This could be very very bad for the big guy in the tight suit. Superman Returns (A magnificent film by the way), made ONLY $17 million on Friday. For most films that’s great… but NOT for Superman Returns. Not even close.
This is shocking. When a film opens on a Wednesday, it generally goes UP on its first Friday. Superman didn’t. Bad news for the folks at Warner. Bad news indeed.
It looks like my personal prediction of $100 million by the end of the weekend will fall well short. This is surprising, especially when considering a $21 million Wednesday. Ouch Ouch Ouch. Now, I am keeping in mind that Saturday (with all its matinees) makes a lot more money than Fridays do… but still… this is not what the studio wanted to see. I thought there would be like a $25 million Friday. Man was i wrong.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the rest of the weekend pans out. Just for the record, right now Superman has made $48 million… so it will have to make $52 million on Saturday to make the $100 million mark. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Leader – http://www.leader.ort.kiev.ua/8.alumni/2002/main.jsp, if it doesn’t open, try this leader
Come, and feel like at home! Thanks You!
I just say Superman Return is a good movie.I Love You Superman
As a superman fan the movie was alright to a point.The writer of the plot could of had a better story.Him gone back to his home planet for five year. Didnt get to me and i did not feel the love and passion of superman and lois. Lex was not evil and smart as he should be. Brandon is good choice for a replacement.But need more personal time with the superman charater.The f/x where great and special effect where great too. A lot of what people fell in love with 30 year was not there.You at WB had a chance to make the prefect superman comeback.For last Three Year WB And DC Have fail to do what right.Stop Let certain people come in and give bad plots. The next TIME WB do another Superman Please Do the FANs right And Superman too.One i can Say about spideyman they stick to story.Please anybody at WB please,Please Do the Same Next! I give it 7 out 10 just been honest i love superman
I liked the movie, for the most part, but it didn’t quite have the “kick ass” attitude I thought it would have. The movie wasn’t quite as involved as Batman Begins, X-Men, or Spiderman were. Those movies held me in the storyline, where Superman Returns had a great story (I couldn’t wait to see Spacey as Luther) but nothing just grabbed wowed me.
Still, a good flick and I’d recommend it to people.
it’s topped 100 million now!
Well, having been a big Superman fan as a kid and having also grown up watching Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel (I even own Superman IV, that has to say something) I was *really* looking forward to the release of Superman Returns. It does, however, seem to have fallen slightly short of the hype. I offer some reasons.
POOR ADVERSITING
At first I thought “Superman Returns” was a tag line, not the actual title. So that made me think they were going “Batman Begins” and starting all over. But they weren’t – I can live with that. But then I was taken aback by the total no-sell of Superman III & IV. I stay away from spoilers and the like on the internet, so I don’t have any preconceptions of biases, but this I would like to have known.
THE VILLANY
The Luthor growing an island plot isn’t all that rediculous, to be honest. What is odd is that Superman tossed the crystal into the earth and made a fortress of solitude, Lex threw a crytal into the earth and made an entire island?? That didn’t make any sense scientifically and why would he feel the need to take over North America? Why not plant his island somewhere in the Pacific? Somewhere warm and tropical? Make a resort of out it? He can’t make money off dead people. Spacy is a great Luthor and I would like to see him back, maybe next time though they could focus more on him, and give him more than just a passing role. I had pictured something similar to Nicholson’s Joker from the original Batman, I was disappointed in the way he was written.
SUPERBOY
Oh gawd, why!? I was hoping it wouldn’t be the case, but it is. And I can’t even stand it. They’re obviously setting up something for the new Superman IV and I hope to the high heavens that it lives up. I love Superman, but even I am not optimistic about this story. *Raises glass* here’s hoping that I’m wrong.
All-in-all I’d recommend it. I will probably by the box set after they finish with the sequals and such. I’d give it a 7.5/10. It’ll make it’s money back, but will it warrant a sequal? If it manages to grab itself a long theatre run it’s got a good chance, but otherwise the studio will tread lightly with this one.
the money becomes a talking point because they spent such a huge amount of money on it and it was expected to perform better than it has so far.
so sorry if the money talk annoys you but when these films start getting budgets like this people are interested in seeing how it performs.
