James Gunn is currently filming “Superman” in Ohio. A ton of set pictures have leaked online, giving us a closer glimpse at David Corenswet’s “Man of Steel.” You can see some of them below this post.
I have no idea what the budget is for Gunn’s film, but it’s not much of a stretch to call this one a major gamble. A Columbus Business Journal entry had the film costing $363M to produce, but Gunn quickly denied that number. Gunn’s entire, and newly refurbished, DCU is betting hard on “Superman” to succeed at the box-office.
Generally, the budget for superhero films can be anywhere between $150 million to $200 million. Some films have gone over that, most notably the last two ‘Avengers’ movies which cost anywhere between $350-400 million to produce.
The last two ‘Superman’ films, 2006’s “Superman Returns” and 2013’s “Man of Steel,” had production budgets in the $200 million range. More recently, “Justice League” was made for $300 million. So, it’s not too crazy to believe that Gunn’s take on the character could be higher than those decade(s) old movies.
The amount of pressure Gunn has in making “Superman” is unheard of. Warner and David Zaslav are betting all their chips on Gunn’s DCEU and if it gets off to a rocky start then heads will have to roll. I also do wonder if there is a massive audience for Superman, which has been rebooted a few times already, to mixed results. Batman and Spider-Man seem to be the more popular comic book characters for movie audiences.
The “Superman” actors recently united for a cast photo during a script read. The film, which started production in March, is set to star Corenswet, Rachel Bronahan, Nicholas Hoult, Skyler Gisondo, Anthony Carrigan and Isabela Merced. The film will be released worldwide July 11, 2025
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.