DVD Talk Forum - Superman Returns Sequel is a GO!

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Variety's Anne Thompson reports that Superman: Man of Steel is in a holding pattern at Warner Bros. Pictures as the studio figures out what to do next. Here's a clip:

They too believe that the last movie didn't break the mold and wound up in some kind of middle limbo. 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.

Please just go the Batman Begins route with Reeve, Routh, Singer, Spacey, Bosworth, etc... never existing.

So it looks like the studio wants to do it... eventually. That's better news than then just not wanting to make another Superman movie, I guess.

Can we change the thread title to "Superman Returns Sequel in development hell" now?

I tell you what. I wouldn't mind a reboot at this point. Retconning the Lex they've established into a modern-day Lex (more of a power-hungry and manipulatively corrupt business-man genius than sewer-dwelling, over-the-top campy insane genius) looks to be near-impossible now. Not to mention the kid, the crappy Lois, the Fleischer-style visuals, blah blah blah. A reboot seems to be much more likely than the current creative team executing the "fixes" that I suggested earlier in this thread.

BUT... no matter what they end up doing... please, for the love of GOD keep John Williams Superman themes.

More than any other Super-hero adaptation, Supes needs a triumphant theme... and not just any theme - THAT ONE. It is so intrinsincally linked with the character that I just can't imagine a Superman movie without it.

Or rather, I don't want to...

-Doc

I predict we will see this in 2011 (5 years after the previous installment) .
It will feature a new director, cast, be 30 minutes shorter and more action packed.....and it will end up making the same amount (less counting inflation) as Superman Returns. That is of course if WB didnt learn anything from Universal's relaunch of the Hulk this summer.

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Originally Posted by chris_sc77 (Post 8884821)

I disagree. The problems that plague the Hulk franchise will not affect the Superman franchise.

Hulk will always be a second-tier franchise with extreme difficulty translating to a film. Superman, when done right, doesn't have these problems. The problem is, everyone seems stuck on the Donner formula when it comes to making a Superman flick.

-Doc

In addition, unless they go the route they should have, the Hulk will always be CG and Supes is not.

Thing about the Donner SUPERMAN movies you all are forgetting is it had a very good love story. A good love story is something you don't see in today's comic book movies.

I like Routh, but they needed to make the movie kick ass fighting villains, punching here and there, Superman being thrown to a building, stuff like that, like Superman II.

At this point I'd rather see a total reboot of the franchise than a continuation of Singer's universe. Hell, give it to Nolan. I'd love to see a Superman film that was a shade darker than anything we've seen before. Plus, given his track record with Batman, I'm sure WB would love to have his name linked to another goldmine franchise.

I don't think Superman on film should be dark. That, and Singer's film was already a bit too gloomy to begin with.

They should cast Sean Penn. He's got the eyes of a killer!

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Originally Posted by fumanstan (Post 8886515)

I don't think Superman on film should be dark. That, and Singer's film was already a bit too gloomy to begin with.

I agree with you 100%.

Batman should be dark, but a Superman movie should feel - for lack of a better word - patriotic. It should have you wanting to shout "Way to go, Superman!"

If I were Warners, I'd let Superman sit until the Batman movies run their course, THEN do a re-boot.

With everyone (fans, media, studios) being aware of the negatives with Superman Returns and the two Hulk movies (in which the revamp was good, but people still a bit disappointed with Abomination a la Doomsday), the villain for the next Superman movie has to be Darkseid and/or Brainiac.

And for the love of god, please dump Singer, Brandon Routhe, Bosworth, kryptonite, Daily Planet, and Lex Luthor!

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Originally Posted by toddly6666 (Post 8849506)

Why can't Gene Hackman be Lex Luthor again? Was the role offered to him for these new Superman flicks?

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Originally Posted by majorjoe23 (Post 8849540)

He's retired from acting. Also, even though I love his performance as Lex Luthor, he seemed completely out of place in the Superman movies, like they directly ported in his lines from a much campier version of the script.

He's retired? When did that happen?

I'd hide after Return to Mooseport too.

Warner Bros. Confirms Superman Reboot

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Just a few days after this article was posted, Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov has told The Wall Street Journal that the studio is going to be reintroducing Superman. We assume this will be similar to how Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk was a reboot of Ang Lee's Hulk. Here is what the article says:

Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes -- known as "Batman vs. Superman" -- after the $215 million "Superman Returns," which had disappointing box-office returns, didn't please executives. "'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."

The article also talks about Warner Bros. adapting other DC properties over the new few years. "By 2011, Mr. Robinov plans for DC Comics to supply the material for up to two of the six to eight tent-pole films he hopes Warner Bros. will have in the pipeline by then," it says. Those projects will likely be about single characters at first, and will be darker much like The Dark Knight:

With "Batman vs. Superman" and "Justice League" stalled, Warner Bros. has quietly adopted Marvel's model of releasing a single film for each character, and then using those movies and their sequels to build up to a multicharacter film. "Along those lines, we have been developing every DC character that we own," Mr. Robinov says.

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it 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. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

We'll let you know as soon as the studio has announced its plans for future DC movies.

Yikes. Glad that they're coming up with a better plan for all their properties, but I don't like the idea that everything needs to be dark like Dark Knight.

I wonder if Routh is out as well?

:up: As long as its Superman I'll be there. So I'm happy there's going to be a new movie coming out. Hopefully they'll do better this time.

Considering that they're planning on making all these movies 'dark' I wonder how long until we see a movie with the ultimate "dark" superhero.... Darkwing Duck.

Would someone like to shed some light on how Superman could be done as a "dark" film? I'm sure it could happen, but I don't know the storylines from the comics well enough to make an assumption.

Anything to move away from the Superman v. Lex Luthor arc would be nice, and I'll also be interested to see how a Justice League movie would develop. I wonder (and I know this would never happen) what a movie with the Justice League and the Avengers would be like...

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Originally Posted by reubs82 (Post 8890491)

Id say anything involving Darkseid, Brainiac, Gog, Metallo, or Zod could be dark.

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Originally Posted by fumanstan (Post 8890465)

Yikes. Glad that they're coming up with a better plan for all their properties, but I don't like the idea that everything needs to be dark like Dark Knight.

Yeah, I don't either. So from this point on all comic books movies (at least from Warners) has to be dark!??

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Originally Posted by Daytripper (Post 8890519)

Yeah, I don't either. So from this point on all comic books movies (at least from Warners) has to be dark!??

I don't see that as saying every film is going to be ultra dark:

"We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it"

So as dark as Superman, Green Lantern, etc could go, without tarnishing the source. I believe after The Joker in TDK, they feel the villains make the hero, which to an extent is true.