Rumor: Man of Tomorrow Might be Pushed to HBO Max
Skydance was apparently incensed by James Gunn's assembly cut of the film.
One other rumor running parallel to Gunn and Safran being fired by Skydance is that Man of Tomorrow might not make it to the silver screen as a result of all the shakeups going on at DC Studios. The Superman sequel is set for a July 9, 2027 release; however, that might not come to fruition as planned owing to Skydance not believing the movie will make any money. Supposedly, Skydance fired Gunn and Safran now versus after the release of Man of Tomorrow in order to create its own cut of the film.
Rumors are that James Gunn's assembly cut of Man of Tomorrow features lesbian depictions of Wonder Woman and Hawgirl, anti-white messaging, and other content that has proven either polarizing or unpopular throughout Gunn's tenure with the studio. This includes a slew of cameos that some have described as "Easter-egg ephemera" and "nobodies," although longtime DC Comics fans would likely disagree. Still, Gunn's unfortunate overreliance on ensemble filmmaking of late has been a point of consternation among some fans, especially as it pertais to Superman, who many felt wasn't even the star of his own movie last time around.
In order to salvage something from the project, Skydance is allegedly looking to craft its own cut of Gunn's film in order to make it more palatable to mainline audiences. Not only that, but it's being debated internally whether to simply foist the film over to HBO Max rather than do a full theatrical release. The reasons being financial (again, there's no faith Man of Tomorrow will make money) and to prevent audience confusion. If Man of Tomorrow is simply too damaging to the DC brand, Skydance will likely have to course correct and take things in an all-new direction. Releasing content in theaters that will almost immediately be rebooted would be a big problem for retaining moviegoers in the longterm.
Of course, contracts being what they are, it might not be possible to simply sideline Man of Tomorrow to streaming. One interesting wrinkle is that Gunn has allegedly known or strongly suspected he would be fired, and that the content in Man of Tomorrow was partially fueled by a desire to figuratively set fire to DC Studios on his way out. A number of screaming matches ensued and all of the chaos and frustration helped grow the fracture between both camps. No word from Skydance on any of this, but if it stops being rumor, we'll be sure to let you all know.
Source: Cosmic Book News + Variety
