are like, Where’s our funny, campy, fantastical Batman?”

As for reprising the role, Corenswet keeps it all in perspective, and couldn’t be more thrilled to be living out this dream in whichever form it may take. “Ultimately, what I landed on for myself was, if this is the only role I get to play for the rest of my life, and that means whether I get to play it once or get to play it 10 times, would I still say yes? And the answer was yes.”

Superman soars into theaters on July 11th.

Are you excited for Superman, and what elements do you think are most critical to a good Superman film? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things DC and Superman with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!