After Superman finished last year basking in applause and optimism, Netflix's CEO entered like a guest who clears his throat before delivering bad news. Last year, Warner Bros. celebrated a 83 percent positive review from critics and a solid domestic performance, promising a DC revival. Yet the CEO's remarks recast the early streaming move as a consequence, not a coincidence.

Critics argue Superman is now viewed as an underperformer because the CEO publicly linked faster streaming arrivals to weaker theatrical results. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said so during his recent Senate Hearing while trying to explain why the superhero movie arrived at the platform so early, despite Netflix claiming to promote the cinema.

“Superman was a little shorter window,” said Ted Sarandos, noting that films which underperform typically reach the platform sooner. The remark fueled criticism that James Gunn’s Superman failed to meet theatrical expectations.

While some were quick to point fingers after watching the hearing on the Committee Activity page, others defended the movie by pointing out that Sarandos might have used Superman as an example. They argue Sarandos held it up as a convenient case study, proving theatrical windows bend when forty-five days feel negotiable.

The film’s short theatrical window had been a talking point, until James Gunn’s reassurances briefly put the debate to sleep.

James Gunn's defense of the short theatrical run of Superman

James Gunn addressed the backlash in an August interview with ScreenRant, directly defending Superman’s abbreviated theatrical window. He framed the decision as logistical rather than reactive, responding to criticism that the film reached VOD just thirty-five days after release.

According to Gunn, the timing was dictated by Peacemaker Season 2, which functions as a narrative continuation of Superman. When the series premiere moved forward unexpectedly, keeping the film exclusively in theaters risked disrupting story continuity within the emerging DC Universe.

Thus, accessibility became a virtue of necessity. Gunn presented the digital release as a courtesy to continuity, though to skeptics it sounded like an organization masquerading as generosity.

Do you think Superman underperformed? Let us know in the comments!

Written by

Iffat Siddiqui

Edited by

Hriddhi Maitra