CW1985, about what you said on Doomsday/4 Superman “Death of” sequel…
I think that would F’n RULE!!! What I would really like to see is who would be cast as the four Supermans?
My problem for me about seeing the “Death of Superman” saga adapted is that this was the same problems that occured in the Development Hell for ‘Superman Lives’.
Now, I have faith in Singer to take this task, but IMHO, I think the producer should be (and I’m sure some people would disagree) Peter Jackson. Yeah, the chances are 100/1. But I really liked that tragic feel when he made ‘King Kong’ (and I can understand some dislike to that film). But those chances are VERY slim, so I won’t get my hopes up.
Well, Superman better watch out, cause Pirates 2 is coming this friday, which could hurt its take on the box-office.
Pardon my frankness here but, WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT THE MONEY? It’s about film making imagination creative minds and artists doing what they LOVE!! Just saw SUPERMAN, was it perfect, no. Was is great, oh hell yes!! The somewhat sleazier ewww-factor of Luthor wasn’t too in keeping. Sure Bosworth seems a little young and we got to show them what Lois’s hair color truly is for once and for all. Still I liked her Langella nailed Perry and the rest were more than fun to watch work. Since I’m a backdated with the podcasts and the rantings of you three manics on Monday. TOTALLY ROUTH!!!
may the goats of odin deny you milk
i thought singer was trying to put his little stamp on the superman legend..SPOILER..like how his kid was a bit sickly that maybe clark was like that too….and as he got older he got better and didn’t need the glasses but kept them as they make for a great disguise(haha)
thats what I thought he was doing……
He was testing them out.;)
Hey Tim,
I know clark was reminisicing about his days a boy. What bothered me was he, as a boy, was wearing glasses in the scene. He never wore glasses as a boy in the movie series or comics.
He only wore glasses as a boy to protect his identity as Superboy. But the movies do not include the Suberboy character and the movies also excluded that piece of Superman lore.
And the 21st century version of the comics also exlcudes the Suberboy history, so no glasses either.
So was his wearing glasses a narrative filmmaking mistake? If there was a reason for him to be wearing glasses I want to know why. I know it’s not a big deal in the scheme of things but little details like that bother me especially when the are followed by other plot holes. In a case where there are plot holes, little things like that are just amplified…for me anyway.
So if anyone can help me plug that hole…offer an explanation for the glasses…that would be appreciated. I can’t figure it out.
1138,
Clark was looking out onto the field, and remembering when he would run through there as a kid.
According to Box Office Mojo, Superman Returns has grossed $104,008,000 worldwide so far. That ain’t bad.
I think it’s still early times. We expect films to break records these days but it’s probably an unreasonable expectation. Pirates may hurt it though. My main criticism of the film was it’s a bit too long and perhaps a little confusing for very young audiences. This Superman is a bit more adult than most Super Heroes that we’re used to. My 10 year old niece had trouble following the story, and by the end of the film all the little kids in the audience were screaming to go to the toilet after consuming the Super size Cokes they sold in the theatre. This film may NOT do well with the little ones.
I’m surprised that Superman only has $ 84 M at the box office. I really thought it would surpass X3’s first week because Superman is THE superhero. He’s iconic. For that reason alone, I thought people would be more attracted to watch a movie that’s familiar to them. I guess I’m happily mistaken. X-men rules!
I still feel bad about Superman’s performance though. Sure, $84 million is a very good figure, but for a Superman movie that’s well done, it’s disappointing.
P.S. Can anyone tell me why the hell when Supes was a kid, running through the fields, was he wearing glasses on the farm?
After seeing the movie I am not surprised the movie didn’t gross 100 milllion. I originally thought the movie was going to makes pots of money. especially after a the huge Weds opening, but after seeing it I doubt it will make the 200 million dollars domestically. Especially with Pirates opening next weekend.
Batman Begins was more solid, even with the Katie Holmes factor involved.
Supes Returns tried to hard to be like the Donner’s Superman. With John Williams music, Lex Luthor and his posey, Luthors stupid scheme (What is with his fascination with real estate anyway!!! He’s supposed to be a baddie, not a real estate agent!!!), Flying with Lois in the air, fighting crime in metropolis….it all felt familiar and I think people wanted to see something original!!
