Rumor: James Gunn Removed "Sex Jokes" From 'Superman' Film
A new rumor alleges that director James Gunn has removed a number of “sex jokes” from the film.
Scooper MyTimeToShineH reports, “I heard James Gunn has removed a lot of the sex jokes from Superman.”
This rumor comes in the wake of previous reports at the end of May that Gunn and his team at DC Studios made significant changes to the film following test screenings. Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel claimed that DC Studios cut “several comedic beats” resulting in a trimmed down tone and runtime. He also shared that an editor was removed in the middle of the process resulting in “some key sequences [being] shuffled and minor scenes [being] added.”
Specifically, on the tone front, Ruimy claims that “a second composer was brought in late in the game to reshape the score, suggesting the tone may been in flux as recently as a few weeks ago.” His report notes that 25 minutes of the film was cut.
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Ruimy’s claim was initially disputed by scooper ViewerAnon, who stated, “Always possible someone has info I don't but just for the record: I've heard nothing about the film's structure being reworked, and if there were ‘several new scenes’ added during reshoots it's news to me.”
He added, “I’ve been told that when you include every round of pickups/reshoots/whatever-you-want-to-call them, there was less than a week of total additional photography on SUPERMAN.”
However, in posts on the Box Office Theory forum, he seemed to affirm that the film has changed from its original conception in the editing room and that a second composer was brought in.
He said, “I don't think it's been a disaster in the editing room but there have definitely been changes from how it was originally conceived. They did a bunch of late work on the score as well and brought in a second composer.”
“There were notes,” he added. “The movie was tweaked a fair bit after the last test screening, I know they've taken some of the more risqué jokes (including my favorite joke in the movie...) out of it.”
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On Reddit, he revealed that a scene of Ultraman punching Superman’s dog Krypto and knocking him out was removed, “So I can say this since I heard it changed: Ultraman did originally punch Krypto in the head, knocking him out with a loud yelp. I’ve heard that is no longer in the movie.”
He also shared that Braniac, Amanda Waller, and Sam Lane are not in the film, “No, none of that stuff - Brainiac, Waller, Sam Lane - is in the movie. And I've been told directly that there is no post-credit Brainiac tease or anything of the sort.”
Finally, he reiterated, “Most of the edits are just about locking in tone, tightening jokes, pretty normal stuff.”
The film is currently tracking for a $154 to $175 million opening weekend at the domestic box office with Box Office Theory’s Shawn Robbins sharing it will do $175 million in his pinpoint projection.
Additionally, he believes it will gross between $392 and $510 million with a pinpoint projection of $477 million for its entire domestic run at the box office.
As a comparison, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel film in 2013 grossed $128 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross $291 million in its entire domestic run. It grossed a worldwide total of $667.9 million. If you factor in inflation, Man of Steel grossed $177.5 million in its opening weekend and $401.6 million by the end of its run. Globally, it ended at $921.7 million. So the film is pacing pretty in line with Snyder’s film.
If you go back to 2006 and Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, the film grossed $84.5 million in its opening and weekend and $200.1 million overall at the domestic box office. Worldwide it grossed $391 million. Factoring in inflation, it had an opening of $134.8 million and an overall domestic gross of $319.1 million. It’s worldwide total was $623.6 million.
What do you make of this rumor?
Removing sex jokes would be a good move. Lois and Clark had some of those, and they always landed, because at its heart the show understood Superman and took itself seriously. Modern superhero movies are all episodes of Friends with less likable characters and even worse writing. For a hard reset of what to expect, it needs to be a lot more Spiderman and a lot less Thor Ragnarök.
Why were there sex jokes in a Superman movie, Gunn? Yet another confirmation that he doesn't get Superman.