With ‘Superman,' the destruction Christopher Nolan wrought on comic book films is finally over
Watching the new 'Superman' reboot starring David Corenswet, which hit theaters this weekend, I saw the franchise's years-long depression finally vanish.
In James Gunn's cheery film, the colors were 'Wizard of Oz' bright instead of ugly grayscale. The performances were upbeat rather than brooding and angry. And the story was — am I dreaming? — actually fun.
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5 David Corenswet plays 'Superman' in James Gunn's upbeat reboot.
AP
The shift was stark. Because DC Comics films, and really most movies in the superhero genre for more than a decade, have been as enjoyable as algebra.
They warped into interminable Debbie Downers after — oh, the nerds are gonna protest at my apartment for this one — Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy.
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Sorry, dweebs. The gloom-and-doom comic book reinvention is entirely the fault of the director of 'Inception.' He did it.
Remember 'Batman Begins,' 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Dark Knight Rises'? The 2008-2012 series in which Gotham looked like a down-and-out Chicago and the villains were reconceived as a series of evil terrorists?
Where Heath Ledger murdered a man in cold blood on a grainy video feed and, on the rare occasions daylight was shown, it was always cloudy outside?
The ones in which Christian Bale put his body through hell? Well, I suppose that's every Christian Bale movie.
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5 'The Dark Knight' trilogy, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, brought a realistic and sinister hue to superhero movies.
That trio made so much money and received so much acclaim, everybody had no choice but to rip them off.
Nolan's movies, which are very good when taken on their own, undeniably had a rotten effect on what came next.
Think back. Superheroes used to be quirky and inspiring.
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We'd watch Adam West hilariously test the limits of a gray shirt and Tim Burton doll up Danny DeVito as a penguin. Tobey Maguire's 'Spider-Man' was about the can-do spirit of New Yorkers. And the aughts 'X-Men' flicks were campy. Alan Cumming played a disappearing frog.
Then the post-Nolan era unleashed a medieval murk and cathedral-like bombast. The ensuing movies were deafening and weighty. They punched us in the face with arrogant sludge.
5 'Man of Steel' starred a serious Henry Cavill as Superman.
First came Hollywood masochist Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel' and 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' — dour slogs that had all the charm of a puddle of Manhattan garbage water.
Henry Cavill's Clark Kent looked happy as Mr. T.
And the frowns weren't limited to Superman.
Ben Affleck played Batman. Need I say more?
Some flicks were downright upsetting. After Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance in 'The Dark Knight,' the Joker evolved into some sort of pretentious King Lear.
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The funereal first standalone film for the character, 'Joker,' starring that piece of work Joaquin Phoenix was modeled after 'Taxi Driver' for Pete's sake! The guy was a disturbed serial killer.
5 'Joker' turned the Batman villain into a disturbed serial killer.
Niko Tavernise
Even 'Aquaman' with Jason Momoa was bizarrely serious for a tale about a fighting mermaid. Gal Gadot's 'Wonder Woman' was about a World War I German mustard gas.
What about Marvel? True, the MCU isn't as sooty and downcast as DC tends to be.
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But ever since Nolan's human Batman, there has been an obsession at Marvel with grounding the stories of Spidey, Iron Man, Doctor Strange and the rest in the familiar real world. There's not much style to them. They never dazzle. They're run-of-the-mill action movies with cute costumes. Cash-checking A-Listers running around Atlanta.
5 Even 'Aquaman' with Jason Momoa was bizarrely serious
©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Is Gunn's 'Superman' the start of an optimistic new era of letting comic books be comic books? Its domestic box office is on track to a strong $120 million start, so people are buying what he's selling.
And Gunn is now in charge of DC alongside Peter Safran. His vision is king.
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Let's hope the change sticks.
Seventeen years of 'The Dark Knight' is plenty.
I'm ready for some sunshine.
