New “Superman” Budget, Bay, Influence Talk

A lengthy feature piece on James Gunn’s “Superman” has been posted by The Wrap this morning and confirmed some more details about the film’s gestation, economics and overall studio concerns.

First up, the outlet indicates the film boasts a production budget of $225 million. One studio insider says anything north of $500 million worldwide box-office will be considered a profit (not inclusive of ancillary revenues).

However, a top talent agent says the big issue the film faces isn’t competition from other titles, like “Jurassic World: Rebirth” the week before or “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” a few weeks later.

Rather, it’s “almost entirely a question of if Superman resonates with today’s audience” and if Gen Z can identify with this old-fashioned character. They advise that the film will need to cross $700 million to be considered a true success:

“The simple brand recognition of Superman will probably take them to or close to $500 million worldwide, but anything above that will be because the audience identifies with the title character.”

The Henry Cavill-led “Man of Steel” made $670 million worldwide, while “Batman v Superman” made it to $874 million – those are the benchmarks to match or beat. The film is also, not surprisingly, being pegged as a major litmus test for not just DC or supehero films, but Warner Bros. Pictures’ future as well.

The piece also reveals that in 2022, Warners chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy briefly tried to get a new Henry Cavill-led “Superman” film going with Michael Bay eyed to possibly direct.

That was before Gunn and Safran’s hiring to run DC Studios and Zaslav restructuring DC to separate it from the larger Warner Bros. Pictures group, so the pair reports directly to Zaslav, not De Luca and Pam Abdy.

The article follows on from Gunn revealing yesterday that the acclaimed “Godzilla Minus One” was a big influence on the movie – showing how to do great human drama mixed with major action.

Meanwhile Nicholas Hoult has revealed to Empire today that he cites Gene Hackman and Michael Rosenbaum’s character interpretations as the biggest influence on his work as Luthor in the film

“Superman” is slated to open in cinemas on July 11th.

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