And You can’t add a kid and a new guy (James Marsden) and expect to have an orginal movie and give it emotional depth! it Doesn’t work!!! It’s the easy way out!!! The kid and new guy in your woman’s life is just so cliche’…done to death!
Now I think Singer is a good and talented director, but I think his devotion to the original Donner films blinded him to his own orginality. I truly felt like he purposely handcuffed himself to the past and he didn’t know when to let go.
The kid and James Marsden are going to fall into the “Search for Spock syndrome”. Where in the upcoming sequels, extraneous characters are killed!!! Like Kirk’s son!!!
“Well Kirk has a son”, “Well what do we do with him in the sequel?” “uuuuhhhh I don’t know”….”Why don’t we kill him!!!!!” “that’s it Kill him!!!!!” Yes my friends characters hollywood writers don’t know what to do with…well it’s bye bye.
And that my friends is what is going to happen to those characters.
Because Superman having a kid is like attaching a albatross to Supes neck!!! What do you do!!!!????
I am so bummed. I waited such a long time for this movie and it failed to live up to what I hoped for…oh well, I guess it’s another twenty years….let’s see I will be 54 then…will I still have my eyesight?
superman can lift a huge friggin planetoid size rock, can’t stop a plane from spinning(?), and the name isn’t good enough to make a good movie…it didn’t make what we were predicting because the movie wasn’t as AMAZING as the critics say…it was as BORING as king kong and just as big a flop (flop meaning a money making dud…You shouldn’t read into anything further with this other than the movie over all isn’t good.
king kong vs. superman…effen a right…that what i want to see
That’s alright John. I thought Superman would break 100 million as well. Who didn’t? Superman is so iconic, even more than Spider-Man some would argue, so the movie had all the makings to break 100 million.
So what happened? We can only guess.
As for me, Superman is simply too powerful. I can’t relate to him as much as a superhero who has limitations.
Even though I liked Superman Returns, it still falls short of Batman Begins and X Men 2.
just a point…. 84 mill is not a bad first weekend. And I’m sure the blue guy has staying power.
my point is this: this movie looks kinda violent in the trailers. People being shot in the eye ( though it was supes ), guns, stabbings and plane crashes. Now, while I know these are probably alot tamer in context, I’m pretty sure alot of people out there are like my housemate…
…she plans to see it by herself before taking her 4 year old to see it, to make sure he’s not going to be “scarred for life” by it…
…I bet there are a nice couple handfulls of folks out there of the like…
i’m saying this film will not lose as large of a percentage of it’s gross from week to week as a normal film would. So the 80+ mill it made this week may be a telling sign of things to come.
And, as I’ve said before ad nauseum, people online want to say nothing but bad…and will find ANY reason to talk crap about ANYTHING.
Hey Jose,
Yup, I was wrong. It’s neat how it happens so rarely that it becomes news when it happens!
:)
As far as The Transformers go. I’m 100% sticking by that one. No doubt in my mind at all. We’ll just have to wait and see. If the first bunch of REAL trailers suck ass… then maybe I’ll have to wain a little. Until then, I’m sticking with it. It will beat Spider-Man’s record for opening weekend.
Now we wait.
Cheers!
~John
superman is WAY HOT!!!!
his way better then batman.. but batmans still hot.. :)
I cant see the superman movie…im not allowed to..i got grounded. :(…because i kissed Nathan Jones’ mum.
NAH Batman is way better than superman.NUFF said
Experts are predicting $110 mill by Tuesday, seems pretty good to me.
Ha! Ha! John was wrong!
Are you going to take back your prediction on Transformers yet?
Even Superman–who crosses generations–couldn’t break $100 million mark. You think Transformers–which only crosses one generation–can break all opening box office records?
Eat your words John!
as soon as a studio spends more than 200 million on a movie they put the expectations on the film. you can’t blame the media…..studios don’t make these films to break even..they donl;t make them to keep the fans happy….they make them thinking they can make fucking tons and tons and tons of cash.
warners didn’t have a meeting where the chairman said “O.k guys heres what we are going to do….lets spend close to 300 mill on superman and with any luck we will break even”
Once again, the media jumps on a movie gives it ridiculously high and unrealistic expectations, and when it doesn’t meet them, the call it a BOMB. The same thing happened with King Kong (which made it’s money back, by the way) Now if Pirates doesn’t do as well as X3 did on opening weekend, they’ll jump on that and call it a fucking bomb! No one talks about movies anymore, they talk about boxoffice. That needs to change. This betting game is stupid.
worldwide it should be fine, It sold out every screening for the whole weekend in Seoul South Korea.
