DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn Says Rumors That Superman Needs to Make $700M at the Box Office to Be Successful Are ‘Just Complete and Utter Nonsense’

With Superman set to kick off the rebooted DC Universe for Warner Bros., clearly there is a lot riding on its box office performance. But for writer and director James Gunn, rumors surrounding exactly how much money it needs to make in order to be considered successful are wide of the mark.

In a profile of Superman actor David Corenswet published on GQ, Gunn downplayed the box office pressure on the movie, due out July 11. “This is not the riskiest endeavor in the world,” Gunn said.

Gunn then called the $700 million figure that has been touted online as the minimum Superman needs to make during its theatrical run to avoid flop status as “just complete and utter nonsense,” but admitted there is of course some pressure on the movie to deliver for Warner Bros.

“Is there something riding on it? Yeah, but it’s not as big as people make it out to be,” Gunn said. “They hear these numbers that the movie’s only going to be successful if it makes 700 million or something and it’s just complete and utter nonsense. It doesn’t need to be as big of a situation as people are saying.”

We likely won’t get an accurate picture of Superman’s performance until Warner Bros. boss David Zaslav has his say during a financial call, but it’s easy to see why there’s more box office pressure on Superman than your average superhero film.

It is, after all, kickstarting Gunn and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU, which already has a number of eye-catching follow-ups in the works. For example, Superman leads into the events of HBO series Peacemaker Season 2. Then, next year, the DCU continues on the big screen with Supergirl starring Milly Alcock and Clayface starring Tom Rhys Harries. If Superman flops, it will call into question the viability of everything that follows.

Gunn is of course doing the rounds promoting Superman, and has plenty to say about the movie. Gunn has said he’s well aware some people will take offense at his new Superman movie “just because it is about kindness.” He also joined forces with Zack Snyder for a surprise cameo on the latest episode of Rick and Morty to jokingly mock each others’ takes on Superman.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].