James Gunn's Superman (DCU) - 2025

[Xenon]

8.5 out of 10. Really enjoyed it. Ties with Superman 2 for me. The IMAX Laser was amazing.

[DocM]

I'm anchored - will have to stream, whenever 

Family really enjoyed it. and it shows the  essential Superman characteristics 

Selflessness 

Empathetic

Never give up

He's sometimes corny, a Kansas country boy at heart. Gosh, golly, etc.

There is humor

Christopher Reeve had them, and now it appears David Corenswet has them too.  

[Xenon]

Superman’ smashes box office expectations, soaring towards $130 million opening

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/business/superman-box-office-opening

 

You could say that it had a super opening. 

[George P Global Moderator]

On 13/07/2025 at 04:39, Xenon said:

Superman’ smashes box office expectations, soaring towards $130 million opening

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/business/superman-box-office-opening

 

You could say that it had a super opening. 

Good, I hope it makes it to $1billion so the haters can go crawl under their self-made rocks until the next DC movie comes up, supergirl in this case, and we hear from them again probably.

[+thexfile Subscriber²]

The movie is geared towards families. Out of 10, I give it 5.

I'm getting tired of the superhero format.

[dwd999]

Saw it last night; it was OK; maybe 6 out of 10. I'm not familiar enough with the comics to be familiar with the other Justice Gang characters or the pocket universe so that part was boring. Its really just rehashing the same tired concepts, Lois, evil Lex, Daily Planet. They just updated it with stuff about selfies, Jimmy Olsen posting stuff on the web, and the dog, etc. David Corenswet will be the second most likeable after Christopher Reeve. Unfortunately I'm old enough to have seen the original 1950's TV shows so this doesn't do much for me. Zack Snyder did it better.

[DocM]

On 13/07/2025 at 16:04, dwd999 said:

Saw it last night; it was OK; maybe 6 out of 10. I'm not familiar enough with the comics to be familiar with the other Justice Gang characters or the pocket universe so that part was boring. Its really just rehashing the same tired concepts, Lois, evil Lex, Daily Planet. They just updated it with stuff about selfies, Jimmy Olsen posting stuff on the web, and the dog, etc. 

Krypto was introduced in 1955. 

On 13/07/2025 at 16:04, dwd999 said:

David Corenswet will be the second most likeable after Christopher Reeve. Unfortunately I'm old enough to have seen the original 1950's TV shows so this doesn't do much for me. Zack Snyder did it better.

No, he didn't. He took the tone of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and tried to apply it to Superman - which traditionally has a completely different approach.

The old nickname for Superman was the Big Blue Boy Scout, which Snyder completely ignored. Note that in this film Green Lantern calls Superman Big Blue. That was not an accident.

Also remember that Clark Kent was raised by Methodists, Jonathan and Martha Kent. Methodists are big on doing good works.

Edited July 13, 2025 by DocM

[George P Global Moderator]

On 14/07/2025 at 01:57, DocM said:

Krypto was introduced in 1955. 

No, he didn't. He took the tone of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy and tried to apply it to Superman - which traditionally has a completely different approach.

The old nickname for Superman was the Big Blue Boy Scout, which Snyder completely ignored. Note that in this film Green Lantern calls Superman Big Blue. That was not an accident.

Also remember that Clark Kent was raised by Methodists, Jonathan and Martha Kent. Methodists are big on doing good works.

Pretty spot on, this vs MoS is night and day.  Only thing I think Zack got right is the super fast fighting elements.  But that's more his style of film making.

[DocM]

I'm also surprised at how many people did not know about Krypto

Krypton had a canine breed similar to Jack Russell terriers; 250 kt of energy with a rocket stuck up its ass and no sense of responsibility.

Both Jor--El*  and his brother Zor-El** have been depicted as using Krypto as test subject on a prototype flight of their child's escape pod. Neither made it back to Krypton before it was destroyed. 

