DCU’s Superman & Supergirl Movies Get Promising Update From James Gunn After VFX Concerns

James Gunn reveals how the VFX process will be tackled for the DC Universe films Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. The upcoming DC Universe franchise from DC Studios is getting closer to finally launching. Even though Creature Commandos will premiere on Max in December, the DC Universe will get properly started in July 2025 with Gunn’s Superman film in the Chapter 1, “Gods and Monsters” slate.

As Gunn’s Superman movie is currently in post-production, a fan asked on Threads about the ongoing struggle for VFX workers in Hollywood when it comes to being overworked and underpaid, which has been an ongoing topic in the world of superhero films, too. Gunn addressed his past work and what that will mean for Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow when it comes to VFX, sharing the following:

If you do some research you’ll see my films have always taken a different approach and I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve. And the quality of the VFX in those films is uniformly great because of it (and because my friends at Weta and Framestore and ILM and more are amazingly talented).

This is why we wrapped on Superman a year before release and why they’ve been hard at work on many shots for months before that. This is why we start heartily editing during the shoot. It’s why I prepare so vigorously and why we only shoot finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the same way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough.

While the DCEU movie timeline may have started out with their VFX work not getting rushed, the end of that franchise only amplified the same issues that are happening across many Hollywood productions right now. Even something like The Flash movie, which had a reported budget of over $200 million dollars and got delayed multiple times, still managed to get a theatrical cut where there was a lot of questionable CGI. In fact, a lot of the DC movies that were released in 2023 seemingly suffered in this department, from Shazam! Fury of the Gods to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Though Gunn’s main role for DC Studios is co-CEO, his status as a filmmaker allows Warner Bros. Discovery to have someone who is in both worlds. This ensures that other DC movie directors and the post-production teams that work on their films should hopefully be able to have a smooth process after filming is over.

Even other films besides Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow that are coming up, such as The Brave and The Bold, Swamp Thing, and The Authority, should benefit from this process being a focus early on. The final products coming out of DC Studios will need to have that foundation in order for the DC Universe to succeed, making things like the quality of VFX on the first films especially important when looking at the bigger picture.

While the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie is expected to start filming at the end of 2024 or early 2025, it will be fascinating to see when the first Superman trailer is released, which will give a good indication of DC Studios’ post-production process. If Superman looks good already whenever the world gets the first look at the film, it will definitely build confidence in other DC Universe projects. But for now, time will tell how films like Superman and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will be presented, both from a story, acting, and production perspective.

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Source: James Gunn (1,2)/Threads