James Gunn’s Approach to VFX Speaks Volumes

James Gunn, the co-president of DC Films and manager of the upcoming Superman, answered a question astir ocular effects recently, and though his reply was elemental and direct, beneath the aboveground it spoke volumes not conscionable astir the industry, but perchance adjacent his erstwhile employer, Marvel Studios.

The speech happened connected Gunn’s main hangout these days, Threads, wherever a instrumentality said the following: “The past fewer years, overworked and underpaid VFX artists person been forced to enactment with precise choky deadlines, which has led to understandably atrocious CGI successful batch of large fund movies. Do you program connected taking a antithetic attack with your DC films?”

Gunn replied, “If you bash immoderate probe you’ll spot my films person ever taken a antithetic attack and I’ve ever fixed my VFX artist-collaborators clip to bash their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve. And the prime of the VFX successful those films is uniformly large due to the fact that of it (and due to the fact that my friends astatine Weta and Framestore and ILM and much are amazingly talented).”

He continued, and here’s wherever it gets interesting, with this: “This is wherefore we wrapped connected Superman a twelvemonth earlier merchandise and wherefore they’ve been hard astatine enactment connected galore shots for months earlier that. This is wherefore we commencement heartily editing during the shoot. It’s wherefore I hole truthful vigorously and wherefore we lone sprout finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the aforesaid way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that assistance america make magic enough.”

Clearly that’s a precise straightforward, impartial answer. One that shows a level of respect and mentation needed to marque movies of that scale. But, let’s look astatine a fewer things. One, Superman is acceptable for merchandise July 11, 2025. It started shooting successful precocious February of this twelvemonth and finished successful precocious July/early August, hence Gunn saying the VFX squad has astir a twelvemonth to enactment connected the film. Two weeks aft Gunn’s movie hits theaters, the caller Marvel movie The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled for release. That movie started shooting about 4 weeks ago, astir concurrently with Gunn finishing his movie.

Many deliberation there’s nary way Fantastic Four hits that merchandise date, and possibly that’s correct. But you can’t disregard the subtext here. Most of the fervor successful the VFX industry of precocious has been directed specifically astatine Marvel Studios. There are mountains of articles astir the institution pushing VFX artists to the max to decorativeness films connected time, which led to Marvel VFX workers unionizing precocious past year.

Clearly to decorativeness a movie presumably arsenic effects-intensive arsenic Fantastic Four, connected a choky schedule, volition necessitate agelong hours. And with the union, workers volition beryllium paid a just wage for those hours. But Gunn talking astir his July 2025 superhero movie being done a twelvemonth successful beforehand erstwhile different large July 2025 superhero movie, from the institution astatine the halfway of the controversy, didn’t commencement filming until a twelvemonth retired surely is interesting. Gunn, arsenic the caput of Marvel’s competitor, whitethorn not person said thing directly, but helium is making definite radical recognize the 2 studios volition beryllium handling things differently.

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