A few days ago, I reported about a lack of enthusiasm that seemed to have greeted a recent screening of James Gunn’s “Superman.” I was just relying on reports, from a handful of insiders, and sadly, word of mouth coming out of the screenings just wasn’t very good.
Here’s another reaction, from a trusted source of mine, who attended a California screening of the film. He seems rather annoyed by the unusually high screentime of Superman’s dog, Krypto. Overall, the story fell flat for him.
It also sounds like Gunn, no doubt due to studio feedback, has now shaved off some 20 minutes from the previously screened cut, which occurred back in March. The film now has a runtime of just a little under 2 hours.
Here’s the reaction:
I thought it was a real mixed bag. The audience reaction was mixed-to-negative. A genuinely earnest comic book movie in the sense that it plays out as a week with Superman when he’s at a crossroads about what his purpose is, with scandals about him plaguing the media and his relationships being tested by the boundaries between being Clark and Superman. One thing I did find a bit confusing was how big a part Krypto was to the film. He brings humor and heart, but it’s almost jarring at times how much it feels like a “Superman Krypto” movie. The action felt a little lackluster, but I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve been over saturated with comic book CGI slog, but the set pieces at least looked interesting. There’s definitely a lot going on for a movie that’s two hours. A good amount of table setting, very much in the vein of the MCU. I really wanted to like it. I quite liked Gunn’s last two movies, but this felt like a mix of both, with the charm lacking a bit.
I had previously spoken to a few attendees of this very screening, and not one had a positive reaction to the film, which begs me to ask: is Warner Bros now in full-blown panic mode when it comes to “Superman”?
A few weeks ago, a report indicated that “Superman,” or at least the cut shown on the Warner lot, was “kind of a mess.” It went on to claim that Warner was indeed starting to get “nervous” about the $200M+ film.
It’s not even the budget that Warners should be “nervous” about. If “Superman” fails then Gunn’s planned DCU could very well crumble alongside it. Warner is betting all of its chips on this one movie to kickstart a new era of superhero movies for them. They want their own MCU, but with superhero fatigue in full throttle, their timing to launch the DCU might not be in their favor.