DC Cinematic Universe ( The James Gunn era)

[Mudd]

Might be going for the horror audience.

They pretty clearly are. All the DCU projects are not about superheroes.

Now I'm forward to outraged YouGoobers shrieking about the upcoming Batman casting.

 

[Set Harth]

 

[Mudd]

Dude's got a YouTube channel calling for Kurtzman's head, pretty sure.

 

[theenglish]

From NY times.

Already written off by the studio.

Hopefully the quote is true though.

I do agree that people are not going to go and see just any superhero movie any longer. Whether that's because the fad is over or because people have been burned by too many mediocre movies--who knows?

 

[Christopher]

I do agree that people are not going to go and see just any superhero movie any longer. Whether that's because the fad is over or because people have been burned by too many mediocre movies--who knows?

Is it just superhero movies, though? I thought that moviegoing had gone down in general since the pandemic, and the current state of the economy probably doesn't help. Do the statistics show that superhero movies are doing materially worse than non-superhero movies, or are they all doing worse?

 

[theenglish]

Not really but it only cost $40 million if reports are to be Believed,.

Gunn needs to display his name more prominently in trailers--that could have helped the Supergirl movie, I think.

As for Clayface, unless you know the character you'd never guess it was a comic book film from the trailer I saw.

 

[JD]

Is it just superhero movies, though? I thought that moviegoing had gone down in general since the pandemic, and the current state of the economy probably doesn't help. Do the statistics show that superhero movies are doing materially worse than non-superhero movies, or are they all doing worse?

I really don't think they are, there have been tons of movies over the last few years that were supposed to be the summers' big blockbusters that have ended up flopping.

I Didn't say overall domestic, I said overall gross. If you want to just want to talk domestic, It did a $10.75m Saturday, which means its on for a $37m million weekend - but every projection that comes out is lower than the last so that could go lower:

That $10.75M dom compares to:

• The Flash $15,554,339
• |he Marvels $15,260,052
• Morbius $13,148,513
• Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn $12,193,732
• Joker: Folie à Deux $11,259,615
• Shazam! Fury of the Gods $11,004,081
• X-Men: Dark Phoenix $10,849,779
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom $9,003,036
• Blue Beetle $8,514,055
• Kraven the Hunter $3,749,317

I know you were talking about over all gross, but like I explained Box Office Mojo was only providing the domestic numbers, so that was all I could go by. And it looks a few of those did go up on day 2, while Supergirl is going down, so yeah, that's probably not a good sign.

 

[theenglish]

I really don't think they are, there have been tons of movies over the last few years that were supposed to be the summers' big blockbusters that have ended up flopping.

There have also been a lot of movies that have really gone big, and studios are supposedly making serious profits again. My point though, is that people aren't going to see a movie just because it's a superhero movie. Up until a few years ago, they were.

 

[JD]

Yeah, thinking about it more I guess more movies have started to bring in the big bucks again, and most of the movies that were supposed the big blockbusters but ended up flopping were superhero movies.

 

[StarMan]

Yeah, thinking about it more I guess more movies have started to bring in the big bucks again, and most of the movies that were supposed the big blockbusters but ended up flopping were superhero movies.

Kinda related, this reddit post caught my eye earlier:

As a Gen Zer born in 2000 I think there’s just no coming back from Endgame for people my age. Outside of Spiderman and Batman who will always be mega popular it’s just like this overwhelming sense of closure and finality to the genre so far this decade, or like the last six years have this feeling of digging up a rotting corpse every time a superhero movie comes out. Someone like me who grew up falling in love with Iron Man as a dumb little kid, then saw the entire journey and ended up sitting in the theater for Endgame a week before graduating high school, nothing will ever come close to that or replicate that experience again and there’s just no point in trying.