It’ll definitely make a profit, but probably not as much as we’d hoped.
Box Office Mojo is predicting 57 million?
That’s disappointing but we’ve got to take the July 1st/4th weekend into account, people aren’t as likely to be indoorsy this weekend.
direct from box office mojo –
Superman Returns played on over 8,200 screens across 3,915 theaters, including 76 IMAX locations that generated about $1.2 million of the $21 million gross. Previews were conducted at around 2,500 theaters on Tuesday starting at 10 p.m., which Box Office Mojo estimates accounted for over $3 million of the reported opening day, though Warner Bros. did not reveal that figure
there were screenings from 10pm on the tuesday night. it is up there on the warners site. you can’t copunt 10 pm tuesday as wednesday no matter how much you try.
John the screening you went to was on tuesday and it wasn’t at midnight was it?
and the studios do release the numbers john. not the chains. there was a case a few years back where a studio released their numbers for a film to get the number one spot and later on it was confirmed they lied to get their film to number one. the chains don’t care a about announcing the box office. the studios do so they can brag about a success or fudge and have their spin statements ready about their bombs.
people have to stop comparing it to batman begins. that is not a fair comparison. Batman and Robin the film that totally killed the franchise and is so unbelievably bad is still very fresh in a lot of people sminds. It is a film considered as one of cinemas biggest jokes and it is only 8 or 9 years old.
Superman Returns is a massively hyped return to the silver screen of a character who is arguably the most famous and iconic comic hero of all. His last film was nearly 20 years ago – sure it was a mess probably greater than that of batman and robin but it was still a long time ago. It is hardly fresh in peoples minds. Superman is also directed by a guy responsible for 2 of the biggest and most loved comic book movies of all time.
Batman Begins had legs because once people got wind of the fact through word of motuh that is in fact a great movei and more than makes up for the sins of batmans ice follies it made money.
It also didn’t cost close to 300 million to make.
so there is a huge difference.
the other thing batman didn’t have was one to go until a gigantic sequel to a huge huge film comes along and stomps on everything in its path.
For any other film 85 million would be great but this was not just any other film.
I had a bad feeling about this all along. There just didn’t seem to be the buzz outside of the internet.
Got 84 million for full weekend. I dont see that as a bomb, even for Superman.
1-geting on the top 10 list for best openings of all time should not be considered a bad thing by anyone, that is a Great achievement.
2-i’m ignoring all the post like “i watched the film and it suck, that is why it did bad in theatres”. ok that makes no sence at all. there are 3 things that determine opening weekend money a) hype b) advertizing and c)stars/actors and a couple other things (maybe reviews). but my point is that just because you WENT to see it and you didn’t understand the plot or hated it, this does not have any effect on how much the movie makes, everyone goes with a predetermined idea of wheter or not they want to go. no one should come in these forums and talk about opening weekends and give predictions after they see the movie, that’s silly IMHO.
3-if your so certain, post a week a head of time like John did. and to be honest I predicted a bigger opening than it got as well, and I can admit that I was wrong too. I’m supprized that it’s doing as bad as it is, but so far it’s doing better than batman begins.
Hey there Carter.
Actually, it wasn’t a lie.
All Wednesday openings with Midnigh showings (Any showing that starts or ends past 12am into the day of the opening) are counted as opening day revenues. It’s the same for all the other films on the list.
And the Boxoffice wasn’t reported by WB… it’s reported by the theater chains.
Cheers
the 21 million that warners are saying it made on its opening day is actually a lie.
It made 18 million on wednesday.
3 Million was made on special advance screenings on tuesday night like the ones john and doug went too.
So it actually falls a few places on the all time list.
Still it is a holiday weekend so it could still have a good couple of days….
