Superman Rebooted (1 Viewer)

[Will_B]

The articles don't mention "rebooting" Superman in the sense of retelling -- yet again -- the Superman origin story, nor do they say they'll recast Superman as someone other than Brandon Routh. They just say they'll position the character differently. I.e., they may just start the next film off with something terrible happening and Superman flies in and does some action stuff and saves the day. It could tie in to SR in general, superficial terms, while changing the storytelling enough to be an entirely new take.

I think they'd be best off ignoring the inner story of Superman, because it is evident from Superman Returns that people don't like an inner story going on with Superman (I did!), and yet by the same token any film with Superman as just an invincible superhero needs to be careful, because Superman without an inner story is inherently an incredibly bland character, since he has no weaknesses, faces no real obstacles, has no moral crises, and just generally has only one character flaw which is he has trouble dating.

 

[Brian Dobbs]

I agree, what a knee-jerk reaction. Superman Returns was awesome. Brandon Routh did an absolutely perfect job and should absolutely remain. WTF?

 

[TerryRL]

Will, make no mistake, WB is very much thinking "Batman Begins" with the next Superman movie. As was pointed out in another thread, TDK's success has caused a major ripple throughout the industry and WB again sitting on top of the box office heap in regards to superhero/comic book movies has made them far more aggressive with their own slate of properties from DC.

"Smallville" fans are going to be out in force insisting that the next movie follow the series finale of the show (either this season or next) and that Tom Welling don the suit in the movie. Singer was always dead set against the movies having anything to do with the show, but there are some execs that think this is a good move because the show has a very loyal following and has been a strong ratings performer throughout its run.

I doubt this will happen, but the studio is giving itself a ton of options here. As was reported, WB will announce exactly what their plans are sometime next month. Until then, the studio brass will be burning the midnight oil on how they move forward with the franchise.

 

[Jose Martinez]

GOOD NEWS!!!

I absolutely hated Superman Returns! Although I did like Brandon Routh but he was too similar to Christopher Reeves. They definitely need to go in a different direction. However, nowhere near Smallville. Hate that show.

 

[Shawn.F]

If they were smart, they'd wait a few years before taking another stab at Superman again.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Early in his U.S. career, Millar wrote an acclaimed run of Superman Adventures. OTOH, shortly after that ended, he started screeching about how wonderful it was to be able to "cut loose" with his writing now that he was done with Superman and he's been writing "edgy" stuff ever since.

 

[Chris_T]

So are we looking at another "Donner Like story" beginning with Krypton? I'm not quite sure how WB is going to go the Batman Begins route with this story. We just had a semi-reboot 2 years ago. I mean why don't we reboot every movie the doesn't live up to expectations a couple of years after they are released. Does WB Think that by doing this the next movie will gross $500 million domstically? Movies like TDK come along only so often, not every summer.

I think WB is being foolish and should let Bryan Singer procede with a sequel to SR. Whether you liked SR or not it laid the foundation to build on an original storyline for the next movie. The idea of turning every comic book hero into something brooding and dark will get old very quickly. They will all seem like lesser grade imitations of the Batman movies for which they will ever be compared to. IMO, Superman is a totally different hero than Batman which is the way they should leave it.

 

[Steve Christou]

Best news I've heard all day, whilst I didn't hate Superman Returns I did find it a little dull, whats the word you guys use? 'meh'? That's how I felt about that film. Bryan Singer shot himself in the foot by introducing a superkid to the story. I wasn't exactly gagging for a sequel.

I'm glad the next film is a reboot, Routh looked a bit like Reeve but he was a little bland, what has he done since? Singer is a good director but I'd be happier if someone else had a go at it.

And please no more homages or references to the 1978 Donner original, which btw is still my favorite 'superhero' movie to date. And as someone else mentioned as fabulous as John Williams theme is lets leave that out too. A completely detached from the others, ugly, dark, brutal and nasty reboot. Thats what you Dark Knight fans want isn't it?

 

[Chris Will]

This would be the worst thing they could do IMO, and I use to be a fan of the show. Smallville is the superhero's version of Dawson Creek and completely wrong for a feature film. There's noway a Smallville Superman movie would make more money then SR. If the really want to alienate many hardcore Superman fans then this would be the way to go. Plus, if WB really does want to go darker then Smallville is not what I would call dark. It is more camp then dark. Keep Smallville hundreds of miles away form the big screen please. It shouldn't even be on the small screen anymore as well, there stories dried up years ago.

