By Mallory Mattingly
SUPERMAN soared at its box office opening, but can it pull even more during it’s second weekend in theaters as it faces new competition from SMURFS and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER?
According to Variety, SUPERMAN started off hot with $155 million in gross sales domestically and $250 million worldwide. The high-flying superhero looks to add another $55 million to $62 million this weekend.
Variety suggests that SUPERMAN shouldn’t face direct competition from SMURFS or I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, as they target different audiences. However, Marvel’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS release the following weekend could changed things.
Directed by James Gunn, SUPERMAN has a “singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.”
The movie stars David Corenswet as Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Other cast members include Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, María Gabriela de Faría, Wendell Pierce, Alan Tudyk, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell.
“When I started making a Superman film, one of the things that struck me was that although we’ve had some really good Superman movies over the years, we haven’t really had a Superman movie that reflects what I experienced reading comics growing up,” Gunn said of the movie.
He wanted his SUPERMAN to capture the nostalgia he recalls as a young child reading comics.
“I was seeing a world where Superman had superhero friends and he had a Superman family, and there were robots and giant monsters and he had a flying dog and technology so extreme, it seemed like sorcery,” Gunn said.
“I wanted to bring that world to the screen,” he explained. “I thought that would be fun in a different way, while also focusing on a Superman that’s a little more personal and a little bit more flawed, that has a personal struggle about the way he’s looking at himself throughout this movie.”
Related: James Gunn Wraps SUPERMAN, First Movie in His DC Universe
Gunn also had a fresh take on Lois Lane and Clark Kent’s relationship.
Corenswet told DC Comics, “James obviously had a very fun and original way into these characters, where they already sort of know everything about each other. They’re not at the beginning of their relationship. They’re at a turning point in their relationship.”
The actor added that from the very beginning of filming, he and Brosnahan had chemistry.
“James obviously spotted some chemistry between us when we did our screen test in LA,” Corenswet revealed. “I think neither of us was quite sure that we had chemistry, only because it was over so quickly. We read together once, expecting to get to do it for several hours, and then we got parted immediately.”
Movieguide® praised SUPERMAN’s “Strong moral pro-life worldview” and themes of “compassion, justice, fighting and overcoming tyrannical evil, setting the captives free, and protecting and saving lives.”
However, “the movie is sometimes too dark and scary for pre-teenage children. SUPERMAN also has about 30 or more obscenities and profanities, including two gratuitous strong profanities. These two profanities stand out and will hit sensitive viewers in the face,” Movieguide®’s review says.
SUPERMAN is in theaters now.
Read Next: James Gunn Reveals His New Angle on Superman for Upcoming Movie
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