On Monday, I reported that Hollywood had apparently learned nothing from the disasters, as actress Milly Alcock, the woman set to portray Supergirl in James Gunn's DCU, had likely wrecked her movie with one stupid comment.
As she told Variety, the blowback the film is receiving is a product of "Dad of four, Christian," and said that she's "pissing the right kind of people off."
Read: And With One Comment, James Gunn's DC Cinematic Universe Is Dead
I predicted that this isn't just going to hurt the movie, but the DCU franchise in total. It's the same issue that was faced in the MCU when Brie Larson ran her mouth about men and created an environment where returns diminished fast.
As it turns out, that prediction is coming true. Not that one needs to be clairvoyant to know that was going to happen.
According to That Park Place, the data shows that interest in the movie is quite low now:
According to tracking data out of The Quorum, Supergirl currently sits at 53% audience awareness but only 46% interest.
The bigger issue is that awareness has remained flat while interest has actually declined.
Previous tracking reportedly showed the film sitting at the same awareness level but carrying 48% audience interest. In other words, more people are hearing about the movie without becoming more excited to actually see it.
That’s not the trajectory Warner Bros. wants heading into this huge release.
Studios generally expect awareness and audience enthusiasm to climb together as marketing ramps up.
Now, as I reported in my previous article, the latest trailer featured David Corenswet's Superman heavily, yet despite his appearance, interest has only declined.
As That Park Place noted, Alcock's comments about Christian dads are following her around. A lot of the discourse around the movie now involves that comment, along with either refusals to see it or people trying to back her up, which only causes others to want to refuse it more.
No matter what Gunn or Warner Bros do now, the film is likely dead on arrival, and it brings the DCU into a desperate spot. The MCU's worst films in the beginning were still coherent and drama-free, but Gunn doesn't have that luxury. He was under a microscope from the start, and his style seems to be an ill fit for this brand, at least according to the DC fandom.
And this is where Gunn is in hot water.
When it comes to anything nerd-related, a product lives or dies based on its fandom. If the fandom can generate enough hype, then that gets the normies interested. When the normies start showing up, and they're pleased, something becomes a cultural event, and it rockets to great success.
But the normies aren't coming. The fandom is alienated. The conversation is no longer around Supergirl, or even the DCU; it's about Alcock and her comments. It's not about a display of superheroes; it's about Gunn's management of the brand.
That is a disaster on all fronts.
Moreover, it puts Gunn's future as head of the DCU in jeopardy. He was supposed to create the next MCU, and he has, but only the latter portion of it, where everyone is tapped out and over it. Now, Alcock's comments have only thrown gasoline on the fire Gunn was trying to manage. If his name is attached to something that can't generate interest, then what's the point of Gunn being there? He becomes a detriment.
If Gunn or Alcock issued an apology, it may go far, but I'm not sure the issue is just one movie anymore. It's a culture issue that infects the entire brand now, just as Larson did to the MCU. Only Gunn is in a worse position, because the fatigue over this culture is far more powerful now than it was when the MCU started going bad.
I predict Gunn is done. The DCU is likely going to pass into new hands. Might not be this year, might not even be the next, but unless Gunn does something drastic to change course, I don't see how Warner Bros keeps him around. Especially if he's fostering an environment where his actors feel free to say things that kill his films.