Well I tell you what:
I haven’t been to the movies in a while, and really I couldn’t tell you the last movie I saw before Superman Returns…BUT I was highly pissed off when I went to see the super movie. I got to the theater early and we were the first in. The movie started at 1pm and by 12:50pm the people came pouring in. But that’s not what pissed me off. What pissed me off was the stupid “show” they were playing as well as all the advertising. The damn movie didn’t start until 1:20pm! So for 20 minutes before start time and past 20 minutes of the start time I was subjected to mind numbing, insane, pain in the royal ass commercials! Some played three times! Some where three of the same damn advertiser! So not only shelling out $5.50 a ticket for the two of us as well as $13 bucks for crappy food (the popcorn was horrible and the soda tasted weak), I HAD to endure advertising, not movie previews, not a one, but freaking advertising for more than 30 minutes before the movie started. If this is now the norm, screw hollywood and the theaters, I’ll wait for the DVD release.
Superman Returns was excellent from start to finish and I was very glad to see it play homage to the original in so many ways. I’m glad I did go see it but I will have to think long and hard before going back to the theater and put with the crap advertising, high prices, and ignorant people who insist on talking, rocking in their seats and making them squeak, crying kids, and folks shuffling their feet through out the whole movie.
Drewbacca- quick—!
Take your Superman II DVD and plop it in. DVD chapter 21 and 22.
Take the Sealer challenge!
lol
The first too Supermen (tee hee) movies are my favorite comic book adaptations of all time (followed by X2, Batman Begins, Spider-man 2, etc.) but I had some serious issues with the movie. I felt that Lex Luthor’s diabolical island-making plot was ridiculous (I agree with Ebert on this one). Also, Lois Lane was just miscast. Bosworth is fine, but she has none of the spunk that made Margot Kodder’s incarnation so interesting. These are two major things working against this movie, and the fact that the love story is what some, including myself, consider to be the best part of the Superman mythos undermines it further. In a distant third is the fact that we’ve seen so much of Lex Luthor already in the originals it would be nice to incorporate some new villainy in the mix (How’s about Doomsday kick the crap out of Supes at the end, killing him, leaving room for the 4 supermen to come out in the sequel?)
I had no problem with the kid. I kinda wish it wasn’t Superman’s kid, that it was just Lois’s and Richard’s (that seemed like kind of a cop out to me and that would make it more of a challenge.) Also the returning part was a brilliant way to re-introduce the series. All in all, I’d give this movie a 7/10 (which is just one below of what the site gave it) and as such I have no real urge to see it again. So, to sum up:
-Different plot than kryptonite-island making
-Different Lois
-Possibly someone else alongside Lex
Man, opening numbers don’t really matter anymore. Titanic didn’t open with that billion dollars, did it? It opened steady and built that audience. Yeah, it might be a smaller number than expected, but don’t go writing it off yet.
Despite that movie the movie has it’s flaws, it is a lot of fun. I’m going to see in just a bit for the second time because a friend of mine hasn’t seen it yet. I never really thought the movie would top 100mil, but I did think it might squeak it out, especially in 5 days. Next weekend Pirates will have money and I can’t wait!
Darren,
When Superman brought Lois back to his home in SM2, they “got it on.” It showed them sleeping together in that big huge “silk” bed. Then it was shortly after, that Superman gave up his powers to be with her.
I think that’s what you were looking for.
later.
~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com
52 million over the weekend, ending up at 83 million for the first 5 days
Why the hell would anyone wish for the end of the genre? If you do not like a particular genre I’ll let you in a on an apparent secret – you don’t have to go and see it!
Childish posts like that burn my grits – especially when the poster of that statement and I have the same first name.
Hey Donald,
I think that list you put up actually proves it was a great opening for a wednesday.