 

[TerryRL]

WB was fully behind Singer's son angle to the story because if 'Returns' had been the big hit they expected (earning north of the triple-century mark domestically) than there was "talk" of a separate "Superboy" franchise using that character (seriously). Counting all the stops and starts (Burton's version, Ratner's version, McG's version, the money spent on sets, FX, Nicolas Cage's pay-or-play deal, etc.) with Singer's production, WB spent well over $500 million to get to "Superman Returns" and the fact that it was a hit and not a mega-blockbuster really hurt.

WB got real squeamish about forking over another $175 million-plus on Singer's proposed sequel. Thought 'Returns' made about the same as "Batman Begins", there wasn't nearly the hype and Nolan did it without having an expensive star (Kevin Spacy got more than $10 million for his six weeks of work) to carry the marketing. WB really expected blockbuster-like numbers with 'Returns'.

As Mark Millar hinted at, WB wants to bring the character into the 21st century (whatever that means). The studio could let Singer do his sequel, they could also opt to continue the "Smallville" series on the big screen as Clark takes on the mantle of Superman, or they can completely reboot the franchise ala "Batman Begins". I'm thinking they'll opt for the latter.

Severing ties with Singer and Spacey will cost them though. Both already have deals for the sequel that pays them whether or not they do the movie. Much like what happened with Cage, Burton, Ratner, and McG (not to mention all the writers that got substantial salaries for the various scripts turned in). After all these years, it is still a very expensive struggle to get a Superman to the big screen.

All of these elements led to the decision to "re-introduce" the character in the next movie. Start from scratch instead of bank-rolling a sequel to a film that wasn't universally loved.

 

[Ruz-El]

I like the idea of doing a reboot, and I hope that means they skip all the Donner stuff true. Frankly, none of the Superman movies have been all that great. If Miller is doing this, and has actually been a fan since he was a kid, I can't see him going the dark brooding route.

That said, all I ask for is a Superman movie where he actually has to throw down against an actual powerful super villain like in the Bruce Timm cartoon. Still the best representation of the character... and most comic books really.

 

[Steve Christou]

...and no more Lex Luthor either, Supes arch foe has appeared in 4 of the 5 Superman movies, enough already.

 

[Brian Borst]

I'm glad they're rebooting. Donner's Superman was great (Superman II, even the Donner Cut wasn't that good) and while I think Superman Returns isn't as bad as most say (it's probably as underrated as the Director's Cut of Daredevil), I think Superman should be different from Donner's take of the character for once. And please, leave Lex Luthor out of this. He was in four of five Supes movies, and that's a bit of overkill.
But hey, I'm glad to see Warner and DC finally announcing some other films than Superman and Batman. Can't wait for Green Lantern and the Justice League movie. These are great days for a comic book fan.

 

[dana martin]

Well, wb needs to pull its head out of its rear, Big Blue is sunny, not dark, if they want to go dark with it then they need to start bringing in Darksied to the story line, in that he is god like

 

[Greg_S_H]

I doubt if they could sell Darkseid to the average audience. I'm a comic reader, and I never really got into any of that. I was disappointed when Granny Goodness and the rest showed up on the Animated Series. It just all has a weird vibe to me. The current growing popularity of Apokolips and the New Gods may show that I'm in the minority, though.

 

[dana martin]

ok so name something else dark, cant do brainic or metallo?

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't really want it dark, so I don't know. Brainiac or Metallo would both be fine. They won't give up having Lex behind it all, though. They should try it.

 

[TerryRL]

I'm of the opinion that the movie won't end up being as dark as most fear. I think it'll have an edge to it, but won't go nearly as dark as TDK. I think tonally it'll be more akin to "Iron Man". I'm hoping that many are taking Robinov's words too literally. Batman is supposed to be dark. His brooding tone would only work with a handful of DC's bigger heroic characters (i.e. Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex, etc.).

 

[RobertR]

I don't even want the name Lex Luthor mentioned.

 

[Malcolm R]

Maybe Warner should just pack it in and abandon the Superman franchise. They seem to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars just to spin their wheels. $500 million to get from Superman IV to SR, now hundreds of millions more to pay-off Singer and Spacey, plus bankrolling another reboot? If I were a stockholder, I'd be screaming for somebody to stop the bleeding already.

I have no love for SR, but I think it's a huge mistake if they try to do yet another origin-type story. Just make a Superman action-adventure for crying out loud! The character is popular enough that anyone who cares already knows the origin of the story. Just drop us into the middle of a superhero extravaganza without all the maudlin, dramatic fluff.