HOLLYWOOD – James Gunn’s (Tromeo & Juliet, Humanzee!) highly anticipated 150th, or so, reboot of the Superman franchise has come under fire by the Flat Earth Society after the director shared some promotional art that depicts our home planet as a sphere.
The boycott comes at a pivotal point in the superhero movie lifeline as Joker: Folie à Deux fumbles at the box office, projected to lost $150 – $200 million.
“Normally, I wouldn’t respond to this kind of criticism,” said Gunn in a statement with E! News. “But with the current trajectory of the superhero movie market, I can’t take any risks.”
Gunn also said he reached out to Flat Earth Society and explained that he used a two-dimensional CGI model for the promotional art and that seemed to satisfy their demands to end the boycott, for the time being.
“For now, we’re lifting our boycott of James Gunn’s Superman movie,” said Terrance Longitude, leader of the LA-based chapter of the Flat Earth Society. “But, if we get one more inkling that the movie will inaccurately show the globe as a sphere, we will protest again.”
Cinema experts don’t believe the boycott, should it resume, will have much impact on the movie’s success at the box office; instead, that will come from the millions of moviegoers who just want Hollywood to greenlight original content rather than rebooting the same superhero franchise, again.
“Here we go again,” said Dwayne Cook, a lifelong DC fan. “Look, I love Superman and I’m all for having him appear in all the superhero movies. But we all know who he is. We know his backstory. We don’t need another solo Superman movie, like, ever.”
Despite the collective sigh from fans who wish this would’ve been a Booster Gold movie, instead, DC leadership insists this will be a Superman movie unlike any other and will stand as the cornerstone for Gunn’s new DC Extended Universe.
“Is it a Superman movie? Yes,” said Sara Wang, a spokesman for DC. “But this movie is unlike any other and will stand as the cornerstone for James’ new cinematic universe. How? Well, this time he has a dog.”
To further resonate with fans, and assure them that this movie isn’t anything like the 1978 Superman, or Superman II, or Superman III, or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, or Superman Returns, or Man of Steel, or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gunn wrote a heartfelt message on Twitter about the origin of Superman’s dog Krypto.
“Krypto arrives on screens in Superman this summer. Krypto was inspired by our dog Ozu, who we adopted shortly after I started writing Superman. Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs & never knew human beings, was problematic to say the least,” He wrote.
“He immediately came in & destroyed our home, our shoes, our furniture – he even ate my laptop. It took a long time before he would even let us touch him. I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, how difficult would life be if Ozu had superpowers?’ and thus Krypto came into the script & changed the shape of the story as Ozu was changing my life. What better time to debut the not-so-good-good-boy Krypto than #AdoptAShelterDog month. Btw, Ozu today, is, fairly often, a very good boy.”
With more than 48,000 likes and 1.2 thousand comments, it’s safe to say that fans love Ozu—and Krypto—but will that translate into box office success? Will the flat earthers encourage their followers to watch the film, or boycott it? We’ll find out on July 11, 2025, when Superman hits theaters.
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