Oof. This again?? Like… what are we doing?
Superman dropped in June and yeah, people here showed up. $58M this past weekend, $235M domestic so far. So yeah, sure, it's doing fine. Fine-ish. But then you look over at the international numbers and—yikes. $171M? Really? For Superman?
And now James Gunn is doing interviews trying to explain why. He told Rolling Stone it might be—wait for it—“anti-American sentiment.” Yep. That's the take. Not superhero fatigue. Not the fact that Superman hasn't had a consistent global push since… I dunno, 2006? No, it's apparently because the world just isn't vibing with truth, justice, and whatever version of the American way this is supposed to be.
Anyway—what was I saying?
Oh yeah. Gunn's quote is basically this: “It affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now.” And like… yeah? Maybe? I guess? But also, maybe people just didn't wanna watch another dude in a cape who isn't Batman or Spider-Man? My cousin legit thought this was still coming out next week. I didn't even correct him.
You know what's wild? You blink and these movies just… evaporate. No buzz. No buildup. Just box office reports like we're tracking crop yield.
Here's a clunky thought: trying to relaunch Superman globally is like forcing everyone to care about baseball again. It's classic, it's wholesome, it's boring. The world moved on. Maybe we did too. Or maybe not—I don't know.
And okay, can we also talk about how this version doesn't have that star power? No offense to David Corenswet, but this isn't exactly Pattinson-in-the-suit levels of heat. He's fine. He's tall. That's all I've got.
Also—can we stop pretending every box office dip is some kind of cultural thesis? Sometimes a flop is just a flop. Or not even a flop. Just… a limp. A soft wobble.
I miss when you had to wait for things. Waiting made it feel bigger. More important. Like, remember lining up for The Dark Knight? This? I just saw the poster at a bus stop and went “Oh. That's out?”
Maybe it'll crawl past $350M globally. Maybe not. Maybe this is just how it goes now. Capes, hype, nothing.
And then nothing.