 * Father of Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman

** Father of Kara Zor-El/Kara (or Linda) Danvers/Supergirl   

 

[hellowalkman Reporter]

On 13/07/2025 at 07:09, Xenon said:

Superman’ smashes box office expectations, soaring towards $130 million opening

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/business/superman-box-office-opening

 

You could say that it had a super opening. 

doing poorly internationally at many places  

[DocM]

On 14/07/2025 at 15:34, hellowalkman said:

doing poorly internationally at many places  

Want a mindbender? Try the series Superman: Red Son

Superman lands in Ukraine, not Kansas 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Red_Son

 

[George P Global Moderator]

Final weekend numbers are in, $125mil domestic, $220mil global.  Solid start, and the review scores are holding/stable as well, even better.  Now to see what sort of legs it has.

Even if it doesn't hit $1bil, it's a success IMO.  I expect around the $700m mark at least.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 14/07/2025 at 23:46, DocM said:

Want a mindbender? Try the series Superman: Red Son

Superman lands in Ukraine, not Kansas 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Red_Son

 

The comic series that is, the TV movie just didn’t quite hit home for me

[Innervisions33]

I saw it on opening day... it's good, but I was disappointed that it was such a James Gunn movie.  I think I just expected something else, something more, something a touch more serious... even while knowing who was directing it and his style.  It's absolutely worth seeing on the big screen.

[hagjohn]

I did not like this movie. This movie had level of unseriousness about this movie that the other Superman movies did not have. Seemed to me that the heroes were the comic relief. I would have rather seen another Cavill movie. 4 out of 10.

Spoiler

Supergirl is a druggie. What is up with that?

 

[Xenon]

On 14/07/2025 at 18:46, DocM said:

Want a mindbender? Try the series Superman: Red Son

Superman lands in Ukraine, not Kansas 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Red_Son

 

Red Son is one of my favorite comics. The way that superman and lex as president are written is amazing. Damn. Now I am gonna have to read that today. So much for cleaning. 

[Xenon]

Holy Guacamole! Their is a red son animated movie!!!!! How did I miss that! 

 

[Alpha_Tay]

Typically, a film’s stars earn the top salaries. But in this case, Gunn was by far the highest earner, pulling down 20 times more than David Corenswet (Superman/Clark Kent) and Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), who each earned $750,000 to Gunn’s $15 million, according to sources (Gunn also draws a seven-figure salary as the studio’s top executive).

And Nicholas Hoult, who plays archvillain Lex Luthor, nabbed a $2 million payday. Although Warner Bros. has sequel options on Corenswet and Brosnahan, a sequel announcement does not appear to be imminent. Instead, sources say the studio is fast-tracking a “Wonder Woman” movie. And the studio is thrilled with Matt Reeves’ just-submitted screenplay draft for the sequel to “The Batman.”

A New Day for DC: Breaking Down ‘Superman’ Salaries, Budgets and More as Studio Fast-Tracks ‘Wonder Woman’ and Its Future

By 

Tatiana Siegel

Jul 16, 2025 9:30am PT

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/superman-success-budget-cast-salaries-1236462393/

[FloatingFatMan]

On 13/07/2025 at 10:44, George P said:

Good, I hope it makes it to $1billion so the haters can go crawl under their self-made rocks until the next DC movie comes up, supergirl in this case, and we hear from them again probably.

I really don't get why people are hating on it.  I've not seen it myself so don't really have an opinion yet, but are they hating on it because it's a bad movie, or are they just raging because Cavil was replaced?

I wasn't personally SUPER (  ) impressed by the trailer, and I'm rather sick of superhero movies now,  but I'm not going to hate on a movie until I've seen it at least... Sadly that will have to wait until it reaches digital or blu ray release as I can't do cinemas...

[George P Global Moderator]

On 16/07/2025 at 22:41, FloatingFatMan said:

I really don't get why people are hating on it.  I've not seen it myself so don't really have an opinion yet, but are they hating on it because it's a bad movie, or are they just raging because Cavil was replaced?

I wasn't personally SUPER (  ) impressed by the trailer, and I'm rather sick of superhero movies now,  but I'm not going to hate on a movie until I've seen it at least... Sadly that will have to wait until it reaches digital or blu ray release as I can't do cinemas...

