Superman - Early Test Screenings Not Good?

Welcome back to the channel. I hope you're all having a great weekend. So we got to get into this today, guys. Uh, we got to talk about the— some of the latest information came out several hours ago, and that is that, uh, multiple sources are saying that it looks like early test screenings of the Superman film in the recent test screenings, the early buzz isn't good, with one source comparing the movies to The Mummy, um, and I believe the other thing they compared it to was Captain America: The First Avenger. Now that's interesting, um, that was an interesting comparison. I just Am I missing something here? I just fail to see the comparisons with these films unless what they're speaking about is, okay, when I saw Captain America: The First Avenger, it is true that movie wasn't, you know, it was set in World War II. That movie, it was slow. It wasn't a bad film. But it was, uh, it felt like a setup film, right, for the, for the Avengers group. Um, you know, and it was just, uh, it was a long movie and it was just one of these, one of those movies that was okay, you know, you got through it and you understood the origins of Captain America. It was, it was nothing to me great about that film, right? Uh, and then The Mummy. I'm not sure which Mummy they're speaking of, right? I actually did like the original Mummy with, uh, Brendan, uh, Fraser. Uh, uh, I thought that was a pretty good movie. I didn't think it was a great movie. I thought it was one of those popcorn movies you saw on Friday night. It was okay. And then of course they had a whole series of Mummies films after that. That to me could have existed or not. You had the Scorpion King, you had all that stuff, and, and all of that to me was just okay, right? It was just all right. It wasn't— they weren't bad films, they weren't, uh, like great films or anything. There were some you could see on a weekend and so on, right? In that, in that sense. Now, of course, the problem with comparing that to what we're getting with Superman is, you know, of course we need Superman to be a great deal You know, better than that with so much riding on it, the cost of it. You know, these films didn't cost anywhere near this what Superman Legacy is going to cost. They didn't have depend on entire franchises and such. So that's going to be a, a huge thing if we're to trust these critics, right? These handful of people who saw this film, right? So let's just read a little bit of the article and see where they're going with this. What I can tell you from off the jump start, I'm not that concerned with this statement, with some of these statements, and I'll tell you a little bit why as we get into the video. So it says here, we've heard from multiple sources about one screening in particular on the lot and with his close-knit crew of people he trusts. I assume they're talking about James Gunn here. We're keeping the buzz about the movie itself in our own Fortress of Solitude, but we can tell you that the movie will be doing a few days of additional shooting in Los Angeles in the near term. Snyder claims to have met with a source who knew multiple people who had seen Superman states the buzz is not good. I'm hearing bad things, I'm hearing you should be worried things. It sounds like James Gunn is aware of some of the feedback. That's supposedly why reshoots are taking place, though James Gunn has said those are pickup shots and no scenes, no reshoots. However, another source in the editing world told the reporter that there are plenty of reasons to be nervous about Superman. Hmm, in editing. Hmm, employee in editing. Roca also shared someone who's seen Superman told me it has the tone of the first Captain America movie and Mummy films. They said Nicholas Hoult is the standout and the film is decent, but a large chunk of the film was unfinished with only a third of the film's VFX done. Right, okay, let me go back there. It said Nicholas Hoult was the standout. That's interesting. So at least they're saying we, we're getting a good Lex Luthor, right? And Nicholas Hoult is a pretty good actor on his own, right? He also claims Supergirl will be in the film, in the movie, though we've already known it's likely to be the case for a while now. So you should take this seriously, as Snyder later pointed out Plenty of hit, um, I'm sorry, so should you take this seriously? As Snyder later pointed out, plenty of hit movies have had early negative buzz, including the critically acclaimed Barbie following test screenings, right? And I got something to add to that as well. Remember, the reason those happen is to figure out the issues and fix them before we all sit down in theaters. Yeah, July is a long time from now. It's It's also worth noting that just because a handful of people didn't like what they saw doesn't mean that the rest weren't much bigger fans of what Gunn dreamed up with Superman. They're just not talking about it. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what else comes out, whether Gunn responds, right? Very interesting, very interesting stuff. So, uh, right off, just like the article says, we have to keep in mind that, uh, there are many, uh, films that have come before this where people have been concerned in the beginning, or they didn't think they would be good films, and you sit down in the movie theater and it's, you know, you have to watch it for yourself, it's something else. Also, from what we're getting from the article, this seems to be a small pool of people. These could all be Zack Snyder films— I'm sorry, fans. Uh, the, um, then they said it was a person in editing. Um, you know, he's a, you know, an employee. So, you know, uh, you got to be careful with that. Now, that doesn't— I'm not saying that there, there aren't things to be concerned about, like when they say that they're going to be doing some, you know, some, uh, pickup shoots, right? Um, you know, that could be damage control, right? That is true. That could be damage control. That is something that's just not working in there. They need to get that done. Uh, so they could be doing some damage control there, or maybe not. Maybe James Gunn is confident and sticking to his guns, and, um, you know, it is what he say it is. But we have to consider a lot of things. Now, the people who saw this did this test screening, right? Uh, were they even Superman fans, right, to that degree? I don't know. Um, you know, I'm a little bit concerned about— and I just want to add this in here— that if you're a Zack Snyder, uh, you're part of that SnyderVerse, um, you know, fandom, and you know you're really big on those Snyder films, right? Um, there's nothing against the Snyder fans. There's a lot of things I thought worked with what Zack Snyder did, but I have to stick to my statement on what we got with Man of Steel, right? That wasn't a Superman film, guys. You know, I got to drive that point home. That was a superhero alien film, right, with somebody that resembled Superman, and it kind of went on and did its thing. But I refuse to consider that part of the Superman mythos to the degree— I'll consider him a multi-dimensional Superman, what about that— but not our, uh, our, our main Superman. Guys, this is not Superman. This is— you see, this is, this is the Kryptonian Special Forces, right, that took place on Krypton. This is General Zod, right? Zod was the commander of the Kryptonian army on Krypton, right? This was a scientocracy of advanced beings Uh, in the comic books, they're described as emotionalist beings and so on, right? Now, this looks like— what does this look like? This looks— this is from the Zack Snyder Man of Steel films, right? This looks like, um, Alien Prometheus, Alien, the Alien Covenant, the, uh, um, um, What's the guy's name? My favorite actor. I can't even remember his name now, right? Who did all those Alien movies, right? This is what that is, right? But it's not Superman. Nothing of the Superman element comes up here, right? So when people are comparing Man of Steel as a good film, right? A good Superman film. It's not a good Superman film, guys. Please just accept that it is a good alien movie, but it is not a good Superman movie. No. Jor-El, Superman's father, was Krypton's leading scientist, right? He's not— and that was the— by the way, that was the director's name. I was— I went blank. Ridley Scott, right? Did all the, uh, did all the Alien movies and consequently did Gladiator movie, right? Gladiator 1 and Gladiator 2. And consequently, uh, look at those 6 degrees of separation. Uh, Russell Crowe was in them, right? But Jor-El is supposed to be an intellectual, the leading scientist on Krypton. He's not freaking Gladiator, right? Look at this Superman Gladiator-like armor with a gun in his hand. That's never been Jor-El's depiction, right? That this is an alien This is not Superman. I'm talking about Man of Steel, right? And I have to say that, guys, I had to go on that rant because we gotta stop comparing. We gotta stop saying Man of Steel is a good Superman movie, right? I just can't accept that. And, uh, the problem I'm having with a lot of the Man of Steel fans, right, from this, the Snyder Universe is that they're making that the pinnacle of what a Superman film should be, and I'm not seeing that, right? That is not what a Superman film is. But let's, let's get back on, on focus here with the, the look of, um, James Gunn version of Superman and this whole statement about, um, you know, it having the mood of it, you know, being as it were maybe kind of slow, like the Captain America films and, um, and The Mummy, you know, The Mummy. I didn't see the Tom Cruise Mummy films. I didn't see any of the, uh, I didn't even see— I think wasn't Jet Li in one? I didn't see that one either. Uh, just the old original Brandon, uh, Fraser, his name, uh, films. And, uh, they were okay to me. They were okay. They were, they were between fair and good, right? And by the way, the article comes from, uh, comicbookmovie.com, right? So yeah, this, this could be a handful of very specific people with a very particular view, interpretation of Superman, right? Now, the reason— I'm gonna give some of the reasons why I don't think that this is something we need to be concerned about. Um, I've watched enough James Gunn films to know how James Gunn interprets movies, how he puts them together. And, um, I don't think I've ever seen a James Gunn movie— just hold on, let me just— let me just— before I say anything, let me look at some of his rundown real quick. Okay, so I didn't know he did 13 Ghosts, but what I'm— I'm— as I'm looking at his rundown, uh, and some of the films I have seen and