With the Box Office Down, James Gunn Predicts Summer of ‘Superman’ to the Rescue 

Actor David Corenswet, promoting the movie "Superman", poses during a Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
Actor David Corenswet, promoting the movie "Superman", poses during a Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
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With the Box Office Down, James Gunn Predicts Summer of ‘Superman’ to the Rescue 

Actor David Corenswet, promoting the movie "Superman", poses during a Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)
Actor David Corenswet, promoting the movie "Superman", poses during a Warner Bros presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 1, 2025. (Reuters)

The 2025 box office has been hit with a deficit. Can the James Gunn-dubbed “summer of ‘Superman’” save it?

Warner Bros. showed off a diverse and starry slate of its upcoming films on Tuesday — but the night was carried on the shoulders of Clark Kent.

“I really do believe in this movie. And I do believe that there is a lack of human kindness, or at least a degradation of human kindness,” Gunn said. “This is a movie that celebrates kindness and human love.”

At the annual CinemaCon convention and trade show in Las Vegas, Gunn — the director and writer of the first film in the new iteration of the connected DC Universe — also brought out its stars, who gushed over their experience making the film.

“It’s a great honor to play a role that exists so clearly in the public consciousness, to the point where everyone I think, even if you haven’t seen a film or read a comic, you sort of know what the Superman symbol means and you know what it stands for,” said David Corenswet, adding that he hopes to “illuminate something new about the character, or even just bring the beloved character to a new audience.”

Corenswet was joined onstage by Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult, who plays Lex Luther.

“James makes a family out of every set,” Brosnahan said. “The set is full of people who want to be there, who love making these movies. And it’s such a joy to come to work every day. As many of you have probably heard from other people, it’s not always like that.”

Gunn was announced to direct the film in 2023 shortly after he and Peter Safran became co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios.

“We appreciate and share your passion for this art form,” Safran told a room full of theater owners. “It’s the fulcrum of our ambitious DC Studios slate and it’s what inspired James to shoot all over the world and push filmmaking technology to its limits, to propel moviegoers out of their homes into your theaters.”

The film will be released theatrically in July amid a summer of superhero titles, including “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Thunderbolts(asterisk).”

In addition to “Superman,” Warner Bros. teased some of its April releases on the convention’s main stage, like Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie,” but they also looked further down the road for 2025.

In a nod to cinephiles, the studio kicked off its presentation by bringing out the stars of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” including Leonardo DiCaprio and Regina Hall. The film is set to hit theaters in September.

“I’ve been wanting to work with Paul for over, gosh, almost 20 years now. He’s one of the most unique talents of our time,” DiCaprio said. “With this film, he’s tapped into something politically and culturally that is brewing beneath our psyche. But at the same time, it’s an incredibly epic movie and has such scope and scale.”

Director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer also treated the audience to an extended sneak peak of “F1,” Brad Pitt’s Formula One racing drama premiering in June.

In addition to Hollywood studios and stars boasting their theatrical menus which they believe will lure audiences to cinemas, the annual convention is also a time to discuss current industry debates, like how long movies should stay in theaters and the extent to which studios should get into production with streaming companies.



Reel Tensions: Trump Film Trade War Looms over Cannes

President Donald Trump has added a trade war to the cinema industry's list of concerns. Jim WATSON / AFP
President Donald Trump has added a trade war to the cinema industry's list of concerns. Jim WATSON / AFP
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Reel Tensions: Trump Film Trade War Looms over Cannes

President Donald Trump has added a trade war to the cinema industry's list of concerns. Jim WATSON / AFP
President Donald Trump has added a trade war to the cinema industry's list of concerns. Jim WATSON / AFP

Donald Trump's threat of tariffs on foreign-made films risks stoking tensions between the European and American film industries and dominating conversations at the Cannes film festival this week.

The US president has added a trade war to the sector's list of concerns that already included competition from streaming platforms.

The already tricky commercial outlook for big-screen owners and film producers darkened considerably last Sunday when Trump said he wanted 100-percent tariffs on movies "produced in foreign lands", AFP said.

Even if most observers think the proposal is unworkable, it risks destabilizing an industry that is highly globalized and depends on open trade.

"It'll be one of the big issues in Cannes," said Eric Marti from US-based media measurement agency Comscore.

He said statements from another American leader -- the co-CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos -- had also focused minds.

Sarandos said recently that cinema-going was "an outmoded idea for most people", pointing to the fact that audience numbers worldwide have not rebounded since the Covid pandemic.

The festival in Cannes from Tuesday will see directors, actors and distributors try to make sense of Trump's intentions and those of his Hollywood advisors, actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone.

"We're a bit perplexed," Marti told AFP. "We don't know how it's going to work in practice."

- Extortion? -

Trump's tariff salvo is part of a picture of growing tension between Europe and the US over the film and TV industries since the former reality TV star returned to the White House in January.

As part of his ultra-nationalist "Make America Great Again" agenda, Trump's Republican administration also has EU regulations that protect and promote European cinema in its crosshairs.

The regulations take many forms but typically include measures such as taxing cinema tickets to fund independent filmmakers, quotas for European or non-English-language productions, or forcing major studios to fund domestic productions.

In France, American streaming platforms Netflix, Amazon and Disney have to invest in French-language films or series in order to operate in the country.

In a February 21 memo, Trump took aim at what he called "overseas extortion", with a particular mention of laws that "require American streaming services to fund local productions".

American film industry groups such as the Motion Picture Association and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) have also lobbied the Trump administration to protest against European regulations.

A group of leading French film figures, including "Emilia Perez" director and Cannes winner Jacques Audiard, fired back with an open letter to the DGA last month.

"At a time when the gap between the United States and the rest of the world is widening, we believe it is more important than ever for European and American filmmakers to remain united," they wrote.

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati vowed last week to defend French films "whatever the cost", noting that "on the other side of the Atlantic, powerful players in this industry are hostile to the French cultural exception".

Critics

Cannes has always championed independent arthouse films but it also reserves part of its program to Hollywood blockbusters made by major American studios to attract audiences.

This year will see Tom Cruise return for the world premiere of the latest and last instalment of his "Mission: Impossible" series, three years after he lit up the Riviera while promoting "Top Gun: Maverick".

While he can be expected to steer clear of politics and controversy, there will be plenty of Trump critics in attendance.

"Taxi Driver" star Robert De Niro, who is set to receive an honorary Palme d'Or, is one of the most outspoken, often struggling to find words harsh enough to condemn Trump.

Fellow New Yorker Spike Lee, who will present his film "Highest 2 Lowest" with Denzel Washington, raged against him in Cannes on 2018 after Trump refused to denounce violent far-right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump's lawyers called the film "garbage" and "pure malicious defamation" when it came out on the eve of last November's presidential election.

Strong is set to return to Cannes this year as a jury member.