“Superman,” DC Studios’ first feature film to hit the big screen, is set to soar into theaters worldwide this July from Warner Bros. Pictures. In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.

DC Studios heads Peter Safran and Gunn are producing the film, which Gunn directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The film stars David Corenswet (“Twisters,” “Hollywood”) in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (the “X-Men” movies, “Juror #2”) as Lex Luthor. The film also stars Edi Gathegi (“For All Mankind”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry,” “Gotham”), Nathan Fillion (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “The Suicide Squad”), Isabela Merced (“Alien Romulus”), Skyler Gisondo (“Licorice Pizza,” “Booksmart”), Sara Sampaio (“At Midnight”), María Gabriela de Faría (“The Moodys”), Wendell Pierce (“Selma,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”), Alan Tudyk (“Andor”), Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Bird Box”) and Neva Howell (“Greedy People”).

“Superman” is executive produced by Nikolas Korda, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars Winther. Behind the camera, Gunn is joined by frequent collaborators, including director of photography Henry Braham, production designer Beth Mickle, costume designer Judianna Makovsky and composer John Murphy, along with composer David Fleming (“The Last of Us”) and editors William Hoy (“The Batman”) and Craig Alpert (“Deadpool 2,” “Blue Beetle”).

DC Studios Presents a Troll Court Entertainment/The Safran Company Production, A James Gunn Film, “Superman,” releasing in Australian cinemas on July 10, 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/

DC Studios heads Peter Safran and Gunn are producing the film, which Gunn directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The film stars David Corenswet (“Twisters”, “Hollywood”) in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (the “X-Men” movies, “Juror #2”) as Lex Luthor. The film also stars Edi Gathegi (“For All Mankind”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”, “Gotham”), Nathan Fillion (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “The Suicide Squad”), Isabela Merced (“Alien Romulus”), Skyler Gisondo (“Licorice Pizza”, “Booksmart”), Sara Sampaio (“At Midnight”), María Gabriela de Faría (“The Moodys”), Wendell Pierce (“Selma”, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”), Alan Tudyk (“Andor”), Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Bird Box”) and Neva Howell (“Greedy People”).

“Superman” is executive produced by Nikolas Korda, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars Winther. Behind the camera, Gunn is joined by frequent collaborators, including director of photography Henry Braham, production designer Beth Mickle, costume designer Judianna Makovsky and composer John Murphy, along with editors Craig Alpert (“Deadpool 2”, “Blue Beetle”), Jason Ballantine (the “IT” films, “The Flash”) and William Hoy (“The Batman”).

“Superman” will be in theaters and IMAX nationwide on July 11, 2025, and internationally beginning 9 July 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

“Superman” will release in Australian cinemas from July 10.
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/

DC Studios heads Peter Safran and Gunn are producing the film, which Gunn directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

The film stars David Corenswet (“Twisters”, “Hollywood”) in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (the “X-Men” movies, “Juror #2”) as Lex Luthor. The film also stars Edi Gathegi (“For All Mankind”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”, “Gotham”), Nathan Fillion (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “The Suicide Squad”), Isabela Merced (“Alien Romulus”), Skyler Gisondo (“Licorice Pizza”, “Booksmart”), Sara Sampaio (“At Midnight”), María Gabriela de Faría (“The Moodys”), Wendell Pierce (“Selma”, “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”), Alan Tudyk (“Andor”), Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Bird Box”) and Neva Howell (“Greedy People”).

“Superman” is executive produced by Nikolas Korda, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars Winther. Behind the camera, Gunn is joined by frequent collaborators, including director of photography Henry Braham, production designer Beth Mickle, costume designer Judianna Makovsky and composer John Murphy, along with editors Craig Alpert (“Deadpool 2”, “Blue Beetle”), Jason Ballantine (the “IT” films, “The Flash”) and William Hoy (“The Batman”).

“Superman” will be in theaters and IMAX nationwide on July 11, 2025, and internationally beginning 9 July 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

“Superman” will release in Australian cinemas from July 10.
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/

Reeve, who started his acting career in the theatre was plucked from relative obscurity by landing the role of Superman over a large number of Hollywood hopefuls including Neil Diamond! Landing this gig was a double-edged sword though and he suffered from being typecast as the man of steel for the rest of his active acting career. It forever limited him in the choice of acting roles offered to him.

The fame that came from being the lead in Richard Donner’s film as it became a worldwide phenomenon was overwhelming and Reeve did his best to enjoy the fruits of his labour, this was the seventies after all. He kept busy acting until 1995 when his life was forever changed after he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian event and was paralysed from the neck down.

