After months of speculation, The Wrap’s sources claim that James Gunn’s “Superman” has a budget of $225M. According to the report, the film will have to earn $700M worldwide to be deemed profitable.
Warner Bros. has kept the budget for this film tightly under wraps. Last year, a Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit filing listed production costs at approximately $360M—though that was before any rebates. Gunn was quick to dispute that number.
Everyone’s wondering if Gunn has a winner here, and I sure hope he does — Warners and DCU Studios are banking on “Superman” to kickstart a slew of comic book movies, some of which have already been shot (“Supergirl”).
Given that their last five DC films—“Black Adam,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle,” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”—were all box office disappointments, this is a make-or-break moment for Warner Bros. “Superman” needs to be both a critical and commercial hit to set the new DC Universe on the right path.