25 months ago, a movie called Superman Returns made me more angry than any film I had seen in nearly ten years. Not since Batman & Robin in 1997 had I ever been so pissed at a Hollywood production. Not Godzilla, not Battlefield Earth, not Pearl Harbour, nothing pissed me off as much as Supes and his ridiculous Return.
But I’m over it. I created Obsessed With Film because of it and life is treating me pretty well right now. And it finally looks like Warner Bros. are ready to move on to, after all life with The Dark Knight is treating them well too.
WB are set to re-write history. As far as the future goes Superman Returns didn’t exist, they are doing what they should have done in the first place and are rebooting the franchise.
Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov has told the Wall Street Journal that they are doing what Louis Leterier did at Marvel with The Incredible Hulk. What Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins and what eventually led to The Dark Knight – one of the biggest and most profitable films of all time.
They are admitting they made a mistake and are starting again…
“‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”
Without regard to a Batman and Superman movie? Perfect!
Just as we have said for two years now, leave Nolan’s franchise alone and work on getting Superman back on screen and back to the quality that Richard Donner created from scratch, before any other hero on the big screen in the 70’s.
Robinov also told the press that he wants four movies from DC properties in the next six years.
They are Batman 3, a new Superman, and then two from the following four…
Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow.
My guess would be Green Lantern and most definitely Green Arrow as the script for Super Max has had lots of admirers at WB. Super Max has the Arrow in prisoned in the first ten minutes and most of the movie it’s about his escape from jail where he is an inmate alongside the people he put away. He then becomes a fugitive on the run… it’s not your typical adaptation.
But that’s all speculation for another time. What is true right now is that Superman will be Returning again. Will it be Superman Begins… I always liked the title Superman Reborn and it would be perfect for this move forward. The character defining Superman: The Man of Steel still sounds awesome.
Fuck, just call it Superman.
Who to star? Brandon Routh… probably not. Shame because I thought he could have been great with the right material.
Who to direct? Who to write? Most definitely not Bryan Singer, he had his ball and he dropped it. GET PITCHING GUYS YOUR IDEAS TO WARNER BROS… it’s open house right now.
Thank God. Superman is coming back.
source – coming soon
19 Comments
Very nice. If they really want to reboot this franchise and make it fresh and distinctive then there is only one route to go down. Dare I say: “Superman: Red Son”?
Batman 3?!
Batman 7, surely?
;-)
Congrats to the people that wanted a reboot.
I really hate Hulk for introducing the idea of rebooting.
Hmmmm…. You’d need a director who ideally has yet to make his mark, but at the same time has done something credible… a la Chris Nolan, Peter Jackson… i don’t think Bryan Singer should do it again… someone less prolific than the big hollywood directors… I know he’s doing Star Trek but someone like J.J.Abrams? I reckon he’d be able to do a good job… a tricky one!
Hmm, I don’t mind this. I want to see a kick ass superman movie, but I don’t really want to see another movie focusing around Lex Luthor as the main villain. Hopefully they can move on past that.
Tom,
I once read a J.J. Abrams script for Superman. Fucking awful.
It’s readily available on the web.
I enjoy a lot of Abrams work but he was so off target on that one.
Personally, I would love to see WB take their time, get as many pitches in as they can find and go from there.
It worked with Batman. If they had gone with Joss Whedon’s or Darren Aronofsky’s earlier pitches, they wouldn’t be in the situation they are in right now.
gah!
wasnt Zak Snyder rumoured to be earmarked to direct?
Well, I too assume their current slate will include a Superman reboot, batman 3, GL, and GA.
I don’t like this idea of them being darker like Nolanverse. Batman needs to be that way. The others do not.
Really? Wow! I thought he would have hit it on the nail there! Darren Aronofsky… now that could work. I’d watch a superman directed by him. Stephen Sommers? Guy who directed the Mummy (1998)? Could work…although you need a strong script first!
I hope they dont go too dark with this, the last one was bad enough.
How about a real MAN character to play the Supe’, ala Josh Brolin, in younger…jsut to break the mould and give it an edge!
How about Casting Nic Cage as Superman with Tin Burton as Director woth A script from Kevin Smith…?