It speaks to the man’s character that this event became the nucleus for his transformation into a full-time activist. His fight for expanded research into spinal cord injuries and providing aid to people with those injuries became his life’s work. His drive and determination were very impressive, but what’s most extraordinary about the Reeve presented in Super/Man is how much love and affection he instilled in his family. Their displays of emotion will warm even the coldest of hearts.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/

After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care – all while continuing his career in cinema in front of and behind the camera and dedicating himself to his beloved family.

From the directors of McQueen, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, this film includes never-before-seen intimate home movies and an extraordinary trove of personal archive material, as well as the first extended interviews ever filmed with Reeve’s three children about their father, and interviews with the A-list Hollywood actors who were Reeve’s colleagues and friends. The film is a moving and vivid cinematic telling of Reeve’s remarkable story.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is produced by Passion Pictures (Searching For Sugar Man, The Territory) and Misfits Entertainment (McQueen, Rising Phoenix).

New York-based production studio Words + Pictures financed and also produced the film. Words+Pictures, founded in 2021 by Connor Schell, is led by the creators and producers of the 30 for 30 series, the Emmy Award-winning The Last Dance, and the 2017 Oscar-winning O.J.: Made in America. The film is a presentation of DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films and Words+Pictures.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story will be released in Aussie cinemas October 10!
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU/

AQUAMAN is directed by James Wan and stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Ludi Lin and Temuera Morrison.

AQUAMAN releases in Australian cinemas on December 26, 2018.
www.facebook.com/aquaman

Elsewhere, Jason Momoa is actually able to make the Aquaman character seem cool and fast forwarding Wonder Woman’s arc allows Gal Gadot to act more naturally. It’s still at heart a comic book movie and this finds everything in overdrive, even the final battle is so over the top as to defy description. The CGI graphics are more moody and less photorealistic than other franchises and this gives the film its own look and feel.

One of the few minor letdowns is in the character of the Big Bad and without giving away too much, they are just a bit too generic. The balance between the recruitment and formation of the Justice League is finely sequenced but the final reel and its big battle is the film’s least successful element.

Also be warned DC has now fully jumped on the Marvel bandwagon and make sure to stay until the very end so as not to miss the coda at the end of the credits.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/JusticeLeagueOfficial

Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

JUSTICE LEAGUE is directed by Zack Snyder and stars Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Connie Nielsen, Amber Heard and J.K Simmons. JUSTICE LEAGUE releases in Australian cinemas on November 16, 2017.
www.justiceleaguethemovie.com

With Batman versus Superman, however, it’s not quite so easy to see the conflict as they are both clearly on the ‘hero’ side of the equation. But director, Zack Snyder, does a reasonable job of pulling this together by tapping into a problem that many viewers had with his prior film, Man of Steel.

Batman, like many of us, heavily resents the heavy public toll resulting from Superman’s urban clash with General Zod. This is understandable but when Batman determines to kill Superman in response, whoah, that’s a whole different level again and Snyder never quite convinces why two honourable superheroes would wish to assassinate each other. Not even a zero tolerant Megacity judge with a penchant for police brutality went there!

In contrast with popular opinion, it seems, I quite like what Snyder is attempting with the Superman tale. It’s a fascinating prospect to put this extra terrestrial Man of Steel into a contemporary setting and look at how, in all likelihood, the public would react to an alien with almost limitless power. In messianic fashion, some would surely revere this figure, but the bulk would treat him with suspicion and fear of what he could do to us were he to turn ‘rogue’.

This is very close to the line Christopher Nolan took with his Batman films, of course, (and it’s notable that Nolan is a producer of Snyder’s Superman films) but Snyder is not the storyteller that Nolan is and the result is a Superman film that is grubbier than even Nolan’s Batman. Indeed, Snyder’s rendering of the Batfleck is just plain nasty and psychotic as he steamrolls through Gotham, branding criminals with his hot iron knuckle batdusters. Snyder has taken Nolan’s balanced grubbiness – and Watchmen-ified it. Substitute Superman for Mr Manhattan and Batman for Rorschach and you pretty much have it.

But while this tone may be passable in Gotham, it sits a little less comfortably with Metropolis. Superman is a messiah figure and dragging him through a Gotham-like quagmire of corruption and dishonour besmirches his brand to its detriment. It’s an uneasy and uncomfortable mix for our Kryptonian white knight and Snyder only narrowly gets away with it.

On the whole, I quite like Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, (I even saw it twice) but I like it more for the ideas that Snyder is attempting to relate rather than his success in reaching that goal.

Stuart Jamieson
www.batmanvsuperman.dccomics.com