This week, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn made the surprise announcement that Superman would see its digital release on Friday, August 15 — just over a month after it launched in theaters.
In a post on social media, Gunn also indicated the movie would soon end its theatrical run by saying: “Or catch it while it’s still in theaters!” Superman has been in theaters for six weekends (including this upcoming weekend), and is approaching $600 million at the global box office.
So why release Superman digitally so soon after its theatrical release? In an interview with ScreenRant, Gunn said the decision was made to ensure as many people as possible were able to watch Superman ahead of the release of Peacemaker Season 2 on HBO Max on August 21.
“Well, it’s very complicated, but the truth is it is because of Peacemaker,” Gunn said.
“I originally thought Peacemaker was going to be coming out next month. There was a lot of things that are beyond our control, so that Peacemaker is coming out now, and, at the end of the day, I wanted everyone to be able to see Superman that wanted to, even those people who couldn’t get to a theater before Peacemaker. And that’s really the reason for it.”
There are a few things worth unpacking here. This is the first time we’re hearing that Peacemaker Season 2 was originally intended to come out on HBO Max in September, not August. So why was it brought forward, seemingly to the detriment of Superman’s theatrical run? And why was this change of release date seemingly forced upon Gunn?
Certainly, the links between Superman and Peacemaker Season 2 are strong, especially considering trailers for the HBO Max series have shown the ‘Justice Gang’ from Superman are set to make an appearance. Gunn himself has said the events of Peacemaker Season 2 directly follow those of Superman, and set the DCU up for the future.
”… Superman leads into this show and then we have the setting up of all of the rest of the DCU in this season of Peacemaker, it’s incredibly important,” Gunn told THR.
“Lots of guest stars coming up, lots of characters that are showing up that we’ve already met in Superman. I don’t think there’s anything that I’ve ever done that I love more than this season of Peacemaker, so I’m so excited for people to see it.”
On Superman, we’re probably looking at a $600 million haul globally, when the dust settles. Is that good enough for DC Studios and parent company Warner Bros.? Warner Bros. said this week that Superman is the highest-grossing Superman film in the U.S. with more than $331 million at the domestic box office, and is also the largest grossing superhero film year-to-date (The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t look like it will come close to beating Superman.)
For his part, Gunn has said rumors surrounding exactly how much money Superman 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. “This is not the riskiest endeavor in the world,” Gunn insisted.
Gunn then called the $700 million figure that had 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.”
Superman has kickstarted Gunn and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran’s rebooted DCU, which already has a number of eye-catching follow-ups in the works. Next year, the DCU continues on the big screen with Supergirl starring Milly Alcock, and Clayface starring Tom Rhys Harries. There’s a Lanterns TV show due out in 20206 as well.
As for Superman’s home release, it debuts in North America on digital on August 15, with 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD arriving on September 23.
Superman Digital, 4K UHD, and Blu-ray contain the following special features:
- Krypto Saves the Day!: School Bus Scuffle – (5:32)
- Adventures in Making Superman Featurette (60:00)
- Icons Forever: Superman’s Enduring Legacy – Featurette (6:05)
- Lex Luthor: The Mind of a Master Villain – Featurette (5:18)
- Kryptunes: The Music of Superman – Featurette (6:31)
- Paws to Pixels: Krypto is Born – Featurette (5:54)
- Breaking News: The Daily Planet Returns – Featurette (5:23)
- The Ultimate Villain – Featurette (5:30)
- The Justice Gang – Featurette (10:37)
- A New Era: DC Takes Off – Featurette (4:53)
The following special features will be coming soon to Digital:
- Director’s Commentary with James Gunn
- Gag Reel
- Deleted Scenes
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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