Something else interesting… John said that Superman had a great Wednesday opening. Again, sighting the-numbers.com as my source, it seems Superman’s opening was OK but not great. In fact, it is the eighth largest opening on a Wednesday. Here is the list:
Date Film Name Daily Gross Theaters Weekend
6/30/2004 Spider-Man 2 $40,442,604 4,152 $88,156,227
12/17/2003 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King $34,450,834 3,703 $72,629,713
5/19/1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace $28,542,349 2,970 $64,810,970
12/18/2002 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers $26,159,972 3,622 $62,007,528
11/5/2003 Matrix Revolutions, The $24,311,365 3,502 $48,475,154
2/25/2004 Passion of the Christ, The $23,557,000 3,006 $83,848,082
6/29/2005 War of the Worlds, The $21,256,483 3,908 $64,878,725
6/28/2006 Superman Returns $21,037,277 3,915 –
7/18/2001 Jurassic Park 3 $19,024,360 3,434 $50,771,645
7/3/2002 Men in Black 2 $18,599,621 3,557 $52,148,751
Thenumbers.com says that Superman has made $48M with Saturday to still be calculated. But something to consider is the (at least to me) surprising sucess of ‘Devil Wears Prada’. It has 78% on Rottentomatoes which is in fact BETTER than Superman’s 74%. Devil made 9.4 million this weekend so far in only 2,874 theatres vs. Superman’s 4,065. I have no interest whatsoever in ‘Prada’ but those numbers are wild! (All of these stats are from thenumbers.com)
I predicted that it would make between 70 and 80 million. But I’m not sure it’s even going to make that.
And with Pirates (which will make $100 mil. easily) coming out next week it doesn’t look goed for ol’ Superman.
As ricky from sunnyvale trailer park once said I don’t wanna be the one who said i toad a so but i toad a so……
I called this all along.
it might have legs but I really think the general public just were not excited about this film…..the number one reason being the trailers sucked.
They almost put me off going. I truly believe that is what has hurt it.
Hopefully word of mouth can save it but so far I am the only one out my friends and workmates who loved it.Most people thought it was o.k. no one totally hated it but no one loved and they all said the same thing “too long”
Make the most it guys because it needs a miracle if we are going to see a sequel.damn shame as it is a great movie and i really would love to see another one.
but campea….You know how I said opinions can’t be wrong? well I stand by that so lets just say that your “opinion” that routh is better than reeve is severely misguided!!!
he is good but he is no reeve. reeve was superman. you go watch those films and look at how awesome he was playing the dual kent/superman role.
the scene when he goes and sees lois lane on the rooftop … and scans her lungs….he was just fucking perfect.
routh tried to copy reeve a little too much but i did like him.
Big thumbsup for John admitting that he was wrong about flicks box office -success. I can’t even remember how long you have said that “this movie will take over 100 million on it’s opening weekend, EASILY!”
Well, didn’t happen and I gotta admit that I too am little bit surprised. Haven’t seen it yea (opens in month here in Finland), but my exceptations aren’t that high, mostly because in my opinion Superman is the most poring of the all superheroes. Icon or not.
Slightly under 100 million on opening weekend ain’t that bad after all. It’s disappointed, certainly, but not carastroph. Superman Returns will probably make about 200 millions in US after all money is counted and double it with international market. I hope so, because this movie cost about 200-300 million dollars, depanding do you count that money what was used to Nicolas Cage -Supermanmovie. And there’s always marketing costs which could be as much as 40-50 million in this case.
Hey Fender,
“This movie tried to be too much like Suoerman 1 & 2.”
I guess I should watch this film before the first two. C’mon, if this movie is like that (I’m not judging if it is), it should be first on my list.
This (and Campea’s early review on Pirates 2; this film is fun, but not better) is almost as weird as Fritz Lang being in a Fullmetal Alcchemist movie…
Wait a minute: HE IS?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!??!??!!?!!
Dammit! I was just about to watch the series before I lost cable! Bless DVDs.
BTW, would Singer ever consider working together with Peter Jackson on a movie (like that joke from the Kong diaries)?
This is kind of depressing, but the movie is going to be a forgone conclusion by the time Pirates comes out. Despite how great the film was, people obviously had better things to do.
this movie is too long. Not enough turn around time for more showings. Thirty minutes should have been cut. And lose the kid.
Superman will probably make its money back. Problem with Superman is that, quite frankly, its hardly mediocre. The plot of Lex Luthor trying to basically grow an island is ridiculously stupid… even for a series where the lead character turned back time by rotating the earth the other way. That plot ends up taking a back seat to the absouletly horrendous romantic Superman/Lois angle. Bosworth is terrible as Lane and Routh was just plain distracting as Superman. Not ONCE on that screen did I buy Routh as Superman. I will give him credit for Clark Kent. Unfortunately he tried TOO much to be like Christopher Reeves ( Who I actually dislike as Superman anyways as is). And another thing, the action was predictable and boring. WOW, Superman rips the wings off of a plane by trying to save it!!! HOW EXCITING!!! Not really. People are right though, its the peak of the action and thats sad.
