That doesn't seem like much of a punishment.

How about you make it $550 million and if it clears it, you can never post about the Mandalorian and Grogu movie ever again?

This is where I'm at with Toy Story 5. I find it just highly suspect that its tracking higher than Toy Story 2 or 3. But, I've been wrong before, and with a now 17 yr old son these Pixar movies are no longer in my wheelhouse.

Haven’t been this optimistic about the state of movies in a long time. The energy at the theaters right now is something special. Obsession and Backrooms buzz is real and extends far beyond just the internet.

— TylerCWhitmore (@TylerCWhitmore) May 29, 2026

One of the craziest box office weekends underway: BACKROOMS by 20-year old Kane Parsons on track to make at least $80M at this point. OBSESSION to make MORE in its 3rd wkdn ($28.5) than its 1st & 2nd wkdns...and more than GROGU (around $24M). https://t.co/5BIZqKJG3B

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 30, 2026

Now looking like "Backrooms" will open this weekend to around $85 million. And "Obsession" will gross around $28.5 million, up 19% -- the first wide release to grow its box office two weekends in a row since 1982. What can I say but !!!!!!! https://t.co/xrUzhBVKMR

— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) May 30, 2026

TCTTS said:

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Haven’t been this optimistic about the state of movies in a long time. The energy at the theaters right now is something special. Obsession and Backrooms buzz is real and extends far beyond just the internet.

— TylerCWhitmore (@TylerCWhitmore) May 29, 2026

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This is good. Original content by young, ambitious filmmakers over bull****, bloated cashgrab rehashes that no one asked for.

I hope we are entering a better era .

That's crazy. Backrooms is gonna double its predicted opening. So much for trying to figure out what's going to happen for the rest of this year with any confidence.

Look, I don't care about box office returns on movies because the value of art can never be measured by monetary success, but when an inherently derivative, corporately engineered cash grab movie fails on the scale of 'The Mandalorian and Grogu', while original stories thrive at… pic.twitter.com/4BnBepXofU

— The Sietch of Sci-Fi | (@TSoS_) May 30, 2026

Cliff.Booth said:

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Look, I don't care about box office returns on movies because the value of art can never be measured by monetary success, but when an inherently derivative, corporately engineered cash grab movie fails on the scale of 'The Mandalorian and Grogu', while original stories thrive at… pic.twitter.com/4BnBepXofU

— The Sietch of Sci-Fi | (@TSoS_) May 30, 2026

---

Christopher Nolan right now regarding The Odyssey….

Good lord.

‘OBSESSION’ has earned $26.4M in its third weekend, a 10% increase.

• Weekend 1 - $16M
• Weekend 2 - $22.4M (+30%)
• Weekend 3 - $26.4M (+10%)

Simply unprecedented. pic.twitter.com/kc32bPKMci

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) May 31, 2026

I've covered box office results literally hundreds of times in my career. The mind-blowing success of "Backrooms" and "Obsession" this weekend easily ranks in the top 1% as far as long-term significance for the movie business. My story w/ @johnjurg: https://t.co/rknlAhFvbG pic.twitter.com/Y5CoiU4hmt

— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) May 31, 2026

I knew the movie was a flop but this is kinda crazy https://t.co/e6Wt7mGqAU

— Jay Bulworth Facts (@TheDougFiles) May 31, 2026

Agreed.

Big picture, I of course want Star Wars to succeed and I absolutely still hope to see good Star Wars movie down the line.

But yeah, I legit believe this weekend may have just changed the course of movie history, for the better.

Granted, Toy Story 5, yet another Minions movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day etc will all almost assuredly be hits this summer. It's not like franchise blockbusters are done.

That said, combined with superhero fatigue, it really does like this particular era of big, "safe," vanilla, mailed-in installments of decades-old franchises was just put out to pasture.

And it's not just that The Mandalorian and Grogu failed, either. It's that two original indie horror films kicked its ass, took it out back, and shot it in the head.

In other words, audiences are finally showing with their wallets that they're not just sick and tired of eating reheated nachos, they're CRAVING freshness and originality.

It's a long time coming, but man, this is amazing.

