Superman is decent enough but plagued with all the trappings of modern pop filmmaking. Clunky dialogue abounds, characters exposit their dramatic arcs, attempts at humanism through painfully simple means; it’s not that any of this is done poorly, it’s just done by the books.
Comic Book Movies (CBMs) have become a chore. The market shows this. Despite two of them being in the top 10 highest box-office worldwide, Superman at #7 and The Fantastic Four: First Steps at #10, they haven’t been that profitable when measured against their budgets. Superman fared better, both in raw numbers ($616mill) and percentage against budget (190~%) while The Fantastic Four: First Steps came close in both areas ($521mill // 170~%), but while both films made enough to pay themselves back, they didn’t profit enough to afford themselves.
This may be a bit confusing, but think of it this way: you’re given the opportunity to invest into a multitude of lucrative options, but the minimum investment for each one is $10. Thankfully, you have exactly $10, so you choose to invest your $10 into something that’s shown promise over the last 2 decades: comic book movies. Your investment returns and you recieve $18. Your profit is $8, but the investment minimum goes up from $10 to $12. You invest the $12, sitting on $6, but your return with CBMs is diminishing and you only get back $14. You profit $2 from this second venture, and in total you’re left with $20. The investment opportunity is now $15… Do you kind of see where I’m going with this? CBMs have cost more and more every few years as they inundate themselves with insane levels of CGI, savvy actors who realize their worth and are asking for more money every time, and so on and so forth. Eventually the revenue earned in CBMs will not reasonably outpace their investment, and we’re kind of in that era right now. These films make enough to break even but barely enough to produce themselves, and while the money is being invested there isn’t a lot of money in savings or emergency funds. Remember, a lot of these production companies are in serious debt. It’s why Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav has been so aggressive in finding tax breaks, cutting projects, and so much more. They’re investments have not offered the returns they hoped and they have been borrowing money like mad.
Although filmmaking has nothing on the profits of silicon valley, it has its unicorns like any other industry. CBMs have been that semi-reliable unicorn. Until now. And just as WBDiscovery is attempting YET AGAIN to reboot it’s DC cinematic universe, it’s flagship entry, despite being the most successful CBM of the year (by raw numbers) still hasn’t made enough to solidify itself as a safe investment. But the Screenrant headlines might have you thinking otherwise, constantly nagging about upcoming DC prospects. Also, amidst all of that, Paramount and Netflix are looking to buy Warner Bros. and it’s assets. So you can imagine how confident shareholders are over current WBD leadership. /sarcasm
Superman isnt that great. It’s DC doing Marvel again. And by hiring Gunn to lead the whole thing, it’s DC literally doing Marvel again. And while Marvel has learned to cut back a bit, stop doing shows, and focus on two-three good films a year (as they pivot back to that model), DC has 2 alternate universes at the same time (Reeves’ Batman and DC Studios), Peacemaker, an upcoming Green Lantern show, Supergirl (eventually), Clayface (Rated-R, which has the redditors mad with excitement), and so much else. Like… Idk man, what are we doing here?
And all of this kicked off by a film that felt so Tiktok. There’s a criticism for anime that some of it exists to be “gif-able”. Superman felt a lot like that where so much of the film felt like it was made for those Tiktok accounts that either freeboot moments from movies or outright steal a film and post it in 10-minute chunks. It’s very key-jangly.
Honestly, my favorite moments were the quite ones with Clark and Lois. One was ruined by a battle in the background, which I get was made to look like romantic, scenic city lights, but man I wish we could just all live a little softer. I know that’s the most man-yells-at-cloud thing to say about a CBM but my goodness. Maybe I’m just so ready to stick with movies where people talk in rooms or something. Cause these movies, more and more, are not for me.
P.S.
Not a fan of the fish-eyed lense. I play video games with a wide field of view so obviously I got used to it for the action sequences but honestly it just made so many scenes downright ugly to look at lol. The trailer shows a ton of them and they all look so bad. Big no bueno.
And yes, I’m aware of the films “political” stuff. I’m fine with it. Captain America: Winter Soldier released right around the time of Obama’s drone strikes, simple happenstance, and it added to the conversation around the film. I think it’s fair to recognize that Gunn wrote this during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while also recognizing the coding of a villainous nation in the film being an amalgamation of Russian language and Israeli coloring. It adds to the film but, again, as stated before, it’s all very basic by-the-books versions of it. Simple.
Want more Christian-influenced media coverage? Subscribe to the Cinematic Doctrine podcast on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app!
Consider supporting Cinematic Doctrine on Patreon! As a bonus, you can gain access to a once-a-month movie poll where you decide a movie we discuss on the podcast, early unedited episodes of the podcast, and merch!!
Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!
Cinematic Doctrine is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other major podcast apps.
Cinematic Doctrine 
Leave a comment