Variety: ‘Superman: Legacy’ to Begin Filming Next Week; David Zaslav Says News Is ‘Optimistic’ After ‘Studio Has Really Been Underperforming’

Story from Variety:

During Friday’s Q4 earnings call, David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO, said that James Gunn‘s “Superman: Legacy” will start filming next week.

Gunn posted the first picture of the full cast on Instagram yesterday, writing, “After the table read with the Superman cast. Eve, Mr. Terrific, Superman/Clark, Otis, Lex, producer Peter Safran, Jimmy, Metamorpho, Lois, Hawkgirl, me, Guy, The Engineer all together for the first time! What a wonderful day.”

Zaslav sounded optimistic when delivering the “Superman” news, saying, “Bottom line, the studio has really been underperforming — including at the end of the year where we had some real struggle — but we’re very optimistic about this year, and it has given us the chance to have a lot of upside in the next two years.”

Gunnar Wiedenfels, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO, was also frank on the call about last year’s soft superhero offerings.

“On the film side, obviously this is going to continue to be a hit-driven business,” he said. “Just last year was a great example, with the greatest success in the film studio’s history, and some real challenges across the industry on the on the superhero side.”

Wiedenfels also specifically noted that two of the company’s December offerings — “The Color Purple” and the superhero sequel “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” — weren’t great performers.

“Superman: Legacy” stars David Corenswet as the titular superhero, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and is set to be released on July 11, 2025. Gunn is writing and directing the film, which is set to be the first in the “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” section of the rebooted DC Universe, which he created along with producer Peter Safran. As of 2022, the duo are co-CEOs and co-chairs of DC Studios.