Seems pretty clear that Gunn decided to take over the film in post production, made his own edit and had it compete with Gillespie and decided to release his own edit even though Gillespie’s...
Gunn and Gillespie had creative differences over the direction of the movie, numerous sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, and the film never found its footing in the post-production process. The test scores, which are counted on a scale out of 100 points, never escaped the 60s, according to multiple insiders. Another insider said the movie’s top score was 70.
Filming wrapped in May 2025, and as early as the fall of that year, the studio and Gillespie knew the movie wasn’t working. After a December test screening proved to be just okay, the studio decided to take matters into its own hands and took charge of the post-production to make its own cut. Gunn also enlisted writer Jeremy Slater, who previously wrote an unmade feature based on DC superhero team The Authority, to help with the post-production process.
There were signs that things were getting better. Deep into winter, test scores improved and hit the low 70s. However, rather than continue to tinker away on that cut, the studio decided to force a bakeoff by creating two cuts, one by Gillespie and one by the studio.
It is unclear what major differences emerged, but one source says Gillespie’s version was 11 minutes longer and featured more of the villain, Krem, played by Matthias Schoenaerts. When the two competing versions tested, the scores surprisingly dropped significantly, although the studio’s inched out ahead of Gillespie’s…but by only two points, according to sources. Gillespie’s version scored strongly on song choices, pacing and villain. Eking out a win, even a middling one, the studio chose its cut as the one to go into theaters. A studio insider says the differences were not particularly pronounced.
Seems pretty clear that Gunn decided to take over the film in post production, made his own edit and had it compete with Gillespie and decided to release his own edit even though Gillespie’s tested a bit higher. Very Suicide Squad-esque level of mess.
So much for this being a filmmaker friendly space lol.
As much as I loved Superman, I think this shows that Gunn is way over his head and that they needed a seasoned producer to take over the IP (like Dan Lin who nearly got the job as he produced The Lego Movies, It, and Sherlock Holmes for WB). Because now Gunn is looking to replace Andy Muschietti to direct The Brave and the Bold. Not what you’d want out of a studio exec lol.
The section you quoted says that the studio's cut tested slightly higher, though?
Seems pretty clear that Gunn decided to take over the film in post production, made his own edit and had it compete with Gillespie and decided to release his own edit even though Gillespie’s tested a bit higher.
The section you quoted says that the studio's cut tested slightly higher, though?
Not sure what's up with all the Gunn hate recently. I saw the movie and I can really tell the push and pull between Gunn and someone else, and I think the Gunn parts were strongest. As for being a...
Not sure what's up with all the Gunn hate recently.
I saw the movie and I can really tell the push and pull between Gunn and someone else, and I think the Gunn parts were strongest.
As for being a filmmaker friendly space, that's not the same as being a bad cut space.
Gunn has a natural talent of being in tune with audiences and fans and the source material. In his comic book movies he doesn't just change things from the source material for the hell of it, and when he does change things he justifies it and ties it together to have cohesive meaning within the narrative.
A lot of filmmakers tend to diverge from the source material solely because they want to put their fingerprints on the movie or because they're overly concerned with what will or won't translate from comics to film, this is when you get bizarre one dimensional changes that make no narrative sense and don't really improve anything.
I can see the push and pull between those two approaches in this film and I think it suffers from that.
I also got this weird sense watching the movie that Craig Gillespie was trying to emulate a Gunn movie without fundamentally understanding what makes a Gunn movie a Gunn Movie.
And even just looking at Craig Gillespie's filmography he seems like an absolutely bizarre choice of director for this film. Frankly if I was Gunn I wouldn't take any director who's done recycled character cash grab Disney movies like Cruella seriously.
Gunn is a great writer and director but this being the first project he’s done where he’s only the producer and the results are a messy film that was received incredibly poorly, and that came with...
Gunn is a great writer and director but this being the first project he’s done where he’s only the producer and the results are a messy film that was received incredibly poorly, and that came with productions issues this severe is a bad sign.