Matt, totally agree… after watching Singer’s effort I tried to force myself to like it, but nope, it was 200 million bucks of disappointment. An overly reverential snore. I’m a massive Superman man and am now hoping against hope that really do make a fresh start… Routh, I could take or leave, but if he is left on board maybe the intervening years will add a bit more gravitas. As for the story, who knows; maybe I’ll get out my typewriter…
What about Mathew Vaughn directing the film. He did great with action on Layer Cake and great with fantasy on Stardust.
Also, something I’ve been thinking about. Mark Millar said that he had that script and a director he’s been talking too. And Mathew Vaughn is currently working with Mark Millar on Kick-Ass. So perhaps there’s a relationship there?
So how about a Mark Millar/Mathew Vaughn Superman Movie?
Excellent news. WB shat the bed by giving Singer free reign with the character and they know it. Let’s hope they are more sensible when listening to pitches this time.
Keep Tom Welling far, far away from this, cast Henry Cavill from the Tudors and get on with it!
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5193/menshealth001jg9.jpg
They need to be fearless in reinventing this character; Donner took liberties with it back in the ’70s and the new guy needs to tear down Supes to build him up again. Screw fanboys, do whatever it takes to make the best movie – “dark” isn’t necessarily a bad thing, so long as there’s light/hope when the movie ends.
Still would’ve loved to have seen George Miller’s gonzo JLA movie, though.
Brandon Routh was terrible. MOst of us that watch Smallville want to see Tom Welling as The Man of Steel. It would certainly require more maturity of his acting as an older Superman but I for one would enjoy Smallville coming to a close with an epic 2 hour movie simular to X-Files… only better!
I agree with earlier comments that we do not need another rerun of Lex Luther for the reboot. I think a lesser villian with a strong orgin story would work better to do a good Reboot. (This was the one area that the new Hulk film missed.) I think a revamped Prankster character would be good. Making Prankster darker, almost Saw like with his pranks. (i.e A passer by picks up a wallet and an attached string sets off a bomb that destroys a store front.) Sticking to the Pranksters desire to start up a large protection racket. Clark and Lois work the story while Superman works to stop the horrible Pranks that plague the city.
Also, for the first movie keep the Lois love affair with Superman low key for the first movie. Make this movie about Superman.
As for who to play Superman I would go with what some others have said and get Brendan Fraser. He’s done well playing the role of dweeb clutz and action hero.
Oh! For goodness sake, Superman Returns was a decent film, better than the previous 3 incarnations of the super hero (2, 3 and 4 that is) Helmed by a passionate director, who was given the difficult task of re-introducing one of the WB’s biggest franchises. And he did just that! Yes, I admit, some of the casting was questionable, Kate Bosworth is a great actress, though not ‘world weary’ enough to play Lois Lane. And yes, Brandon Routh came off as a little stalker-ish during the early scenes of the film, but eventually delivered on the enormous responsibility of playing such an icon.
I wasn’t a massive Superman fan before seeing the film. I’d seen the previous films, enjoyed watching them, even studying them. But I understood the cultural significance of the character. And when the first ‘3D’ title shot across the screen at the beginning of ‘Returns’, it tapped into a unconscious nostalgia I didn’t even know I possessed and I was hooked.
The film was hugely respectful to Richard Donner’s beloved first film, whilst ignoring (rightfully) the third and fourth films. It pushed the boundaries of visual effects, namely in advancing human-like CG. The score by John Ottman, was excellently nostalgic, giving the film the same engaging warmth the original John Williams score did.
But really, the most annoying thing about all the Superman Returns hate-mongering, is the notion that this franchise needs ‘Rebooting’, whatever the hell THAT means! There is no need to re-introduce a character like Superman, EVERYBODY KNOWS WHO HE IS! Regardless of language barriers or even the most basic understanding of film. My younger brother, who was only 5 years old at the time of the films release, had an intimate knowledge of who the character was even before seeing the movie. In-fact you could go to any remote corner of the globe, with a picture of Superman, grab a local, point to the photo and ask “Who’s this?” and the local would stare at you with the look of “What, don’t you know?”, on their face.
Anyway, sorry for rambling, I just feel that the whole Superman franchise is in danger of collapsing under it’s own weight if things don’t calm down.
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