The folks over at the LA Times have put up an really nice little article in which they interview Warner Bros. President Alan Horn in which he talks frankly about the number of flops Warner Bros. has had this year, and that fact that they are indeed planning for another Superman Movie.
When all is said and done, he says that Warner’s share of the profit (yes, Superman made profit) will be about $50 – $60 million, but that’s about $100 million less than they were anticipating on making. Still… Superman Returns was one of the few profitable movies for Warner this year. The article goes on to say:
Warner has firmly reestablished the “Superman” franchise and is planning another installment for summer 2009.
Then giving his thoughts on why Superman underperformed Horn openly said:
“I thought it was a very successful movie, but I think it should have done $500 million worldwide,” Horn said. “We should have had perhaps a little more action to satisfy the young male crowd.”
I loved Superman Returns for what it was, but I can’t disagree with his assessment. Yes, there SHOULD have been more action in a Superman movie. I’m wagering the next Superman film will probably over compensate and load it with action. Time will tell.
Jay:
OK. You got me. When I wrote that posting I went to another site to see who the writers were, and got the names mixed up. For the record, I had no problems with the music. But I still didn’t like the story.
Dude no offense but John Ottoman was the composer and the editor of Superman returns and John Wiliiams was the composer of Superman: The Movie. At least have your facts straight before you bag on people.
Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty wrote the screenplay.
I’m a real comic book geek and spent the weeks leading up to Superman Returns geeking out on Superman. That’s why I was so dissapointed in the movie. For the record, these are the things that didn’t work for me.
1. Too little action/too much time wasted on a romance that wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I can go for sappy hopless romantic movies, and even own a few Jane Austin DVDs. But when I go to a superhero movie, I don’t want Jane Austin.
2. The whole superbaby thing just bombed. It really detracted from one’s sense of Lois as a bright, competent woman. Something my wife pointed out that in order for Lois to not know that Superman was the father, she had to be involved with Superman and Richard at the same time. Or…maybe, within days of her relations with Superman, she started seeing Richard and hopped into bed with him right away. Now some of the fan-boys argue that Lois got pregnant during the events from Superman II (but need to say that Superman III and IV never happened for this explanation to work), but that Lois doesn’t remember it because he stole her memories.
3. The kid himself spent most of his screen time just staring. If your going to put a kid like that on screen, better have him followed around by a pair of Rottweilers who do his evil bidding.
4. Richard…What the F&$#, this guy got more lines than Clark Kent. Why?
5. Kate Bosworth was too young. She was 22 when she made the movie, but could more easily have played 15 than 25. On top of that, she brought no fire to the role. There was no sparkle to her performance.
6. John Ottman and John Williams should never be allowed to write a movie again. If the best you can come up with for a superhero movie is a real estate scandal involving data storage crystals that turn into continents when you drop them in water, you should be working at Jack In The Box.
7. The costume was too dark.
Maybe if only one of the 6 things I mentioned had been a problem, maybe then I could still have enjoyed the movie. Maybe if only 2 of them were a problem. But the flaws of this movie just overwhelmed everythig else.
Well, I think the only way I see that a sequel to Superman Returns is a good news is by convincing myself that Singer is a great director and that he managed to make X2. Otherwise…
That’s a shame and could sound crual but here are the facts : I almost slept 2 ou 3 times watching Superman Returns. 2h30 watching a story that everybody already knows is somewhat painful. And I can tell you that I wasn’t the only one who thought that, judging by the attitude of the crowd in the theatre. But maybe that’s because we’re French, and Superman is hardly the most liked superheros around :).
As for POTC 2, I spend a good time watching it. The plot is no new either but there’s a lot of actions…and laughs, well in my case at least. What I point here is that I don’t care a lot about a strong plotline or not, just as long as the movie offers other features. This was the case for POTC 2 and sadly not for Superman.
John:
I was also dissapointed in Superman Returns. I felt that the movie was way too long and the story too mundane. I frequently found myself glancing at my watch to see how long I had been sitting, while I waited for the movie to pick up some momentum.
I didn’t came much for the casting. Kate Bosworth was too young. But honestly, I don’t think she’d be be a good Lois Lane if she was 32 or 35 or 39 years old. She’s just not an interesting actress. Maybe a better actress could have come off as spunky or dedicated when she hauled her 5 year old with here while she trespassed on a suspicious yacht, but I doubt it. To me she just seemed like a negligent mother.
Frankly, I think that Bryan Singer made a mistake by basing Superman Returns on the 1979/80s franchise. Since that time Superman has come a long way. I would have liked a more action oriented Superman movie, without Richard or Lois’s son to muddy the water.
thought that the story was very mundane for a $200 Million movie.
