James Whitehead
CinemaCon brought us many sneak peaks and exclusive looks at the most anticipated projects coming in the next year, but perhaps the most substantial look we received was a five-minute extended trailer for the new DC studios project, Superman.
James Gunn, co-head of DC Studios, as well as the upcoming director for Superman, was on stage sharing his excitement for the film and giving us an idea of some of the important relationships in the story.
Everyone familiar with the Lore of Superman knows how important Lois Lane is to the humanization of Clark Kent. In the trailer alone, Rachel Brosnahan looks incredible in the role as she bears the responsibility of connecting this alien to the human world. For many people, Lois is the doorway into our connection with Clark. When you have a god-like character who’s almost invincible, the tricky part becomes making him relatable to the audience, and that’s why its so important to the narrative that their relationship can still feel human and realistic.
James Gunn is evidently aware of this, he mentioned before that he turned down the chance to direct Superman in the past because he struggled to find a way to humanize the character. But it seems he has certainly found the formula to make Superman relatable, not only by showing us his romantic relationship, but also by showing us a new relationship that we haven’t seen on the big screen before for Superman, his relationship with his pet dog, Krypto.
Watch the new extended trailer here.
It’s such a smart and brave idea to introduce Krypto, for most audience members, they would have never known or heard of Krypto before and the idea of Superman having a ‘super-pet’ could easily come across as silly, but the execution in the trailer alone negates all these concerns for me as he’s clearly being used in a similar vein as Lois, a very human and relatable problem for superman to deal with; that can’t be fixed with his power and strength.
Ultimately, the success of this film hinges on a lot more than Superman’s dog or his girlfriend, but the most encouraging aspect of this is the way the marketing has focused so much on the more human elements of Superman. Because if this film is going to be successful for the larger audiences, they’re going to have to achieve the feat of making Superman more relatable.
After all, if James Gunn can make a talking tree and a gun-wielding racoon relatable in his ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trilogy, then I’m more than convinced he is the right fit, to bring the man of steel, to new heights.
For more CinemaCon coverage, be sure to check out the TV and Film news section of our Essex Hits Player.