Nowadays it’s like they throw you into season 4 of the show and expect you to care. I enjoyed Superman for what it was but it’s like I’m trying to sit with the characters of Clark and Lois and here come 30 minutes of the Justice Gang becuase everybody wants to speedrun to the middle of everything chasing the team ups and interconnectedness without having to go through the boring origins and growing pains. These days it’s come full circle to go back to where it started where now I’m drawn to more intentional individual experiences like The Batman and am turned off by the endless cinematic universes, multiverses, etc.

source

So far as Supergirl's performance, it's obviously not just the one thing. How faithfully it adapted the original comic is at the bottom of the pile.

Apathy from key demographics, unless you’re Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne, is a starting factor. Add to that the tough release window and the fact that a night at the movies is a significant expense for many, making people more selective.

I'm in the same camp as this Gen Zer; the appeal of an interconnected cinematic universe isn't there anymore. It was engaging and novel when Marvel did it, but every other attempt has fallen flat, including Marvel's own post-Endgame efforts.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Kinda related, this reddit post caught my eye earlier:



source

So far as Supergirl's performance, it's obviously not just the one thing. How faithfully it adapted the original comic is at the bottom of the pile.

Apathy from key demographics, unless you’re Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne, is a starting factor. Add to that the tough release window and the fact that a night at the movies is a significant expense for many, making people more selective.

I'm in the same camp as this Gen Zer; the appeal of an interconnected cinematic universe isn't there anymore. It was engaging and novel when Marvel did it, but every other attempt has fallen flat, including Marvel's own post-Endgame efforts.

The cinematic universes get too big and bloated to follow. Star wars is trying to create one with middling to poor success. They are using movies and expensive tv shows to flood the market with their product. Its diluting it to the point where people feel its not necessary to see every movie and tv show. That WB is even trying again is insane to me. I really miss the days of self contained stories and universes like we got with Superman the Movie and Batman 89. Self contained universes and stories.

 

[JD]

It's kind of ironic, I have a feeling that the main idea behind the shared universe from a business perspective is that the interconnectedness will keep people coming back, but it's starting to sound like it might actually be having the opposite effect for a lot of people now.

 

[Mage]

Is it just superhero movies, though? I thought that moviegoing had gone down in general since the pandemic, and the current state of the economy probably doesn't help. Do the statistics show that superhero movies are doing materially worse than non-superhero movies, or are they all doing worse?

It's across the board, not just superhero movies. And I get it, because a lot of movies in theaters were franchise related, or remakes, or reboots. And although it was based on a novel of course, a big stand out was Project Hail Mary, because even though scifi, it was something not based on a huge, pre-excisting IP. People really needed that.

 

[Set Harth]

The cinematic universes get too big and bloated to follow. Star wars is trying to create one with middling to poor success.

That's generally backwards. Star Wars isn't a superhero comic book franchise. It didn't start with standalone stories, it got there after many decades.

 

[theenglish]

That's generally backwards. Star Wars isn't a superhero comic book franchise. It didn't start with standalone stories, it got there after many decades.

George Lucas original concept back in the 70s was that he was creating a setting that many people could use to tell their own stories within it.

 

[camdudetenger2018]

Might be going for the horror audience.

what next 1930s to 1960s broadway style musicals lol and or 1930s to 1950s murder mystery style film noir

 

[camdudetenger2018]

They pretty clearly are. All the DCU projects are not about superheroes.

Now I'm forward to outraged YouGoobers shrieking about the upcoming Batman casting.

lol the outrage aka 24 7 style meltdowns

 

[JoeZhang]

Hopefully the quote is true though.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/business/media/supergirl-box-office.html

 

[JoeZhang]

I need to research this further but I think this is the first time in the modern era that one of these big Marvel/DC Films hits number one anywhere.

 

[Takeru]

So I guess you skipped Iron Man? Not on the Marvel A squad, after all.

Not comparable, Marvel didn't have the rights to any of their A-Listers back then, the C and D squads were all they had. DC has complete freedom to produce any movie they like.