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Superman Director and DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has opened up about the precipitous drop in quality that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has suffered in recent years. Gunn, like many industry experts, including those at Marvel/Disney, pointed to its ramped up production schedule as the cause of the brand’s degradation.
Prior to being handed the keys to DC Comics’ cinematic empire, James Gunn was best known directing for Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy from 2014 to 2023, with the three films in the series being widely considered to be among the MCU’s best.
During a lengthy sit-down with Rolling Stone, Gunn was asked about what has “gone wrong” at Marvel Studios in recent years and pointed to its ramped up production of both film and television in recent years, particularly following the launch of Disney+.
Over at Marvel, they’ve been pretty open about the fact that they realized what’s gone wrong over the past few years. They put out too much stuff.
And [longtime Marvel executive producer] Louis [D’Esposito] said that privately to me. I don’t even know if it’s really their fault.
They were under a corporate mandate, yeah.
That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And it killed them.
Asked about what he learned from that, Gunn says that his plan at DC Studios is to treat every project as if “we’re lucky,” adding that their exec bosses haven’t given them at output mandate.
“There’s no doubt. We have to treat every project as if we’re lucky. We don’t have the mandate to have a certain amount of movies and TV shows every year. So we’re going to put out everything that we think is of the highest quality. We’re obviously going to do some good things and some not-so-good things, but hopefully on average everything will be as high-quality as possible. Nothing goes before there’s a screenplay that I personally am happy with.”
Early box office tracking suggests that Superman is going to be the splashy debut that the DCU needs as it’s currently estimated to make about $140-$180 million at the DOMESTIC box office during its opening weekend, which would likely put it in position to flirt with $1 billion worldwide when its theatrical run comes to a close.
Alongside David Corenswet as the Last Son of Krypton, uperman also stars Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luhtor, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, and Frank Grillo as Rick Grillo Sr.
Additional cast members include MarÃa Gabriela de FarÃa, Sara Sampaio, Terence Rosemore, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, Beck Bennett, Mikaela Hoover, and more. Check out the latest trailer for Superman, which hits theaters on July 11, below.