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Los Angeles Times
42 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘Superman' rescues DC at the box office with a $122 million debut
James Gunn's 'Superman' soared to the top of the box office this weekend, giving Warner Bros.'s DC Studios much-needed momentum in the superhero genre after a string of underperforming movies. 'Superman,' which stars David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, hauled in a robust $122 million in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, 'Superman' brought in a total of $217 million. The movie was a big swing for Burbank-based Warner Bros. and DC, costing an estimated $225 million to produce, not including substantial spending on a global marketing campaign. 'Superman' benefited from mostly positive critics reviews — the movie notched a 82% approval rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Moviegoers liked it too, indicated by an 'A-' grade from polling firm CinemaScore and a 93% positive audience rating from Rotten Tomatoes. The performance for 'Superman' fell short of expectations of some analysts, who had projected an opening weekend of $130 million. . Industry observers attributed that to heavy competition in the marketplace from other blockbusters, including Universal's 'Jurassic World Rebirth' and Apple and Warner Bros.'s 'F1 The Movie.' Shortly before its release, 'Superman' came under fire from right-wing commentators, who criticized comments Gunn made to the Times of London about how Superman (created by a Jewish writer-artist team in the late 1930s) is an immigrant and that he is 'the story of America.' 'If there's any softness here, it's overseas,' said industry analyst and consultant David A. Gross in his FranchiseRe newsletter, after describing the domestic opening as 'outstanding' for a longrunning superhero franchise. The movie generated $95 million outside the U.S. and Canada. Analysts had raised questions about whether Superman's reputation for earnestly promoting truth, justice and the American way would still appeal to a global audience, particularly as other countries have bristled at the U.S. tariff and trade policies enacted by President Trump. 'Superman has always been identified as a quintessentially American character and story, and in some parts of the world, America is currently not enjoying its greatest popularity,' Gross said. The movie's overall success is key to a planned reboot and refresh of the DC universe. Gunn and producer Peter Safran were named co-chairmen and co-chief executives of DC Studios in 2022 to help turn around the Warner Bros.-owned superhero brand after a years-long rough patch. While 2013's 'Man of Steel,' directed by Zack Snyder, and 2016's 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' each achieved substantial box office hauls, they did not receive overwhelmingly positive reviews. 2017's 'Justice League,' which was intended to be DC's version of Marvel Studios' 'Avengers,' was a critical and commercial disaster for the studio. More recently, films focused on other DC characters such as 2023's 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods,' 'The Flash' and last year's 'Joker: Folie à Deux' struggled at the box office. With Gunn and Safran at the helm, the pair are now tasked with creating a cohesive vision and framework for its superhero universe, not unlike its rival Marvel, which has long consolidated control under president Kevin Feige (though its films and shows are handled by different directors). Starting the new DC epoch with Superman also presented its own unique challenges. Though he is one of the most recognizable superheroes in the world, Superman's film track record has been a roller coaster. Alternatively sincere, campy or gritty, the Man of Steel has been difficult for filmmakers and producers to strike the right tone. Gunn's version of 'Superman' — still mostly sincere but a touch of the filmmaker's signature goofy humor — worked for critics and audiences. It was a tall order, considering some fans still hold Richard Donner's 1978 'Superman,' starring Christopher Reeve, as the gold standard. 'Pinning down 'Superman' has been a challenge,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. 'It's been like Kryptonite for years for many filmmakers and producers to get it right.' 'Superman' bumped 'Jurassic World Rebirth' to second place, which collected $38.8 million domestically over the weekend for a total of $231 million so far. 'F1,' Universal's 'How to Train Your Dragon' and Disney-Pixar's 'Elio' rounded out the top five at the box office this weekend. Later this month, another major superhero movie will enter the summer blockbuster marketplace: 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps,' from Walt Disney Co.-owned Marvel Studios.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
‘Batman Begins' Celebrates 20th Anniversary As ‘Superman' Takes Flight
20 years ago this summer, director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David Goyer's Batman Begins revived DC's and Warner Bros.' theatrical fortunes. With writer-director and DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn's reboot film Superman opening this weekend to good numbers, it's worth looking at how director Richard Donner's landmark 1978 film Superman influenced both Nolan's and Gunn's franchise-saving approaches. Christian Bale stars in "Batman Begins" What Nolan's Batman Began I had the honor of speaking with Christopher Nolan for the 10th anniversary of Batman Begins, and you can read that interview here. I'm among the heathens who thinks Batman Begins is the best film of the Dark Knight Trilogy. And part of why it's such a perfect Batman movie is the fact it made all of the right choices about how to tell an origin story and make it at once grounded and real, yet mythical and legendary. Batman Begins arrived in the early stages of the 21st Century's growing love affair with superhero cinema, and it's incredible to look back and feel it only continues to get better with age, even as so many other films of that era or even more recent years seem dated or at most retain their status but don't shine brighter with the passage of time. The Batman supplanted Batman Begins as my personal favorite Batman movie and my pick for best Batman movie of all time, but it's a close race and I love both films tremendously. The Dark Knight is of course within the same top tier of superhero movies, as is The Dark Knight Rises (which I agree with Nolan is probably his most underrated, or underappreciated, film – although Following is a strong contender), but for capturing everything I love best about Bruce Wayne and Batman and bringing it to life the way I always dreamed of seeing, The Batman and Batman Begins can't be beat. And so perfect was the full origin and creation tale in Nolan's first of the films that it remains the best Batman origin story ever told, in any medium, so much so that for me and many fans it's the definitive conception of Bruce Wayne's loss, choices, training, and superhero first