I will tell you what I think the problem is. This movie tried TOO much to be Superman 1 and 2. “But everyone loves those two movies!” …yea they loved two movies made 30 years ago. Two movies which never take themselves seriously. I understand that Superman isnt Batman but why cant Superman be treated with some dignity? Instead we get a buffon Clark Kent, a TOO sugar-coated Superman, a pathetically undevilish Luthor (granted played well by Spacey). I am fully confident that even Ratners version would of turned out better. As much as I would love to see Superman Returns to be a bomb, it wont be. It will eventually make its money back and the few fans that loved it will be happy that they are getting a sequel (and trust me there are only a few considering most of hte word of mouth going around is saying its terrible).
Sad too…..at least WB still has their newly superbly made Batman saga to continue with. I can at least thank god that they got everything and more right with him.
I just saw it…. And I loved it. I really loved it and am planning on buying a superman shirt asap… I had always loved Batman a lot, but I think Batman Begins pales in comparison to Superman Returns. Not even kidding.
I’m just not interested. I didn’t like the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies and really doubt I’d like this one. Comic book movies are a pretty hard sell for me to begin with, but some dude flying around with a cape and little red panties (and no one can recognize he’s the reporter guy) just isn’t my thing. I might rent it one day.
I’m curiously waiting to see Apocalypto. I hope it’s good … the trailer seemed promising.
what happened with Batman Begins may still happen here.
Batman Begins, as I recall you or someone else saying, began with slightly disapointing numbers it’s first week out and “seemed doomed to a short run” (i think that’s the exact words I read )
That WB comic movie appealed to a wide audience, much like Superman…so maybe we’ll just have to wait and see.
I have a question. The budget for superman returns is somethingl ike 260 mil, right? is that for just this movie? or is that for ALL incarnations and false started superman movies of the past 10 years?
if it’s the latter, I guess someone should figure out how much it actually cost to make THIS movie by itself and see how much it takes in, before casting it as a flop.
besides. it’s still got the merchandising…
Ambush! This was a total chick-flick trap. Made me sick to my stomach and squirm in my chair. The four endings made me feel like I was waiting at the DMV. Don’t do it fellas.
i dont see you acting in the movie, you are just an annoying blog writer.
I also think the following may have hurt the film:
A great great scene with the plane and shuttle. After that, nothing is as visually exciting actionwise. Nothing. Nothing that justifies two hours plus anyways.
The running time. Might be a few less screenings due to it.
The holiday has generally been a rough spot for films. If it rains on the weekend, studios get lucky.
We really did not need a Superman film. We had Lois & Clark ten years ago; we have Smallville. We don’t need Supey because…we already have him. We don’t miss him.
And as much as I liked Spacey and Posey, what the film needed was a Parasite, Darkseid, Metallo…someone other than Luthor.
SPOLIER WARNING:
“did Lois know that the kid is Supes or not?”
While I liked the film overall, the biggest problem of the film rears its ugly head. Not the kid himself, but the concept. The film, while upping the timeline, acts if “Superman The Movie” and “Superman II” are canon. First, “a five year absence” does not cut it, for, at the end of II, Supes promised not to go away again. At the start of the new film, this is a promise broken.
But -eureka- I found a central plot hole. When did Lois and Superman ‘get it on’? In Superman II… The film strongly suggests again that both ‘Superman The Movie” and “Superman II’ are canon except timeline. So the error? I ask again: WHEN did they get it on?
Before or after Supey gave up his powers to be with Lois?
-sealer
Superman is gay, and people had enough of that last year.
Seriously, I think the biggest difference between X3 and Superman, and the reason X3’s opening weekend is bigger (at least thats what it looks like), is that the ad campaign for X3 was fucking amazing, and the one for Superman has been more or less shit.
But bear in mind, opening weekends show nothing of the films quality. So don’t get too worked up that it may not exceed this number or that number, history judges movies, not money.
