James Gunn is going to have his hands busy with saving DC’s brand in the views of cinemagoers. The last few years haven’t been kind and going by The Flash’s box office, it’s not looking better. Still, the CEO and director took his time in the Inside of You podcast to bad-mouth other superhero entries. He goes as far to say it’s not quite the issue with volume but more with them being “really lazy.”
People have gotten really lazy with their superhero stories. And they have gotten to the place where, ‘Oh, it’s a superhero, let’s make a movie about it.’ And then, ‘Oh, let’s make a sequel, because the first one did pretty well,’ and they aren’t thinking about, ‘Why is this story special? What makes this story stand apart from other stories? What is the story at the heart of it all? Why is this character important? What makes this story different that it fills a need for people in theaters to go see?’
James Gunn
While one can definitely argue that some films hold up better than others, the question remains what he’s talking about exactly. Marvel’s recent releases were still strong box office performers and seemed to have a hold. The only time a superhero movie really fumbled was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but this might be more of a comment on the DC Extended Universe. He mentions that “having very different genres” is a way to solve this which is pretty much how Marvel Studios handled the genre for many years.
The Flash, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and more have been showing a lack of interest in this particular brand. And, Gunn’s job moving forward is to ensure that isn’t the case. In the same interview, he goes on to highlight his approach to ensuring it’ll be “as good as it can possibly be.”
We’re going to be very careful with the product that we put out and making sure everything is as good as it can possibly be.
James Gunn
That is a great statement and pretty much just echoes the overall quantity over a quality issue that people claim, but he also stated that The Flash was among the best films he’s seen in the genre. So, the question remains on why he wouldn’t go by that same rule with the latest release if this is a concern of his or is this a push towards what he’ll over with the DCU to be in contrast to the DCEU? We won’t know until Superman Legacy releases. Still, it seems a bit harsh for someone trying to push the genre forward to badmouth it at the same time.
Source: Variety