outings. It's so good, nobody else wants to try to do it again, because how do you match that? One of the things that makes Batman Begins so definitive a depiction of Batman's origin is that this film, like its sequel The Dark Knight, depicted Gotham City as a living breathing character in the story. The city's arc defined much of the story's development and the main characters' own arcs, in deeply rich ways that connected those threads at every opportunity while making it seem effortless. For what it's worth, this is where I think some of the (relative) decreased praise for The Dark Knight Rises over the years is significantly rooted in the fact its depiction of Gotham is more centered around specific groups and created a negative sense of the population as a whole, depicted mostly by the angry masses who rise up to take advantage of Bane's rule, leaving the cops and government officials along with some wealthy board members to represent the side of Gotham worth saving from the League of Shadows' wrath. The same sense of the whole city and why it's always fighting its way toward the light even in the darkest of times felt lost thematically in The Dark Knight Rises, except in a few instances where necessary to reflect Bruce's lost sense of purpose, and there was no sense of how a resolution between the varying factions would come about, nor what the city as a whole learned or wanted to learn from all of this. It wasn't hard to imagine what came next and how the city would try to put itself back together and move on after the first two movies, but Bane broke Gotham and there was no prison doctor to smack its bones back in place so it could climb out of the cruel hole into which it had fallen. This is what I suspect leads a lot of viewers to come away still impressed and entertained, and with plenty to discuss and think about, but not as enamored and without as much feeling that we returned to a place we knew and rooted for. Gotham's arc feels unfinished, after having seemed to reach a dark place from which no personalized recovery seemed evident. That's my guess, anyway. I still love the film, but I admit not as much as I did after walking out of the first screening emotionally overpowered and thrilled by all of its many fantastic elements. Nowadays, I still rewatch The Dark Knight Rises and love it, but no longer consider it the ultimate Batman story by giving him an ending. Batman Begins, though, is still so great and aging like fine wine that my mental canon is to treat The Batman as a rough sort of continuation of the first two Nolan movies (so Rises is off in some distant future) with Begins as his origin story. I know this will eventually run into continuity issues my mind can't resolve simply, but that's no different than the case with the decades of best stories in the comics. I still believe Batman Begins is one of Christopher Nolan's best films (Dunkirk is his best, and among the finest war films ever made), an effortless blockbuster effort from an emerging filmmaker who brought a commitment and vision – along with David Goyer – similar to the efforts around Donner's Superman. Nolan created an epic, operatic myth. The inspiration from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner was also exactly right. Nolan's own noir cinematic sensibilities, in close proximity to his then-recent trio of neo-noir releases (Following in 1998, Memento in 2000, and Insomnia in 2002) were like preparation for his destiny to turn Batman back into a cinematic icon. Batman vs Superman: Who Wears It Better? Batman Begins smartly looked back to the lessons established in Richard Donner's seminal 1978 blockbuster Superman, which established the superhero movie template so perfectly that it's still the most successful approach and widely used today. Marvel Studios' MCU is premised on learning the lessons of Donner's Superman and applying them to great effect. But as I already mentioned, prior to 2005 the only really successful superhero franchises still in theaters were Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man. By that time, both Batman and Superman franchises had gone off the rails and remained dormant. Only X-Men utilized the template of Donner's Superman. Batman Begins not only revived the Caped Crusader's theatrical fortunes, but also reminded Hollywood that their biggest tentpoles and IP could be revived by returning to their roots. For DC, as the ones who established the superhero genre and the template for adapting comics to film, it was natural and good to rediscover their own lightning-in-a-bottle success. It also infused superhero cinema with artistic legitimacy and seriousness in a broader way than X-Men had been able to accomplish up to that point. The lesson landed, and it influenced Iron Man three years later, which gave birth to the MCU. The same year, The Dark Knight became the first superhero movie to top $1 billion, making Batman Begins look even more brilliant in hindsight. Batman Begins had precisely that recipe, and applied it as masterfully as Superman did back in 1978. With DC Studios' Superman once more attempting a return to the template including tonally and visually, not to mention so much overlap of musical score and iconic elements like the Fortress of Solitude and certain thematic and story beats, and now with blockbuster box office numbers alongside critical and audience praise, it looks like Gunn's reboot will take its place alongside Batman Begins for reviving and perfecting a franchise by returning to superhero cinema's roots. Of course, it's not enough to merely apply the moving parts and stylings of the Superman template. You must have a terrific story to tell and heroes the audience relates to, or the rest won't matter. But when you've got that story and that hero, the sky's the limit. Just as Batman Begins applied the right lessons the right way 20 years ago, I think Superman will fly high.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Box Office Rebound Gets Boost from Superman
James Gunn's new Superman is on track to smash $200 million worldwide in its opening weekend, fueled by a blockbuster $22.5 million in early previews. That preview haul includes $2.8 million from Tuesday night's Amazon Prime member screenings and shows that kicked off Friday afternoon. It's more than double the $9 million that Man of Steel pulled in back in 2013. Distributed by Warner Bros. (NASDAQ:WBD), this film is DC Studios' first under Gunn's leadership after his Guardians of the Galaxy triumphs at Disney. Early critic scores82% on Rotten Tomatoesare right behind the 1978 original's 86%. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with WBD. After years of pandemic shutdowns and writers' and actors' strikes, Deutsche Bank and Wedbush analysts say the box office rebound is real. More releases and steady mid-to-high single-digit growth could mean healthier moviegoing these estimates hold, Gunn's Superman won't just soar on screenit'll signal that Hollywood's post-pandemic recovery is flying higher than ever. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