I don't know, I think it's just hold outs from the Snyder fans having a hissy fit.  If you go with the scores, it's a solid movie.   

[George P Global Moderator]

On 16/07/2025 at 21:28, Alpha_Tay said:

Typically, a film’s stars earn the top salaries. But in this case, Gunn was by far the highest earner, pulling down 20 times more than David Corenswet (Superman/Clark Kent) and Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), who each earned $750,000 to Gunn’s $15 million, according to sources (Gunn also draws a seven-figure salary as the studio’s top executive).

And Nicholas Hoult, who plays archvillain Lex Luthor, nabbed a $2 million payday. Although Warner Bros. has sequel options on Corenswet and Brosnahan, a sequel announcement does not appear to be imminent. Instead, sources say the studio is fast-tracking a “Wonder Woman” movie. And the studio is thrilled with Matt Reeves’ just-submitted screenplay draft for the sequel to “The Batman.”

A New Day for DC: Breaking Down ‘Superman’ Salaries, Budgets and More as Studio Fast-Tracks ‘Wonder Woman’ and Its Future

By 

Tatiana Siegel

Jul 16, 2025 9:30am PT

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/superman-success-budget-cast-salaries-1236462393/

David and Rachel aren't A listers when it comes to movies.  Rachels big success till now was in TV.    Regardless, this is how most started out, look at the first deals the MCU stars got, (yes even RDJ for the first round of Iron Man movies), and you'll see that they're always paid low and if it does well and kicks off a franchise they'll be in for at least a few more movies.  And they'll be making more in each etc.

Nothing new here.

I also fully expect a Superman sequel sooner rather than later, Gunn isn't going to rush to do a JL like before and screw things up IMO.   WW next makes sense, followed by Batman.  But between that WW and Batman movie I expect another Superman film.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 17/07/2025 at 10:27, George P said:

I don't know, I think it's just hold outs from the Snyder fans having a hissy fit.  If you go with the scores, it's a solid movie.   

So, I watched it last night at my very local "cinema"...  

I didn't hate this.  It was way more comicy than previous attempts at DC universe movies and the monsters were VERY over comicy but worked well within the movie itself. The nods to the Reeves movie were nice and I quite liked that he wasn't muscle bound.

It wasn't perfect of course.  Comic version Krypto was always the goodest of good boys, not an out of control little ######...   and the Supergirl bit at the end? Hard pass there... Otherwise though, it was an enjoyable movie that gave us a lot of characters we've not seen brought to the screen before and best of all WASN'T an origin story...

So, personally, I give it a solid 7/10.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 17/07/2025 at 10:32, George P said:

I also fully expect a Superman sequel sooner rather than later, Gunn isn't going to rush to do a JL like before and screw things up IMO.   WW next makes sense, followed by Batman.  But between that WW and Batman movie I expect another Superman film.

You know what I'd like to see?  A Mr Terrific or a Hawk Girl movie... Maybe even a proper Green Lantern movie that no one actually despises....    Enough of the same old supers, time and time again... I have a feeling Gunn is going to lean towards something in that area too given the exposition in the opening...

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 16/07/2025 at 18:54, Xenon said:

Holy Guacamole! Their is a red son animated movie!!!!! How did I miss that! 

 

It's not great, this was what I alluded to earlier.

[Som]

On 16/07/2025 at 20:41, FloatingFatMan said:

I really don't get why people are hating on it.  I've not seen it myself so don't really have an opinion yet, but are they hating on it because it's a bad movie, or are they just raging because Cavil was replaced?

I wasn't personally SUPER (  ) impressed by the trailer, and I'm rather sick of superhero movies now,  but I'm not going to hate on a movie until I've seen it at least... Sadly that will have to wait until it reaches digital or blu ray release as I can't do cinemas...

well there is a *cough* conspiracy in it about a certain country committing war crimes, with strong influences,  allegedly being represented in the film, but maybe i'm just being paranoid