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Forbes
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Superman' Trailer: The Fan Reaction, Explained
The Superman costume, although not the one worn in the trailer. (Photo by) Wednesday was a big moment for superhero fans: the first trailer for James Gunn's Superman dropped. While this genre of movie has become a topic for heated online discussion in recent years, the Superman trailer suffered a different fate: genuine enthusiasm. In a perplexing twist of fate, there was a huge swell of online support for the movie. Considering the negative view many current films of this genre are held in, this reaction is particularly intriguing to dive into, saying something important about hope and art. Before we get there, let's dive into the details. Arriving in cinemas on July 11 in the U.S., Superman is a reboot of one of the most famous franchises in existence. Historically, DC—the owner of the Superman brand—has played second fiddle to Marvel in the film industry. While some metrics (like cultural impact) are hard to judge precisely, one clear way to show this is box office success. And, in the top 10 highest grossing superhero movies of all time, only one of them is a DC film. There are eight Marvel movies on the list. This points to the secondary position DC holds in superhero movies—but the fascinating thing about the Superman trailer is this implies a world where this is no longer the case. Let's explain. It's been widely covered that superhero movies are on the wane. Movies such as Shazam 2, Ant-Man: Quantumania, and Black Adam have been box office disappointments. And when Marvel tried to reboot enthusiasm for its cinematic universe (the MCU), many of these attempts have fallen flat both commercially and critically. This has led to a number of fans and cultural figures calling the superhero genre dead. One would expect, then, that the reactions to Superman to be predominately people saying it's a rehash of old films, or just a cheap cash-grab—but that hasn't been solely the case. Of course, there are plenty of people who are negative about the Superman trailer, but that's besides the point. It's the online world and social media, there are opinions about everything. There was been a huge swell of people being optimistic and hopeful about the upcoming film. The deeper question is why are people reacting positively to the teaser? Firstly, and let's not forget this when talking about the reaction to any art, is that the Superman trailer looks intriguing. There are an array of both fan favorite and niche characters, solid-looking action, and enough emotive force to drive an interesting story. Secondly, the director, James Gunn, is responsible for the widely beloved Guardians of the Galaxy series, so fans have a lot of trust in his work. These, though, are surface level concerns—and there's a potential deeper explanation lurking beneath. We discussed above the changing nature of superhero movies and DC's role as secondary in this industry, and one can view Superman as a conduit for the hope of the fans. Despite being one of the most famous superheroes of all time, the Superman character hasn't adapted to the silver screen as well as, say, Batman. There are a variety of reasons for this, but they aren't overly important. The key idea is there's still potential for a movie based on this character to truly succeed and become a touchstone on the same level as the Dark Knight trilogy. This, combined with the struggles of Marvel and a director the quality of James Gunn coming onboard, can give fans a sense of optimism that a new superhero era will start, that this film will kickstart a new wave of the genre they love. Ultimately, much like the superhero genre itself, part of the positive reaction to the Superman trailer is one of faith and optimism. Many people are huge fans of the genre and the success of the MCU, and this latest movie from DC has all the ingredients to inspire a new wave of films that could capture this success. The positive swelling online around the movie is a direct response to the positivity and expectation they have for a different studio to take and hold the superhero crown. Whether or not this will happen with Superman is broadly unimportant, the main thing is that people hope it can.
Hindustan Times
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
David Sandberg reveals he got death threats from fans for Shazam Fury of the Gods, will never make another IP-based film
Fandoms in superhero universe can be brutal, as director David F Sandberg discovered a couple of years ago. The filmmaker recently revealed that he received death threats from fans after the release of his 2023 film, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. (Also read: Biggest box office bomb of 2024 lost $200 million, was beaten by $2 million indie film, director froze studio out) In an interview with GamesRadar, Sandberg candidly discussed his experience working on the Shazam! sequel and how it has now prevented him from seeking out IP-based projects. The director, known for films like Lights Out, said, 'Fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you. You can get, like, death threats and everything. So, after Shazam 2, I was like, 'I never wanna do another IP-based movie because it's just not worth it'.' Shazam! Fury of the Gods was a sequel to the 2019 DC hit Shazam! Starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Grace Caroline Currey, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren, the film focused on the titular superhero's fight against the Daughters of Atlas. The film was a critical and commercial failure. It received unfavourable reviews and holds an adverse 49% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. At the box office, it grossed only $134 million worldwide, way below its estimated break-even point. After the sour experience with Shazam, director Sandberg landed on the script of his upcoming movie Until Dawn, which he believes to be a "so good" script to pass. Based on a video game of the same name, the movie stars actors Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino in the lead roles. It is currently in the theatres.
