Comic book movies are facing an interesting moment. Before the pandemic hit in 2020, nothing seemed to guarantee a box office hit more than putting a Marvel logo in front of a movie. Even DC had $1 billion hits with “Aqauaman” and “Joker” in and amongst the chaos of trying to figure out the DC Extended Universe. Sony Pictures also found a potential goldmine within the larger “Spider-Man” franchise with the release of 2018’s “Venom.” That movie made a shocking $856 million worldwide and paved the way for further spin-offs centered on Spidey side characters. The whole experiment was kind of a disaster, but among the rubble of that disaster is a potential lesson for those in charge of the future of superhero cinema.
James Gunn is now the co-head of DC Studios alongside producer Peter Safran. Gunn is best known as the director of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, as well as 2021’s “The Suicide Squad.” Next year, they are launching a full-on DC Universe reboot with “Superman,” which Gunn directed himself. That’s truly just the tip of the iceberg though, as the duo, along with Warner Bros., have announced a full slate of movies and TV shows that they hope can make DC attractive to audiences for years to come.
An issue that has been cropping up in recent years, particularly in the realm of franchise filmmaking, is massive, inflated budgets that require massive returns at the box office to make a given film a success. $200 million used to be a rare budget level reserved for only the biggest of the big films in Hollywood. Now? It’s almost become the default number for a superhero film or any other comparably big franchise blockbuster. That’s a problem, and it’s one that DC can’t afford to take on at this moment in time.
On the flipside, while much can be said about Sony’s “Spider-Man” spin-off films in recent years (most of it bad), it is one of the only studios bucking the big-budget trend. The recently released “Venom: The Last Dance” was the most expensive, non-“Spider-Man” movie produced by the studio, coming in at $120 million. Everything else? Even cheaper than that. DC Studios would do well to try and emulate such practices with some of its slate upcoming projects.
Critically speaking, it would be difficult to say that Sony’s movies like “Morbius” and “Madame Web” have been home runs, and that’s being kind. Even the “Venom” films have suffered critically, though general audiences seem to like them. Creatively speaking, the general consensus is that these “Spider-Man” spin-offs leave an awful lot to be desired. The box office returns have reflected that. But perhaps Gunn can succeed where Sony’s “Spider-Man” spinoffs haven’t by being both frugal and creative with DC Comics properties.