James Gunn Claims “Anti-American Sentiment” And Unfamiliarity With The Character Are Reasons ‘Superman’ Isn’t Taking Off Overseas
Superman is not doing as hot overseas as it is in the American market, where most of the film’s box office gross has been generated. James Gunn, its very vocal and omnipresent director, thinks he knows why; the main reason is because the USA’s image has taken a hit worldwide. There’s that and the idea, according to him, that the Man of Steel is not a known quantity everywhere.
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“Superman is not a known commodity in some places. He is not a big, known superhero in some places like Batman is. That affects things,” Gunn said in a Rolling Stone interview. “And it also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now.
“It isn’t really helping us. So I think it’s just a matter of letting something grow. But again, for us, everything’s been a total win. Having the movie come out and be something that has been embraced by people everywhere — this is just the seed of the tree that Peter and I have been watering for the past three years. So to be able to have it start off so positively has been incredibly overwhelming,” he added.
Still, Gunn’s Man of Steel, he notes, is doing better in some foreign markets than others. “We’re definitely performing better domestically than we are internationally, but internationally is also rising and having really good weekday numbers in the same way we are,” he said. “So obviously the word of mouth is very positive both here and everywhere else. Which is the thing that we needed to do the most. At the same time, there are certain countries in which it’s really performing well. Brazil and the U.K.”
Gunn is not the only one making these claims. The Wrap made a similar summation of the worldwide movie landscape, except they added “superhero fatigue” to their shortlist of reasons. They were also more blunt in blaming President Trump for why America looks bad in their eyes. “Along with general superhero fatigue internationally, Superman has never been the global box office draw that Batman is thanks to Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy,” their analysis began.
“While there have been some arguments that the decline of the U.S.’s image under Donald Trump is impacting a hero that for decades was associated with ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ – even with Gunn downplaying that last part in his film – box office history suggests it’s not that simple,” The Wrap continued.
The problem with their logic is that Superman is one of the most instantly recognizable figures in American pop culture, no matter where you go. This is a fact, and it translates to big box-office hauls for prior Superman movies, including Man of Steel and Superman Returns. The Wrap acknowledged this when they noted 56 percent of MOS’s box office tally came from overseas. For Returns, that number was 51 percent.
Gunn’s and The Wrap’s logic is further undone by the international numbers of movies in theaters at the moment and released thus far this year. On the low end of the totem pole, even Karate Kid: Legends managed to garner slightly more than 50 percent of its total from overseas. Further up the totem pole, Jurassic World: Rebirth’s international numbers are 57.2 percent of its total gross.
F1 became an unexpected hit this season, and most of its earnings (66.6 percent) came from overseas. Then we have the superhero entries. Even with the supposed fatigue going around, Thunderbolts* still raked in $192 million from overseas markets. That number is barely over 50 percent, but still better than Superman’s opening-weekend foreign haul, which was just above $90M.
For the coup de gras, Richard Donner’s Superman did extremely well internationally, earning $166M, which was 55 percent of its total. That was 50 years ago; adjusted for inflation, the number would be higher, but the point is the character’s recognition and America’s image abroad can’t exactly be blamed for the disparity between the domestic and foreign theatrical numbers of James Gunn’s Superman.
