Variety’s latest dive into the reboot of Superman—titled “Superman Success?” because nothing says confidence like a question mark—tries really hard to convince us that Hollywood finally cracked the code: make movies for people who actually buy tickets. Written with the delicacy of someone afraid to offend Twitter and their grandma at the same time, it tiptoes past every cultural landmine like they know exactly how thin the ice is under their feet.
It’s kind of adorable—and by adorable, I mean wildly inconsistent—that Variety is now pretending to appreciate balance after years of spoon-feeding Hollywood elite ideology straight to America’s face. But credit where it’s due: this article shows a glimmer of something we haven’t seen in Tinseltown in a while—maybe not integrity, but at least self-preservation.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Superman didn’t come out as nonbinary or speak exclusively in climate activism hashtags. Small miracles.
- The film aimed for neutrality on social issues—translation: they tried not to piss off Middle America for once.
- Salaries were reined in (relatively speaking). Turns out even caped crusaders need budgets tied down.
- Variety sounds almost shocked people want actual storytelling instead of ideological sermons.
- Hollywood seems nervous…as they should be. Audiences clapped back and suddenly Karl Marx isn’t writing the scripts.
My Bottom Line
Hollywood finally dipped a toe out of the Woketopian echo chamber and remembered there’s an entire country east of the 405. This isn’t about right-wing rants or liberal lectures—it’s about not making your viewers feel like crap for showing up. The new Superman apparently dares to focus on…wait for it…character development? Plot? American ideals? Shocking stuff.
Let me be crystal clear—I haven’t seen it yet. But so far, reviews suggest this might just be a course correction. And if that’s true, then kudos—I don’t hand those out often without sarcasm attached. See Hollywood? You can sell tickets and respect your audience without being condescending buzzkills drowning narratives in identity politics.
This might be a blip—a one-off where studio execs smelled billions over blogs—but maybe not. Maybe they’re realizing that middle-class Americans with families and an ounce of common sense are still worth entertaining—not lecturing. If they keep this up, movie night might find its way back into my house (after I check ticket prices and whether popcorn is now sold via NFTs).
