Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Found this tidbit... it might be 2010 before MOS hits!

Article is here:  http://movies.msn.com/movies/hitlist/09-25-07_3?gt1=7701

Currently in Germany directing the Nazi drama "Valkyrie" starring Tom Cruise, director Bryan Singer may have been surprised to find out he doesn't have another "Superman" movie to come home to. Previously announced for 2009, "Superman: Man of Steel" was set to pick up where "Superman Returns" left off and begin production next summer. Now, "Justice League of America" has muddled the situation.

Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the long-rumored selection of George Miller ("Happy Feet") to direct the action ensemble "League" for Warner Bros. The ultimate superhero team featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern, the picture is expected to begin shooting in Australia this spring before the dreaded screenwriters "strike date" of July 1. The studio is making it a tentpole release the following summer. Intriguingly for Superman fans, Variety said "Man of Steel" has "taken a backseat," but the Reporter said "Steel" is still "in development." And although screenwriter Mike Dougherty is currently working on a "Steel" screenplay, a lot can happen in two years. With "Steel" getting pushed back to an expected 2010 release, will Singer wait around that long?

The popular filmmaker is certainly in an odd spot. Somewhere before or after "Steel" he is supposed to helm "The Mayor of Castro Street," which tells the tale of slain, gay icon Harvey Milk, but that picture is battling a start date over a similar project from Gus Van Sant (nobody wants "Capote" vs. "Infamous" again). Considering how quickly "Valkyrie" came about this year and Singer's previous history of jumping ship off the third "X-Men" movie, it wouldn't be surprising to see the director move on to something completely different by the time Warner Bros. decides to make another Superman movie.

The studio currently has a more pressing concern to lower fan expectations that either Brandon Routh or Christian Bale will reprise their respective roles as Superman and Batman in "League." Bale is close to finishing almost six months of shooting "The Dark Knight" and dismissed any thought of "League" during the press day for "3:10 to Yuma." Routh's noninvolvement is more of a surprise. The actor hasn't appeared in a studio movie since "Returns" (that's a long 18 months since that flick wrapped), but he recently joined the cast of the independently financed "The Informers" opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger. Oddly, Routh's noninvolvement in "League" could mean there will be three different Supermen in Hollywood: Routh, the new "League" actor and Tom Welling (a fan favorite from "Smallville"). There's always a chance the studio could change its mind, but at this point, Miller and Warner Bros. are expected to choose talented but less famous actors for the project, similar to what Zack Snyder has done with another Warner Bros. movie, "Watchmen."

With Variety saying those involved with "League" are "holding their breath" that the whole project doesn't fall apart and with "Steel" up in the air, fans can sleep easy knowing "The Dark Knight" will definitely hit theaters next summer

 :o

Interesting news.  Personally I think the more time passes, the less likely it is we'll see a "sequel" to Superman Returns.  Although I'm not one of those people who consider that film a financial flop (how can it be with that intake?) and although I personally enjoyed SR, I get the distinct impression the studio's not happy with how it went and they're attuned to fan discontent.  All the talk about a sequel being a "sure thing" is, I think, a case of saving face.  As time goes by, I think it's more likely they'll quietly shelve Singer's sequel when no one's looking, then re-launch Superman yet again, like what Marvel's doing with the Hulk.

And that would probably be for the best.  Again, I liked SR and I really took to Routh, but they painted themselves in a corner with that script and I'm not sure how they could continue the story from there.

The oddest part of this report, to me, is the bit about an upcoming strike in July 2008.  Is it standard practice to announce a strike a year ahead of time???

 Not that I didn't enjoy Returns but it seems to me that perhaps the smartest thing they could have done was start the franchise over to begin with instead of trying follow in the footsteps of the Donner movies. I think a lot of the people who are mad at Singer are more upset that he tried to follow in the old movies shoes then anything else. I'm not saying it's fair, but any movie that tries to follow the originals is going to have too much expectations on it then it would be able to meet.

I don't agree that a total relaunch of the franchise would have been better...in fact, I can guarantee that most on this forum would have hated the result if it had happened.

Superman Returns could have been planned better. There could have been a theatrical release of the Donner Cuts first, and this movie certainly could have been written better. But I don't think that any of the movie series needs a complete restart, because people are more familiar with the original movies than any other Superman story. The one exception in need of a total relaunch is Supergirl.

I´m against a revamp of the franchise, but the real problem is that Superman Returns didn´t speak to it´s teenagers target audience. The Spider-Man movies by Sam Raimi do that, as well as the Smallville TV show. Superman Returns was too sophisticated to its own good.

About the Justice League of America new movie, with a plot based on the Omac Project from Infintite Crisis, it may be a comercial success, but I don´t see how it can improve the quality of DC Comics characters in the big screen. Being so bad planned, with Iron Age-esque written all over it, I think it will be everything we dont´want to see. With good stories like Grant Morrison´s fist arc New World Order and Mark Waid´s JLA: Year One, the decide to adapt INFINITE CRISIS????

I'm of the opinion that the franchise needed a reboot. I liked the first Donner film when I was younger, but it is nearly 30 years old and is quite dated. And I could go a couple of decades without having to see that silly disembodied head or the words, "Kneel before Zod."

