{"id":288351,"date":"2025-07-24T16:36:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T16:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/288351\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T16:36:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T16:36:19","slug":"james-gunn-blames-anti-american-sentiment-for-supermans-low-international-box-office-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/288351\/","title":{"rendered":"James Gunn blames \u2018anti-American sentiment\u2019 for Superman\u2019s low international box office performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Superman<\/a> director James Gunn<\/a> has blamed anti-American sentiment for the film\u2019s underwhelming international box office performance.<\/p>\n

The reboot of the iconic DC hero <\/a>has been a massive success<\/a> in the United States, earning more than $253m (\u00a3186m) domestically<\/a>. However, it has so far failed to majorly ignite the international box-office, earning just $173m (\u00a3127m) worldwide at the time of writing. <\/p>\n

Speaking to Rolling Stone<\/a>, Gunn claimed that the character is not as well-known in some places around the world, compared to the US, and that the film is also battling with disapproval of Americans on the global stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuperman is not a known commodity in some places. He is not a well-known superhero in some places like Batman is. That affects things,\u201d claimed the 58-year-old.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cAnd it also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn\u2019t really helping us. So I think it\u2019s just a matter of letting something grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gunn did caveat this by saying that the film has been \u201ca total win\u201d, adding that \u201cthis is just the seed of the tree that Peter Safran [co-CEO of DC Studios] and I have been watering for the past three years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

David Corenswet in \u2018Superman\u2019 (AP)<\/p>\n

So far, Superman\u2019s total worldwide gross is reportedly<\/a> $430m, surpassing the $330m achieved by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, which is the character\u2019s previous highest-grossing film.<\/p>\n

The new film was the subject of a political spat before its release after Gunn claimed that it is an immigrant story<\/a>, which \u201csays basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the director\u2019s remark, Fox News<\/a> anchor Kellyanne Conway<\/a> said on The Five: \u201cWe don\u2019t go to the movie theatre to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us. I wonder if it will be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the criticism, Gunn said Superman <\/a>was for \u201ceveryone\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not here to judge people,\u201d he told Variety at the Superman premiere in Los Angeles. \u201cI think this is a movie about kindness and I think that\u2019s something everyone can relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

James Gunn and David Corenswet on the set of \u2018Superman\u2019 (AP)<\/p>\n

Gunn\u2019s iteration of the iconic DC superhero features David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as the villainous Lex Luthor.<\/p>\n

The cast also includes Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, and Gabriela de Far\u00eda as The Engineer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-288351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114909189577611445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}