And even just looking at Craig Gillespie's filmography he seems like an absolutely bizarre choice of director for this film. Frankly if I was Gunn I wouldn't take any director who's done recycled character cash grab Disney movies like Cruella seriously.
Gillespie made I, Tonya which received three Oscar nominations and won one. Cruella was generally well received by critics and audiences received two Oscar nominations and won one. He also directed the Pam & Tommy TV series which received 10 Emmy nominations one of which was for himself as Director. His last feature film, Dumb Money, was also generally well received.
Not just that but both I, Tonya and Cruella focus on messy women and tell their stories in a hyper stylized way, means that he was actually a great choice on paper. It just didn’t work out that way, but these are issues that should have been addressed in pre-production as opposed to waiting until post to try to fix everything in the edit.
Gunn still has Clayface later this year which will hopefully go better. But, Supergirl was supposed to be DC’s big movie this year and one of the few tentpoles Warner Bros. had lined up.
I gotta say, whatever DC's been doing in live action since the start of the MCU is way too confusing. For Marvel, the majority of stuff is in the same universe, or at least in an alternate...
I gotta say, whatever DC's been doing in live action since the start of the MCU is way too confusing.
For Marvel, the majority of stuff is in the same universe, or at least in an alternate timeline that's more explicitly stated to be an alternate timeline in the movie and which eventually connects to the main series (like Fantastic Four First Steps). Sure that means you gotta do homework or not know what's going on, but it's easier to understand.
When I go to see a DC movie with people, nobody knows what's supposed to be connected to each other, and I frequently lose track of it myself. Are Joaquin Phoenix Joker, Robert Pattinson Batman, the new Superman from last year, the Snyder movies, the Arrow TV show, and the Doom Patrol TV series all in the same universe? Nah, those are 6 separate things! What's even crazier is that some things like Peacemaker are in both the Snyder and Gunn verses? People who don't read entertainment news articles or actor interviews and all this stuff have no way to keep up with all of that.
The plans were never clear. But, the general concept is that Reeves’s Batman films is in an Elseworld thing and the mainline Batman film (The Brave and the Bold) will focus on the “Batman family”...
The plans were never clear. But, the general concept is that Reeves’s Batman films is in an Elseworld thing and the mainline Batman film (The Brave and the Bold) will focus on the “Batman family” and be a more light hearted version of the character. That was what originally was said/speculated on. Gunn hired Andy Muschietti right before The Flash released, he also hired Christina Hudson to write the film (she also wrote The Flash). It seemed clear at the time that he hired these people to boost The Flash which ended up failing anyway.
He said he wouldn’t release two Batman movies in the same year but that’s about it.
I’d feel better about the whole thing if the creative team that was hired were people more like Dan Tratchenberg (Predator: Badlands) and Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Planet of the Apes)
Makes sense that there was some extra complications in the background. I wasnt planning on seeing Supergirl, but I had expected it to be a success. The things I didnt like about Superman were, I...
Makes sense that there was some extra complications in the background.
I wasnt planning on seeing Supergirl, but I had expected it to be a success. The things I didnt like about Superman were, I thought, a result of Gunn being more interested in telling stories about messy flawed characters. So I figured Supergirl would be more in his wheelhouse.
So even if the film underperformed I thought at least it would get good reception among the people who did go see it.
Seems pretty clear that Gunn decided to take over the film in post production, made his own edit and had it compete with Gillespie and decided to release his own edit even though Gillespie’s tested a bit higher. Very Suicide Squad-esque level of mess.
So much for this being a filmmaker friendly space lol.
As much as I loved Superman, I think this shows that Gunn is way over his head and that they needed a seasoned producer to take over the IP (like Dan Lin who nearly got the job as he produced The Lego Movies, It, and Sherlock Holmes for WB). Because now Gunn is looking to replace Andy Muschietti to direct The Brave and the Bold. Not what you’d want out of a studio exec lol.
The section you quoted says that the studio's cut tested slightly higher, though?
