Warner Bros. Pictures Co-Heads Praise the ‘Epic Sci-Fi’ of James Gunn’s Superman

Minecraft is a viral smash hit, but the auteur-drive Mickey 17 very much was not—and now, the top executives at Warner Bros. Pictures are looking to franchise popularity to allow them to continue to balance out original swings. With strong pre-opening buzz for next week’s Sinners, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy hope Ryan Coogler’s moody vampire movie will continue to drive ticket sales for their summer slate in the lead-up to James Gunn’s Superman.

In an interview with Deadline, De Luca shared his excitement over the DC Studios release. “I love Superman. I think James Gunn has crushed it. It’s got tons of his trademark heart and humor and the action is jaw dropping. It’s the Superman I grew up with, so I get choked up when I watch it. I think it’s so epic and visually arresting and emotional. The performances are great. It is a five-star movie to me, and I can’t wait for the world to see it. Yeah, we’re really excited about Superman, James crushed it.”

De Luca agreed its tone carries on the legacy of Richard Donner’s Superman films. “I would say in spirit, it is closer to that, but it’s also a big hunk of epic sci-fi. It has a little bit of what I loved about Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s true-blue Superman. The comic book sources that he uses for inspiration, All-Star Superman and the like, are in there, too. It is really a love letter to what has made Superman endure for almost a hundred years. He managed to get it all in there.”

The execs were also asked about Matt Reeves’ long-awaited Batman sequel, but they couldn’t give much of an update, noting that it’s in the hands of the director and DC Studios at this point. “We’re not in the weeds on the Batman stuff,” Abdy said. “It’s really James [Gunn] and Peter Safran who run DC. We have a bit of other collaboration with Matt Reeves, but Peter and James know he is a writer-directing auteur in his own right, and that it will come when he’s written his best Batman script and is ready.”

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