While Marvel Studios has seen its fair share of woes in the last year thanks to “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels,” they’re still the go-to production house for superhero fare in the eyes of the general public. They have far more hits than misses — “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was the highest-grossing superhero pic last year thanks to its $845 million posting.
DC, on the other hand, is actively restructuring and trying to rebrand itself after the back-to-back failures that were “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” and “Blue Beetle.” James Gunn’s new-and-improved DCU is already facing an uphill battle as audiences become weary of the oversaturation of superhero fare, and having “Superman: Legacy” face competition from “The Fantastic Four” is just the latest roadblock the franchise has. The truth is: “Superman: Legacy” needs all the help it can get, and having the film release in close proximity to “The Fantastic Four” could spell doom.
The domestic box office is still recovering from its pre-pandemic highs and it’s obvious that audiences are becoming stingier and stricter with the films they see in cinemas. Two major superhero releases back-to-back obviously favor the film from the studio with the most clout and better track record. Beyond that, “Superman: Legacy” needs time to grow and dominate due to word-of-mouth. One shouldn’t doubt Gunn, but Superman isn’t exactly a major cinematic superhero draw these days like Batman or Spider-Man. “Man of Steel,” for context, opened to $116 million back in 2013, and then plummeted to $41 million during its second weekend.
