HBO Just Exposed a Dark Truth About Blockbuster Movies

Making a superhero movie is a constant balance between making a good movie and making a profitable movie. In an ideal world, the most popular movies would be the best movies, but that would mean reported that Zack Snyder’s Superman film Man of Steel had already recouped $170 million of its $225 million budget through brand deals alone, including collaborations with glasses brand Warby Parker (perfect for mild-mannered journalists) and Nokia phones.

At this point, product placement is a fact of life, but it’s still worth criticizing studios when they take that too far. After all, there’s making a bit of extra cash off of Clark Kent’s choice of glasses, and then there’s putting a tractor in space to make China happy (the milk probably falls somewhere in between).

The Franchise is now streaming on Max.