It is kinda boring to fight Supes. You can kick Spidey’s ass a million different ways. How many times can you wave Kryptonite in supes’ face before it gets tired?
If Spider-Man has prown anything it’s that you don’t need bankable stars. The name Superman should be bigger than the actor playing him, and that is what should sell a movie. The problem is that the world has changed i think. Supermans biggest problem is that he is too perfect, there fore people think he is boring, while Spider-Man on the other hand, even though he has superpowers people can kinda relate too cause he has problems like everybody else. It’s the same thing with X-Men
Louis,
Probably not, the genre will end if Spiderman, Batman and the X-men spin offs does badly. At the moment those 3 franchises are still going strong.
I hope Singer can put a bit more action in the Superman sequal and maybe kill the bastard kid because I think it will ruin the franchise if the kid stays around too long. Superman being a father just ruins it for me…
Well, since it looks like we’ll have to start a “what happened to Superman returns?” thread, I’ll be glad to kick it off.
1)Other than hardcore comic fans, I really didn’t sense any excitement for this flick. Seriously. It’s Pirate fever out there. I walked into a store in the mall yesterday, and it was wall-to-wall Pirates stuff. One little rack of superman shirts.
2)As with King Kong, NO BANKABLE STARS! By bankable, I mean people who can open a movie. The biggest name is Kevin Spacey, and while he’s a kickass actor, he’s not BANKABLE.
3)Plot much? The movie rocked. I loved it, but the more I think of it, the less sense it makes. Supes just takes off for five years? How long does it take to get to fucking Krypton?! Lex wants to make a new continent and kill billions of people? Yeah, okay, after they all die and the world’s economy goes to shit, how does that make Lex rich and powerful? Don’t get it. SPOILERS………did Lois know that the kid is Supes or not? I still don’t know for sure. She looked shocked as hell when he chucked that piano, but was she shocked because of that or because she actually thought the kid was Richard’s?
4) Not enough action. The commercials make it look like a smash-bang bonanza, but it’s actually a bit light on action. You guys even said that in the audio edition. That plane sequence was the height of the action, and that comes within the first half hour. It goes down after that.
The movie still kicks some ass, but it could still do well. Depends on word of mouth, which is kinda mixed. The IMDB boards are packed with hateful trolls right now just whipping the shit outta the movie.
I guess the studio might have second thoughts about the Wonder Woman project, or at least revising the budget for it.
I don’t see SR making more then $450 million world-wide. Generally comic book films do worse outside of North American than other action films.
I hope Superman Returns end the super heroes genre.
Even I was beginning to think i was on crack when i predicted in the MB poll that Superman Returns would make 50-75 million. Pays to listen to the gut sometimes.
oh and that Pirates 2 opens Friday probably won’t help it. The guys over at aicn apparently loved it
All i gave been hearing from my friends who are Supermanfans is how this movie is going to be the greatest movie ever and is goign to beat Titanic and absolutley destroy Spider-Man 1 and 2 in every way.
On Thursday when everybody said this is floping i was quick to defend the movie, cause everybody said Batman Begins was floping but the numbers was quite stable because of the praise it got, but i am not hearing the same praise for Superman from people who have seen it. But it’s still too early too call it a flop. I am certain it will reach $200 million in Northern America alone.
But the movie has another huge problem. WB has decided to wait for European release somewhere between 2 to 6 weeks(depending on country). You can only guess how many people in Europe will download the movie and that will hurt it.
And FYI they have apparently used $260 million over the last ten years to get where we are today, makes me wonder if Bryan Singer regrets his decision leave X-Men
dammit. thats complete bullshit. this sucks
Too bad, although I am proud to say, my family and I cointributed to that 17 million….
And I LOVED the movie, btw. Can’t wait for the next one.
This is shocking news indeed. 100mil was kinda pushing it but I thought it would make over 70mil. I’m guessing it will do better in the next few weeks. Superman still has to be released over in Ireland and the Uk. If this was a worldwide release then it would have made over 100mil easy.
Dude, it’s 4th of July weekend. And in most of the US, it’s gorgeous outside. Everyone’s out of town to the lake cabin or at a BBQ or something. Then Pirates is gonna kick its ass next weekend. $100 million by Sunday? A slim chance.
~Drewbacca
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