do recognize, um, you know, I didn't know he did, uh, Dawn of the Dead either. So he kind of had a little horror thing going there. Super. So, you know, some of these films, and of course, you know, we get into the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Suicide Squad 2021. So, um, and Creatures Commandos, which is doing pretty good, the animated series. But, um, there, you know, he— James Gunn is pretty good at his storytelling, right? So I'm not really concerned about that. Like, I don't— when they compare this to the The Mummy and Captain America: The First Avenger. I'm very skeptical if that's a good comparison. That doesn't seem like James Gunn at all, uh, how his storytelling works and how he writes and such. I just don't buy it. I think these people, uh, want to see a particular version of Superman and they're not very much open to, um, you know, the world James Gunn's creating. Now, what I think we have to keep in mind is the question that's been raised quite a bit has been, um, you know, basically, uh, are there too many characters in the Superman Legacy film coming out, right? Is it going to be, um, um, just too much going on. And this is the type of movie looks like James Gunn does, right? He's— he knows how to put characters here and there, you know. As they were saying, we know Supergirl is going to be in it, so they're going to be navigating around it. So this is going to be a very different angle of Superman, whereas I, I do think a lot of people would have liked to see I, I guess they would like to see just a standalone, maybe origin story Superman, right? But we have to keep in mind that that's been done so many times already, guys. I mean, even for Superman reboots and so on, it's just been done so much that we— it might be just time to move along from that, you know. They want to set up this other DCU stuff and They don't want to take 20 years to do it, so they got to kind of get these people in here. But as I've said earlier, uh, this is going to be a very interesting, different Superman film that we've seen in a long time, where it looks like gonna be a lot of people in there. And that, that, that can, that can also translate to a lot of opportunity, right? Especially for Superman fans, because we're going to be seeing things of Superman we haven't seen before. We'll be going into another level, right, of it. Because I just think this film is going to be, uh, and, uh, great news that at least every— at least they're all on board with Nicholas Hoult. Well, that kind of tells me that, because I like Nicholas Hoult. I liked his reactions. I, I just liked him as Lex Luthor in the trailer. So my thoughts are that if those guys are okay with him, we're probably all gonna be then, right? Uh, I'm just concerned about how much of Superman fans they are. Um, you know, uh, because again, guys, I'm sorry, I have to say it again, if you're a Man of Steel fan, I don't consider you a Superman fan. I'm sorry, I know, guys, some people might get mad with me. But I don't consider that Superman, right? I consider that a Superman-like character, right? So to me, that doesn't capture any of the elements of the Superman, you know, that I've seen continual through the years, right? Comic books or otherwise. Man of Steel to me just wasn't it. But James Gunn, he's bringing this colorful Marvel world and, um, it's going to translate into the, the DC, right? Um, now is the DC ready for it? Uh, we're gonna get to see that. I think it's gonna be very interesting. I think it's going to be a different flavor, but it's gonna still be in the element of Superman, right? And I'm going to try to put it in terms I think we can identify with, right? Remember, this was I think around 2011. Remember Thor from Marvel was coming out and nobody quite knew what to expect. They're like, how in the world are we going to put Asgardian Norse gods on the screen? What is that gonna look like? And they were very clever with it, and it worked. They were very careful and cautious in the beginning because what they did was they didn't spend a whole lot of time on Asgard, right? They kind of gave you glimpses and images of it, but they got Thor without his powers into a human element so we wouldn't spend the entire movie with a god walking around on the planet, right? And then they got us into that, and then it was able to merge off with the rest of the Avengers, right? To have this god walking around with the Avengers, right? And that worked. Everybody was surprised by Thor, and a lot of people like Thor, right? It did it right, uh, and so James Gunn has that gift, right, where he can do that as well. Where he can kind of take these characters difficult to translate, right? And so of course what he's doing with Superman, right, as we got to see with all those characters, you're going to see Superman linked up with the Green Lantern Corps, uh, you know, Hawkgirl and Supergirl and all these people going to be together existing in that world. And, uh, it might actually have kind of that a little bit of that Guardians feel to it. But the reason I think it can work in a colorful universe like that is simply because, um, you know, uh, Superman is going— is a— is one of those characters that can be— when you put them in a world with that many diversity of superheroes, right, it, it, it can kind of put