The Hollywood Reporter pretty much said what a lot of people were already thinking after Warner Bros. wrapped its CinemaCon panel: DC Studios underdelivered, and it sure didn’t generate the kind of heat exhibitors were hoping for.
THR put DC’s presentation in the “lost” column in its article titled: “Hollywood Winners & Losers: CinemaCon Edition — Marvel Soars, DC Slips.”
They point to the lack of any real update on The Batman Part II, no meaningful push for the Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, a Clayface tease that only left the room “mildly intrigued,” and a Supergirl clip that got some decent “influencer” chatter but not much more.
DC needed a big moment and didn’t have one
DC had the stage, had the convention, and still let its biggest headline happen outside the room when Adria Arjona’s casting in Man of Tomorrow broke elsewhere.
THR even joked that if Arjona is not playing Wonder Woman, she better be, because exhibitors would rather hear about characters regular moviegoers actually know than more of Gunn’s niche DC pulls.
As noted, when your CinemaCon messaging around Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman comes off like “no update,” “no comment,” and “we’ll get back to you,” that is not how you build momentum.
It also didn’t help that James Gunn wasn’t there in person, just as he skipped the first Paramount WBD meeting.
Peter Safran handled the DC side of the presentation, while Gunn was limited to a short video message tied to Man of Tomorrow. That only added to the sense that DC was going through the motions instead of treating CinemaCon like a must-win stage.
Man of Tomorrow starts filming next week and still barely mattered
This is maybe the strangest part. Safran confirmed Man of Tomorrow starts production next week, which should have been a major talking point, especially with Superman launching the new DCU last year and the sequel set for July 9, 2027.
Instead, the movie felt like an afterthought in the presentation. The stars appeared by video, basically saying they could not wait to share more “someday,” which is not exactly the kind of pitch that gets theater owners fired up.
Meanwhile, David Corenswet and Adria Arjona were both at CinemaCon, just not there to sell DC.
Ironically, new WBD owner, Paramount, brought Corenswet to CinemaCon for Mr. Irrelevant (David Ellison was there, too). Arjona appeared with Amazon MGM for The Thomas Crown Affair, making DC’s lack of hype and urgency stand out even more.
Marvel came in and reminded everyone what a real event looks like
By comparison, Marvel and Disney walked in with Avengers: Doomsday and blew the doors off the place.
THR put Marvel in the “won” column and described the presentation as the studio basically giving the crowd everything it wanted, including major returning characters and actors fans thought were done with the MCU.
The biggest weapon was the new Doomsday trailer, which got such an enormous response that Disney played it numerous times.
That is the kind of response DC should have wanted. Social media lit up over the Marvel footage, with reports describing Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, the return of Chris Evans, and a giant multiverse collision featuring Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Wakandans, and more.
Even with THR taking a shot at Disney’s Infinity Vision marketing push, the outlet still made it clear Marvel owned the room where it mattered most.
Feige’s MCU looked huge while Gunn’s DCU looked small
Marvel showed scale. Marvel showed confidence. Marvel showed a movie that feels like a global event. Marvel also continued the momentum with new Avengers: Doomsday casting news.
James Gunn’s DC, on the other hand, showed it is still “working on it.”
That may be acceptable behind the scenes, but it is not what exhibitors want to hear at CinemaCon, and it is not what fans want to see from a studio still trying to prove the DCU is finally on the right track.
THR’s winners-and-losers breakdown nailed it: nothing out of DC’s sounded exciting or essential. At a convention built around selling theater owners on what audiences must see on the biggest screen possible, Marvel gave them exactly that. DC and Gunn didn’t.
