Superman: The Man Of Steel
 

Aug 19, 2008


Warner Bros. is mulling over their comic book movie future right now, from their long in-development Justice League of America movie to Batman 3.

But one particular project that appears to be bedeviling the studio most is their sequel to Superman Returns, which was considered a box office underperformer given its hefty price tag.

The project, reportedly titled Superman: Man of Steel, has lingered in limbo ever since the Bryan Singer-directed Superman Returns opened in 2006. It was reported in March that Singer would reprise his directing duties for the sequel, which he previously said would feature more action and spectacle. (Returns writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris will not be back.)

But now, according to an item today from Variety columnist Anne Thompson, Singer's involvement is not such a sure thing after all.

Thompson blogged, "Today I was told that it is a priority at the studio to find the right direction and if Bryan Singer is willing to do that, fine, but if he gets in the way, he may not stay on the project. There are no writers working on a Superman script now. The studio wants to figure it out. 'It might be better to start from scratch,' one exec admitted."

More on this as it comes in.

No more fucking starting from scratch, god-fucking-damn it!

August 22, 2008


Turns out those rumors that Warner Bros. wants to reboot their Superman franchise rather than make a sequel to Superman Returns are true.

In a move reminiscent of how Marvel Studios ignored Ang Lee's Hulk when making this summer's The Incredible Hulk, that notorious fanboy rag The Wall Street Journal reports that Warners plans to "reintroduce" the Man of Steel to audiences by 2011.

The studio "is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters."

Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov told WSJ that the Bryan Singer-directed Superman Returns "didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to. ... It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned."

The exec added, "Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. ... But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."

Given the astounding commercial success of the grim and gritty Dark Knight, Robinov says Warners's upcoming DC movie slate is "going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," and the next Superman movie will be no exception.

The WSJ article also confirms that the live-action Justice League of America movie has been indefinitely shelved so that Warners, a la Marvel Studios' plan for an Avengers movie in 2011, can introduce that team's key members -- including Superman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern -- in their own individual films before producing a team-up movie.

Awesome. I hope it's good. And I hope Superman actually punches something.

What Robinov was trying to say there was that there was a bit too much of Batman-esque similarities in Superman Returns - the broody, pensive superhero type stuff which wasnt anywhere near the Clark Kent/Kal-El everyone knows him to be.

Hopefully the reboot will make Superman fast, fun and light-hearted as in the comics, and bring in the "steel" factor back into the Man of Steel name.

If that is true, I think they ll be disposing off Singer too. Either that, or asking him to review his take on X-Men again, and model Supes accordingly.

what we need is a good adaptation of miller's dark knight returns - bring superman and batman together at their (sort of) end. an old, pissed off batman - a duped and pathetic superman - the battle of the ages - god that would rule

They'd have to change The Joker a bit for me to like it, he acted a bit too... "feminine" in this, he was still cool, just not Joker-cool.

And no


SPOILERS
Dead Alfred.

Frank Miller just sucks writing those characters in general...his Batman + Joker are awful, even though the story itself was badass.

If they ever do make DKR into a movie...I'd love them to bring back Nicholson for Joker. That way, you wouldn't have the same kind of shitstorm that would naturally accompany somebody else playing the role after Ledger because he had done it before...and IMO pretty much the only problem with his Joker in the first place was that he was too old and fat. Now that he's supposed to be old, I think he'd be awesome.

Just for coolness's sake, I'd like to see Keaton put on the cowl again....but honestly, I think he's aging too well. Not old enough yet - perhaps Clint Eastwood? Or is that just too obvious?

Bruce Campbell for Superman, maybe? He aged, right? For some reason I don't remember Clark aging.

And I haven't seen his chin in a while, but maybe Kurt Russell for Bruce? This Batman just seems too bulky for Clint.

Superman sucks. He's the least compelling super hero ever. How can he be interesting when he is essentially invincible...unless there's a convenient hunk of glowing green rock around.

This franchise should simply go away for a while... a loooooong while