us in a spotlight. We were trying to figure out how Thor was going to work with Captain America and Iron Man and all of those, that big team-up. So I think that's how we should think about this James Gunn movie, like a big Avengers team-up but for the DC, uh, universe in the, in the scope of, uh, so many fantastical characters like Mr. Terrific and such and so on. Now I am anti-part of some of the things James Gunn wanted to do, and also Robert Pattinson, who I am a big fan of the Batman films. I would say that the Batman films, uh, with Robert Pattinson— Pattinson, right— is, um, is probably my favorite Batman, right, uh, so far, right? I know a lot of people say, well, what about The Dark Knight and so on, right? And they're right, The Dark Knight was great. But there are some element of this Batman universe, right, with the Penguin and all those side characters that is done so well, right? But I do believe that they do not— these things feel so realistic, right? They do not belong in the expanded DC. This is, you know, and so Reeves is against it. Uh, and he should be, right? Who's doing the Batman film as they have the second one. I believe it's been, uh, it's been, uh, postponed for, for longer, right? But, uh, he should not mix those movies, right? Because James Gunn movies I don't think is gonna mix with Reeves' film. Sorry guys, uh, it's not gonna mix with his films at all. So don't do that, right? I don't know why James Gunn wants to do that and the other guys Uh, but, uh, I would hope they don't do that. Uh, it would be weird if they did that, right? So I'm against that, right? But now, as far as, uh, you know, there being a— this, this— they would make the tone like the Captain Avengers. I, I just don't see that. This— that doesn't seem like textbook James Gunn, right, to make a, a film mood like, uh, Captain America: The First Avenger. I just, I'm skeptical of that, guys. But, uh, anyway, I'm gonna cut the video short. I've went on too long. I was just saying, conclusion, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in that, uh, if those aren't really those, uh, pickup shots James Gunn is calling them, if they're really more than that, it's only going to be to improve the film, right? Um, and he probably wouldn't want to, you know, if it was truth, he probably certainly wouldn't want people to early be concerned about if this is going to be worth the watch, uh, in July of 2025. But, uh, you know, all in all, you know, I think it's gonna be fine. I think this is just a handful of people, probably like the Man of Steel crowd, the Zack Snyder fandom, uh, who wants to bring back— let me just say this about Man of Steel, guys. Uh, I get it, right? Like I said, I didn't think it was a bad movie. I just didn't think it was a Superman movie. But the thing about it, you guys got to understand is that Warner Brothers as a business, they like money. They're gonna make money off of something as long as they can, and the only reason they're going to not is because that movie misses the mark. Now, James Gunn hasn't missed the mark in his films, right? He's pulled out the big dollars. He's probably gonna do it again if he can. Even if we're skeptical going in, if he can turn it around in that movie, right? Warner Brothers is gonna bet the farm on him. They're gonna give him billions of dollars to take DC into a world like he did with Marvel, right? That's what they're gonna do. But Man of Steel, Zack Snyder films didn't do it, guys. There's a reason that they didn't do it. One reason is you had people like me who didn't think it was a Superman film. Right? But it's also just the numbers didn't add up because, uh, you know, let's, let's keep it for real, guys. If those films would have hit their marks, we wouldn't be having these discussions today. It wouldn't be a different Superman or a different DC Universe, right? It would be the Man of Steel version because they would still be trying to make money off him, just like Marvel's done with Wolverine. Uh, they will not let, um, uh, Hugh Jackman go. Uh, he's gonna be back again, I guarantee you. If they do these X-Men films, they got— they're gonna want to do Hugh Jackman, right? I think he did say something about he wouldn't be coming back. Uh, I believe enough money would change that verdict because people gonna still want to see him in those films unless just totally different Generation film or something like that. But that's all I want to say. I went too long, guys. Tell me all what you think to these rumors. I'm not buying them. Uh, I think it's just a handful of people who are misguided, more than likely. Uh, I got too much faith in James Gunn that he can make a dull movie like Captain America: The First Avenger and boot. I don't buy it with so much James Gunn's writing on. At the very least, Even if it wasn't a Superman film, I believe he would make an exciting film. But that's all I got to say. Until next time, as always, take care of yourselves and each other. And guys, don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you've watched this video. If nothing else but to just hit it so you can come on and tell me you don't like me, you don't like my videos, you don't like my voice, whatever. Uh, just come on long enough to tell me that then, but make sure you hit that subscribe button. All right, take care, guys.