Like Kryptonite to the Soul: DC's Superman Reboot Gets Boardroom-Butchered
James Gunn just took his first Superman up, up, and away…straight into the studio woodchipper—and DC diehards are losing their minds.
The Bleeding Details
Twenty-five minutes gone. Jokes stripped like Lex Luthor's toupee. Test audiences sat polite; execs panicked. At Warner Bros., David Zaslav, James Gunn, and Peter Safran are “scrutinizing every frame”—because no one wants another CGI-mustache-level disaster on their rebooted hands.
Gunn's vision? Early cuts went heavy on shameless humor, risky for a character that once stood next to truth and justice (but not punchlines). Studio brass thought otherwise. Insert: last-minute reshoots, a second composer yanked in, and—wait for it—one editor quietly axed mid-process. Hollywood's version of “spring cleaning,” but with more expensive casualties.
This frantic remix trimmed the runtime, shuffled sequences, and even added scenes, like Henry Cavill's deleted memories dumped in the Phantom Zone. One source whispered “course correction.” Translation: Everyone's scared sh*tless to screw this up.
Déjà Vu in Tights
This isn't even new for DC. See: Suicide Squad (2016)—famously re-edited by a trailer house because execs got cold feet after Batman v Superman stumbled at the box office [Hollywood Reporter]. Or remember the “Justice League” Snyder-to-Whedon handoff, which led to years of hashtags and one actual director's cut.
But here's the twist: Superman is the reboot's flagship. If this goes belly-up, Gunn's entire new DC Universe could die in utero. You can smell the desperation in those eleventh-hour score changes.
“A slight course correction,” an insider says. But this is no three-point turn—it's swerving on black ice.
Flashpoint: Who's Actually in Charge?
Insiders confirm a new editor took over recently. Several scenes reshuffled. Jokes reduced. Even the music's vibe changed after a second composer joined last minute—suggesting the tone was still in dispute weeks from the finish line. The anxiety isn't just fandom—it's corporate paranoia.
Test screenings might have been mixed, but insiders say there's “a tad more confidence” now. The last showing is this week. It's all on the line: the brand, the vision, and Zaslav's CEO reputation.
The Reboot Relapse
This cycle—overediting, reshoots, boardroom second-guessing—looks suspiciously familiar. How often has “studio panic” improved a film? Rogue One? Maybe. Justice League? Not so much.
Even Variety notes Hollywood execs are more risk-averse than ever as IPs become billion-dollar chess pieces [Variety]. Maybe it's justified. Or maybe, as one cynical crewmember told Deadline:
“Every studio thinks they're one meme away from becoming Sony's Morbius.”