Studio executives will probably find a way to learn all the wrong lessons from this weekend, but the fact that two indie horror films just clobbered a shitty STAR WARS sequel at the box office is a great thing for cinema. And possibly the world.

— Sean Burns (@SeanMBurns) May 31, 2026

Sooooo, with what you just described plus the lackluster projections for Supergirl and Gunn's weird slate of planned releases, surely he should start sweating his future with WB/DC soon (if not already)?

Possibly?

While I will say that, within less than a year, Gunn's Superman has seemingly faded from the cultural zeitgeist completely, he at least TRIES, and I don't consider anything he makes "safe," vanilla, mailed-in, etc. Is it all too quirky/James Gunny? Yes. Is there anyone actually excited for Supergirl? it doesn't seem like it. But he's giving it his all, clearly cares, isn't making corporate-safe decisions, etc. That, and both Lanterns and Clayface look great, while Man of Tomorrow (the Superman sequel) is already in production. So Gunn is safe for another year+, at least, and who knows what can change between now and then.

IMO, the problem is two fold...

1) Right now, this whole DCU effort feels... uneventful so far. Not boring, but... like it's missing a certain gravitas or cultural footprint or something. The whole thing is just off. Again, could that change? Sure.

2) That said, while Paramount is about to take over Warner Bros, and doesn't seem like a great fit for Gunn's sensibilities, what are they going to do? Fire him and start over with DC yet again? Maybe? But is anyone then going to show up for, like, the third Superman iteration in 10 years, come 2030 or so? That almost seems like the worst option at this point.

They don't have to start over, they could get the Snyderverse back up.

Cavill and especially Affleck are getting too old, IMO, while Wonder Woman 1984 and The Flash bombed so hard they practically killed those two iterations of those characters. Given all of that, I just don't even see how you credibly bring back the Snyderverse at this point, or why anyone would want to. It was already on its last legs.

Honestly, if I were Paramount, in a perfect world, I would kill the current DCU, let Matt Reeves cook on The Batman Part II and Part III over the next few years, do some more spinoff shows in that world as well, and then just wait and do fresh takes on the all the big DCU characters next decade. I realize that's impossible, if not fiscally irresponsible, but man/ Personally, I just have next to no interest in something like Man of Tomorrow, and that's the next crown jewel of the franchise. I'll see it, of course. And again, a year from now maybe I'm actually excited. But right now? I'm looking forward to seeing so much other stuff far more.

I would argue that Gunn did play it safe, it was flashy as hell, but boring and safe.

It had none of the heart that Guardians movies had. They all had a decent emotional element to them.

Superman for all the flash was wildly forgettable and vanilla.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

IMO, a superdog-babysitting Superman as a "punk rock" defender of kindness, sent by a sadistic Joe El to an Earth already filled with ******* superheroes - a world that also features a crazy/zany "pocket dimension" in which typing monkeys talk **** on the internet - is anything but "safe" in my opinion. Like, it's literally the opposite of safe, in that Gunn took about as big of a swing as one could take with that character/world. While it's clear he put his heart into it, and that heart did, indeed, shine through in places (especially in the final scene/credits).

It's just that the resulting overall tone/vibe didn't quite resonate with everyone, including myself. There was something both very intentional but also a little flippant - i.e. unsafe - about the whole endeavor that just felt off and didn't match our expectations of the character.

I think he meant safe more in the idea that it didn't go dark, nobody important died other than Superman's ethnic pal, and the light and breezy mode created by several of things you mentioned sent it on a huge swerve away from both the highly praised "The Batman" as well as the much more serious toned Man of Steel.

You could argue that the character of Superman is about the 5th most interesting person in the Superman movie.
Nathan Fillion and Edi Gathegi stole all the seasons they were in as Guy Gardner and Mr. Terrific, Rachel Brosnahan was a lot of fun as Lois Lane, Luthor's plans didn't make any sense, but he did kill a guy in front of Supes to shame him, and Skyler Gisondo was really great as the "so hot he doesn't know it" Jimmy Olson.

Plus using a clone of the good guy as the bad guy is a tired ass plot. Luthor's biggest weapon is supposed to be his mind.

If they wanted to take a swing, they should make a live action Red Son.