Time of India
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
David F Sandberg receives death threats from fans following 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' release
Director David F Sandberg has decided to move away from intellectual property (IP) based projects following the backlash he faced after 'Shazam' Fury of the Gods'. In an interview with GamesRadar, Sandberg opened up about how the intense negativity, including death threats from fans, deeply affected him. The experience left him questioning the value of working on existing franchises, leading to his decision to prioritize original or non-IP projects for the foreseeable future. Reflecting on the toll of fan expectations Sandberg, known for his work on ' Lights Out ' and 'Annabelle: Creation', revealed that the passionate, and sometimes aggressive, fan culture surrounding superhero movies took a heavy toll. 'After 'Shazam 2', I realized that working on IP-based movies just isn't worth the emotional strain,' he admitted. Despite initially loving the character and the project, the negativity he encountered after the sequel's release convinced him to rethink his career path. New beginnings with 'Until Dawn' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 3 Reasons to Plug This Into Your Home Today elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Learn More Undo Post, 'Shazam', Sandberg found a refreshing opportunity in the upcoming horror film 'Until Dawn', adapted from the popular 2015 video game. He expressed excitement about the project, particularly praising the script's creative use of a time loop concept that mirrors the game's decision-based mechanics. For Sandberg, 'Until Dawn' represented a return to storytelling he genuinely enjoys, blending horror with inventive narrative techniques, without the baggage of established fan expectations. A fresh take on a familiar game Rather than trying to directly replicate the game's experience, Sandberg appreciated that the script offered a fresh interpretation, maintaining the spirit of suspense and choice without attempting to cram a ten-hour game into a two-hour film. With 'Until Dawn' now in theaters, starring Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino, Sandberg looks forward to reconnecting with audiences on his own creative terms.
Forbes
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Shazam 2' Backlash Almost Put ‘Until Dawn's Director Off Directing IP Movies Ever Again
Director David Sandberg on the set of 'Until Dawn.' "I knew I wanted to do Until Dawn once I read the script," explains director David F. Sandberg as we discuss his latest film inspired by the iconic video game. However, there was one thing still holding him back. "To be honest, after Shazam 2, I was like, 'I don't know if I ever want to do an IP thing again,' because the fans can get very passionate and have specific ideas about how things should be. They can get very angry with you, and it can be death threats and all these kinds of things, so I was like, 'Do I really want to do that again?'" "Gary Dauberman, who I worked with on Annabelle: Creation, sent me this script, and it was so cool. I would get to do all these different horror genres, and I've always wanted to do a horror movie that is full of practical effects, gore, monsters, and all these things. I couldn't say no." One year after her sister disappears, Clover, played by Anora's Ella Rubin, and a bunch of friends head to where she went missing looking for answers. However, the journey leads them to a compound where they are trapped and hunted, killed one by one, but caught in a bloody loop where they die over and over until they can survive until dawn. Until Dawn is R-rated and lands in theaters on Friday, April 25, 2025. "What I liked about the script was that they left the game alone," Sandberg enthuses. "Rather than try to recreate what was already pretty much a very good movie, they expanded on the universe and did a continuation of that. Instead of the same Until Dawn that people have played and seen, it's more Until Dawn. I felt like, 'Fans have to appreciate that, right? Of course, there are still going to be people who get very upset. I've seen people upset that there's no snow in the movie, and it's like, 'Really? Was that the most important thing about the game?'" "I remember with Shazam, there were people who were very upset that it wasn't dark and gritty. There was even a guy who released a trailer that he had edited to make it look dark and gritty because he was going to do his own fan edit. I don't know if he ever completed it, of like a dark, gritty Shazam, where he cut out all the humor and made it sepia tone instead. Sure, that's cool if you want a gritty Shazam, but to me, the comics were never that, really." FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Traditionally, outside of multimillion-dollar franchises like Resident Evil, it has been hard to get audiences to turn out en masse for films based on video games. However, things are changing. "It's only in recent years that they've all been working," Sandberg muses. "With The Last of Us, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and now The Minecraft Movie is doing all the money in the world. I don't know. The old Super Mario Brothers movie from the 80s and the Street Fighter movie weren't really great. I don't know if I'm missing someone, but I think The Last of Us showed the way. Video games have become more cinematic now that you can do more." Fallout has also been a significant ratings and critical hit for Amazon's Prime Video. "How much has The Last of Us changed things? I'm not sure," he continues. It helped in terms of people's willingness to want to do these things. Until Dawn is also a PlayStation production, so I'm sure seeing that success made them want to do even more things, but beyond that, I don't know." As a lifelong horror fan with a successful track record in the genre, Sandberg wanted to do things the way his heroes did and use as many practical effects as possible. "As a kid, I would see these movies, read books, and watch behind-the-scenes features on the practical effects and makeup. I've just always wanted to do that," the director explains. 