I'm sorry, but this generation of kids deserved their "own" version of the story. Not the garbage that is produced on tv, not a thinly-veiled remake of the Donner film, but something truly epic. Birthright would have been the perfect template to use.

I agree that the Superman Returns movie was made for "us" ans not for "them", but it had a kind of love for the source material that I didn´t see in the Animated Series, Smallville or any of the other treatments of the franchise, like the Kevin Smith and Tim Burton aborted versions. Birhtright is a great comic book, but it wasn´t successfull, either, and it would look a lot like a Smallville movie. In fact, any retelling of the origin in a movie now would suffer beceuse of that TV series. It´s kind of a no-win scenario, sadly.

Well again, I really liked Superman Returns but I think it was wrong-headed to try to continue the Chris Reeve series.  Those films are far enough in the past to be forgotten by today's kids, as opposed to the Burton/Schumacher Batman films...and yet Batman did get a reboot! (Well except for still being stuck in a big stupid rubber suit).

And let's be honest here; two and a half of the four Reeve movies weren't even good films, so why this slavish devotion?  Donner, Reeve, et al were given an opportunity to re-imagine the character without being faitfhul to the George Reeves version (prior to Dec 1978, still most people's idea of "Superman"), so why not give Routh the same chance?

I'd like to see a re-imagining of the legend, with a tougher, more mature looking actor in the lead and a moratorium on -- maybe even a banishment of -- Luthor tales.  And I agree they should stay away from another retelling of the origin.  It's a great yarn, but there are tons of great Superman stories to be told, let's move on already.  Start with Superman already on Earth and his career established, bring in a major threat and get cracking.

I didn't hate Superman Returns, but there was just nothing remotly original about it. From the visuals, to the plot points, to the dialogue; it was really just an homage to the Donner film.

With today's technology, it would have been a great opportunity to present a Krypton that wasn't based on a bloody snowflake. :P

I say reboot the S-franchise with the JLA feature George Miller's doing.

 Tom Welling is ready and he did a darn nice version of the heat vision/dam scenario in these season's opener.  (And Chris Reeve vibe without imitating him)  Always bothered me in the first Donner that he had to stop the dambreak with boulders  - why not evaporate the water as he did so often in the comics.

Continue the TV franchise with the new Supergirl.

Win/win scenario.

Bring in Brainiac and lets get all SPACE opera ala Ed Hamiltion, Otto Binder and Jim Shooter.

Oh and a REAL Superman costume thank you very much.

If they make a new superman movie is it really a "reboot" or is it just a new movie. If they made a new Sherlock Holmes movie it isn't a reboot, its just a new Sherlock holmes movie.

It's just as well that they don't make a sequel to Superman returns , I don't want to see a movie about Superman's kid.

Plus , thematically, the trilogy is all done. the 3 films (superman, superman 2, superman returns) are about father and son relations and everything comes full circle (in a way).

PS. Kevin Spacey was good as lex (though his escape from prison was poorly conceived) and Routh did a good job doing a Reeves impresion. I think this is one of those times were the creator was just TOO into the subject matter (in this case singers love for the donner films) to actually do a good job.

But did Superman, when it first came out?  Spider-Man is far more a "teenager" character than Superman was.

Just for some perspective here...

Superman Returns is one of the top 100 domestic grossing movies of all times and made about as much as Batman Begins.

So it made $ -- so what.  So does a lot of other inferior product.

Time to go beyond a storyline that's played out thematically.  Let's see some real Superman -- maybe one who uses heat vision to evaporate a damburst instead of throwing rocks at it,

All in the script -- 'cause it it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. 

I think that the Superman Returns movie was the higher pont of a Bronze Age version of the character in screen. All of the Maggin "Must there be..." was there, and in the upcoming Justice League Movie - with Omac Project from Infinite Crisis, Maxwell Lord and Superman fighting both Batman and Wonder Woman, according to the news - and in a possible Superman franchise revamp, all we´ll get is the Iron Aged Superman. I´m predicting a bad reaction from this forum... all the reverence for the Maggin/Bates stuff in comics here in STTA applies to the Donner´s movies, why not? Singer nailed it beautifully. Revamping the movie versions woud be no different from the John Byrne revamp in comics, specially according to the JLA script and Warner policy.

Wow, how things have certainly changed. Although S.R. did'nt blow me away. I did enjoy it , I loved Spacey's Luthor, and was very interested in seeing where they could go from there. Guess we never will. But there's always hope we might see that neat Director's cut someday.



(http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3108/postersupermanfa1.png) (http://img269.imageshack.us/i/postersupermanfa1.png/)

Well, it's hard to wish for an even longer version of SR, but it would be a shame if they didn't do something with that expensive (and supposedly impressive) "journey to Krypton" footage, now that Singer won't be using it in a sequel.

New blu-ray boxed set of an extended Superman Returns along with all the extended versions of the Chris Reeve movies and the "Richard Donner" cut of Superman II - only $500.

Seriously, I would like to see an extended SR; but preferably as a stand-alone standard-format DVD.

Well I really liked a lot of those bits and pieces on the DVD deleted scene archive, and think some of those might work quite well back in the picture. But thats just me.