“Not as big as people make it” - James Gunn slams people who say Superman has to earn $700 million

James Gunn slams people fretting over the box office returns of his upcoming Superman. Gunn understands the responsibility of helming the first feature film since he took charge of the DC studio with Peter Safran. However, he doesn't believe a $700 million box office figure is the only yardstick of Superman's success. That's why he recently told the GQ magazine,

“Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be. They hear these numbers that the movie’s only going to be successful if it makes $700 million or something and it’s just complete and utter nonsense. It doesn’t need to be as big of a situation as people are saying.”

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Per reports, the budget for Gunn's film is over $200 million. That's why it is expected to earn over $700 million to be commercially successful. Some people emphasized its relevance to the studio's future slate. However, Gunn seemingly refuted these claims and highlighted that it's not a do-or-die situation that some people are making it out to be.

James Gunn's Superman arrives in the wake of the "superhero fatigue."

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In 2019, Avengers: Endgame concluded the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a fitting ode to the heroes they introduced for over a decade. However, since then, the MCU has been struggling to find a footing, both creatively and commercially.

Marvel pivoted to streaming television with shows like WandaVision, Loki, and Moon Knight. However, with the sheer amount of content related to superheroes, people started losing interest in these stories.

James Gunn, who was also a part of this saga, once spoke about the resulting "superhero fatigue," slamming the repetitive stories that focus on spectacle rather than characters. In April 2024, he accepted this phenomenon while speaking with Rolling Stone magazine. During this conversation, he also shared the potential reasons.

“I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue. I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes. It has to do with the kind of stories that get to be told, and if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character. We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they are these incredible characters that we have in our hearts. And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring."

He further added,

"But I get fatigued by most spectacle films, by the grind of not having an emotionally grounded story. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not. If you don’t have a story at the base of it, just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are, no matter how clever the designs and the VFX are, it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”

Why are people worried about Superman's success?

"Superman" London Photocall - Source: Getty

Superman comes in the wake of DC's box office disappointments like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash, which might have been victims of superhero fatigue. More recently, the MCU's Thunderbolts* struggled at the box office despite great reviews, and Captain America: Brave New World couldn't soar into the charts as expected.

Considering the unpredictable box office history of superhero movies, Superman bears the burden of being a success. However, James Gunn believes that it doesn't need to hit only the $700 million ballpark figure to be successful. Judging by his past comments and his track record as a director, his movie will focus on the human story behind the heroic character.