'My previous two horror movies were more supernatural movies, so they don't have a lot of that. I love the magic trick element, but it is very challenging. I understand why a lot of movies are not made that way anymore, especially with tightening deadlines and schedules, because it takes a lot of time, and you don't get a lot of shots at it, maybe one or two. If it's a Shazam movie where everything is added afterward, you can do take after take until you get the performances you want. This way is a lot trickier and takes time but is also very satisfying when it works." "As a horror fan, I really like practical effects in horror movies, but there are also combinations of it. One of my favorite shots in Until Dawn is when a character gets their head smashed with a sledgehammer. We did smash a physical dummy head on the day, which broke and looked really cool, and that was the version in the movie for the longest time. Then the VFX vendor, UPP, shot an extra element they had: a skull filled with goo that they smashed with a sledgehammer and comped it in. Now, it's my favorite shot in the movie because it's so over the top. I'm not against visual effects, but doing practical effects is fun and satisfying." However, not everything he tried made it to the final cut. "There's a shot of a full moon that's still in the movie that gives a hint to what that was, but it didn't really work, so we're putting it all on the deleted scenes on the home video release. I like showing all that stuff, especially because we went through the trouble of making and shooting all those things, so I want to put it out there," he adds. Ella Rubin stars in 'Until Dawn.' Using practical effects gave Sandberg and his team wiggle room to get creative. The loop element of the narrative meant they were able to kill characters multiple times, and each time in a new way, but that also offered challenges. "We could go pretty brutal with these kills," he explains. "There are some deaths in the scene where you're like, 'Well if that were the end for that character, that would be pretty bleak and sad,' but they do come back. Another important element to make that work was that they couldn't come back forever and just keep doing this over and over again. There had to be stakes and a limit to it, which is why you can only do it for so many days in the movie. Dying over and over takes a toll on you, just both mentally and physically, because you start changing. It definitely enabled us to have a lot of fun with that, but we had to have limitations to it." "The great thing was that every night was different, with different threats that appeared, so while the night started over each time, it was not the same night. That adds to this feeling of what's going to come next. You don't know. What's going to be the new threat? That's scary for the characters as well." One particularly gruesome scene in Until Dawn keeps audiences talking long after their minds are blown in the theater: the bathroom scene. "It was certainly my favorite when I was reading the script," Sandberg laughs. "I was like, 'I can't wait to do this. I know exactly how to do it. We'll just lock off the camera, shoot the actor, take them out, put in a dummy, and blow it up.' However, because of the way we did it, we had to shoot it on the very last day. It destroyed the set with blood and stuff everywhere in these explosions. It's one of the few times something has turned out exactly how I imagined it, which is rare in movies. There are compromises, and things don't work out exactly, but I'm very happy with that one. It's exactly the way I imagined it." "We knew it worked when we were on set because of how we shot it; it was just a simple cut. We could play it back, splice it together with video playback and have a look at it right away, and everyone just reacted with laughter and like, 'Holy s**t!' We watched it on repeat over and over again, so I didn't have any doubt that it would work with an audience because it worked for everyone on set." (Left to right) Peter Stormare and Ella Rubin star in 'Until Dawn.' In addition to the Easter Eggs from the Until Dawn world that litter the film, Sandberg set out to seed it with inside jokes in another way: by cameoing on one of the Missing posters on a pin board. "You've got to have a cameo in there somewhere, right?" the filmmaker laughs. "That whole wall is crew members, a couple of stock photos, and people we know. I had to put myself in there as well. I like to have little cameos like that. I'm also the masked monster in the red hallway." Like cinematic greats who have come before and inspired him, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Until Dawn is by no means the first time Sandberg has inserted himself into one of his visions. "Sometimes it's just my voice. In Shazam, I was the voice of Mister Mind, the little worm at the very end," he recalls. "In Shazam 2, I was killed by a harpy. I'm out running in a field and get grabbed. In Lights Out, I'm the doctor's voice on the tape they find. Did I do one for Annabelle: Creation? Maybe, but I don't remember now. Maybe I didn't have any cameo on that one." However, the biggest thing that mattered to effectively recreating the world of Until Dawn was securing Peter Stormare, known for his performances in Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, Minority Report, and Constantine. Here, as he did in the original video game, the Swedish actor plays the villainous Dr. Hill. "We all knew right from the start we needed to get him, and it's always been my dream to work with him because I'm also from Sweden," Sandberg explains. "Growing up seeing him in big Hollywood movies was like, 'He's a Swede. As a Swede, you can get to Hollywood. He's proved it.' I actually wanted to get him in my first movie, Lights Out, but the studio said, 'Well, he's too creepy and weird to play a family guy,' so they said no. For this one, we had to get him, so I wrote him a letter in Swedish telling him that I've been wanting to work with him since my first movie and everything. He was all on board. He was like, 'Well, in Swedish, we can talk s**t about everyone on set, and they won't know.'" "He cares very much about the character as well. He wanted to do it right, and he wanted not to ruin Hill's legacy. The important thing was that Until Dawn could also work for people who hadn't played the game. Maybe there'll be slight confusion by the last shot, but Hill's still around. He's not gone."
