There was no reason to further take digs at “Supergirl,” which sits at 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and had a paltry $125M worldwide haul—the lowest-grossing DC film since “Catwoman” (2004). However, now it’s back in the spotlight, yet again being dunked on—and Warner Bros. could have easily prevented this.
The latest gut punch against this movie centers on an officially released Warner Bros. featurette showing director Craig Gillespie and Jason Momoa discussing Lobo designs that appear to have been generated using AI. This has led many to question why AI was used to develop a character with five decades of established comic-book artwork. It’s also leading people to theorize about whether AI was used more broadly on the film.
Warner Bros. has not released a statement on the matter and instead took the video down, but that’s not before the clip went viral this afternoon—it’s everywhere now.
The controversy is now fueling broader criticism of the film’s visual style and the role AI might have secretly played in DC Studios’ creative process as a whole. So, just to recap, not only was “Supergirl” visually bland, with a weak screenplay and direction, but it now has to face conspiracy theories that it sucked because of AI.
A year ago, DCU Studios chief James Gunn responded to an AI-generated “Superman” trailer with three vomiting emojis and emphasized the importance of giving human VFX artists the time and respect to do their work properly. “I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve,” Gunn said, underscoring his preference for a human-led creative process. What does he think about his own studio using it?
This comes a few months after that whole Martin Scorsese controversy, which had the filmmaker endorsing AI for storyboarding. This is only further evidence that, despite severe online backlash, AI is becoming more of a norm in Hollywood, and the industry is gonna continue using it in secret until it becomes less taboo.
It seems as though every week, another actor, director, or studio comes out of the woodwork in favor of AI. More recently, A24 positioned itself in favor of the technology. Last week, it was George Lucas, and this week, it was Brad Pitt. Who’s next?
For those who enjoyed “Supergirl” so much that they absolutely want to own it on physical media, it is now available digitally and arriving on 4K Blu-ray September 8.
Given the low budget, “Ebenezer” will probably amount to a win for Depp. For West, I hope this was a one-time paycheck before he goes back to R-rated filmmaking.