Yeah I misread that lol
Not sure what's up with all the Gunn hate recently.
I saw the movie and I can really tell the push and pull between Gunn and someone else, and I think the Gunn parts were strongest.
As for being a filmmaker friendly space, that's not the same as being a bad cut space.
Gunn has a natural talent of being in tune with audiences and fans and the source material. In his comic book movies he doesn't just change things from the source material for the hell of it, and when he does change things he justifies it and ties it together to have cohesive meaning within the narrative.
A lot of filmmakers tend to diverge from the source material solely because they want to put their fingerprints on the movie or because they're overly concerned with what will or won't translate from comics to film, this is when you get bizarre one dimensional changes that make no narrative sense and don't really improve anything.
I can see the push and pull between those two approaches in this film and I think it suffers from that.
I also got this weird sense watching the movie that Craig Gillespie was trying to emulate a Gunn movie without fundamentally understanding what makes a Gunn movie a Gunn Movie.
And even just looking at Craig Gillespie's filmography he seems like an absolutely bizarre choice of director for this film. Frankly if I was Gunn I wouldn't take any director who's done recycled character cash grab Disney movies like Cruella seriously.
Gunn is a great writer and director but this being the first project he’s done where he’s only the producer and the results are a messy film that was received incredibly poorly, and that came with productions issues this severe is a bad sign.
Gillespie made I, Tonya which received three Oscar nominations and won one. Cruella was generally well received by critics and audiences received two Oscar nominations and won one. He also directed the Pam & Tommy TV series which received 10 Emmy nominations one of which was for himself as Director. His last feature film, Dumb Money, was also generally well received.
Not just that but both I, Tonya and Cruella focus on messy women and tell their stories in a hyper stylized way, means that he was actually a great choice on paper. It just didn’t work out that way, but these are issues that should have been addressed in pre-production as opposed to waiting until post to try to fix everything in the edit.
Gunn still has Clayface later this year which will hopefully go better. But, Supergirl was supposed to be DC’s big movie this year and one of the few tentpoles Warner Bros. had lined up.
How are they expecting to release a Batman movie against another Batman movie?
I gotta say, whatever DC's been doing in live action since the start of the MCU is way too confusing.
For Marvel, the majority of stuff is in the same universe, or at least in an alternate timeline that's more explicitly stated to be an alternate timeline in the movie and which eventually connects to the main series (like Fantastic Four First Steps). Sure that means you gotta do homework or not know what's going on, but it's easier to understand.
When I go to see a DC movie with people, nobody knows what's supposed to be connected to each other, and I frequently lose track of it myself. Are Joaquin Phoenix Joker, Robert Pattinson Batman, the new Superman from last year, the Snyder movies, the Arrow TV show, and the Doom Patrol TV series all in the same universe? Nah, those are 6 separate things! What's even crazier is that some things like Peacemaker are in both the Snyder and Gunn verses? People who don't read entertainment news articles or actor interviews and all this stuff have no way to keep up with all of that.
The plans were never clear. But, the general concept is that Reeves’s Batman films is in an Elseworld thing and the mainline Batman film (The Brave and the Bold) will focus on the “Batman family” and be a more light hearted version of the character. That was what originally was said/speculated on. Gunn hired Andy Muschietti right before The Flash released, he also hired Christina Hudson to write the film (she also wrote The Flash). It seemed clear at the time that he hired these people to boost The Flash which ended up failing anyway.
He said he wouldn’t release two Batman movies in the same year but that’s about it.
I’d feel better about the whole thing if the creative team that was hired were people more like Dan Tratchenberg (Predator: Badlands) and Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Planet of the Apes)
Makes sense that there was some extra complications in the background.
I wasnt planning on seeing Supergirl, but I had expected it to be a success. The things I didnt like about Superman were, I thought, a result of Gunn being more interested in telling stories about messy flawed characters. So I figured Supergirl would be more in his wheelhouse.
So even if the film underperformed I thought at least it would get good reception among the people who did go see it.