I’d like to make some predictions of what whill happen if Singer is in charge of the next Superman movie:
1. There will be an awsome real estate scheme that Superman can foil.
2. There will be a love triangle involving James Marsden.
3. Lois Lane (played by a 25 year old) will be head of the NYU journalism school.
Woohooo! Awesome!
I liked “Batman Begins” a lot. I didn’t like “Superman Returns”, but I am looking forward to “Aquaman’s Wiener has Gills.” In any regard, the casting of Kate Bosworth, or the consideration of other “teenie bopper” actresses and actors only cements to me that Hollywood marketing departments should not be in charge of making movies, just promoting.
Lastly, mark my words: Any Superman sequel with General Zod will fail.
Show me something different. Something new. Tell me a new story.
HalfandHalfSword is spot on.
Just looking at how young Kate Bosworth is put me off seeing the film. After Katie Holmes performance, well if you can call it a performance, in Batman Begins, I don’t want anything to do with superhero movies that have young actresses in it.
Thankfully plenty of sites warned us overseas people how bad the movie was.
“ok to handandhalfsword the super boy is fine ok and to the dumb ass 1138 its batman begins u twat go home if u not even a comic fan man next ull b sayin that superman is a marvel carecter”
rotten tomatoes and imdb forums are THAT WAY —->
And man, this is such a spin on box office I can’t believe it’s getting quoted. It actually reads like something an obsessive fanboy would write on…well, imdb and rotten tomatoes.
He’s a movie exec, they lie about shit constantly. The guy probably tells his wife he doesn’t have an asian hooker back at his OTHER mansion, too.
I think Singer’s gonna get booted; they guy’s got an ego, and it’ll be like how he got fired from x3 all over again. People say Fox was the evil villain when it came to x3, but it was really just Singer’s ego clashing with theirs’.
POTC was not a great movie. But I didn’t leave POTC feeling pissed off. I left Superan Returns feeling pissed off because it sucked so bad.
Superman Returns is such a piece of crap that the director and writers should be punished by baring them from ever working on another movie ever again.
I’m all in favor of a restraining order that bars Bryan Singer from going within 10 miles of a movie set.
That exec is spinning like a mother. They wont make a decision on this until they get a good look at dvd sales and after the shareholders meating. It’s been 2-3 years now Warner Bros has been going down the tubes.
POTC2 $923.8 million worldwide sixth place on the list just behind Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, at $924.3 million, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, at $926.3 million. If POTC2 sucked then the rest of the world is stupid for supporting it so much.
INTERNET FAN BOYS CAN BE SOOOOOOOOOO STUPID.
POTC2 sucked? Are you people serious? It was the only big budget film that delivered this year. The number’s for SOAP should tell you that your influence is not as big as you think. As for Superman somebody at Warner Bros need to know how to budget because I don’t how this film cost as much as it did even when you include the cost for the past false starts. I have to say based on the people I’ve talked to Superman is the most disliked of the major superheroes. It’s those goddamn tights.
I think the only reason Singer cast Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane was because Lindsey Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen seemed to old for the part.
ok to handandhalfsword the super boy is fine ok and to the dumb ass 1138 its batman begins u twat go home if u not even a comic fan man next ull b sayin that superman is a marvel carecter
And for G## sake get superman out of the earth tones and back into a bright blue and bright, bright red costume.
He’s Supeman. He doesn’t hide from anyone. He doesn’t need a subdued costume.
They are planning a sequel.
They have not given it a greenlight.
They won’t give it a greenlight until they can agree to budget terms and my guess is that they place much bigger creative restrictions on singer this time around and that he walks.
I have a feeling Singer won;t direct the sequel….
and I hope to god they don;t go with the zod idea….
GIVE US SOMETHING NEW…..they already gave us a rehashed version of the first superman film please give us something new…
oops….I have already said that before…sorry john.,…I forgot about your new “only comment on something once” rule….
P.S. Can someone please eliminate Kate Bosworth….please!!! Man, she’s worse than Katie Holmes and I hated Katie Holmes in Batman Returns!!! (But I still loved the movie)
Lois Lane is integral to Superman…if you can’t cast her well you’re already srcewing up the movie!!
I’m not quite sure why people are concentrating on the action part of the movie…action was not the problem…it was just a lousy story! A poor remake of a classic film called Superman the Movie…Supes returns was A Bizzaro Superman movie!!!
If Horn doesn’t realize that we do not want a duplication of the past…that we want an original fresh story that reintroduces Superman to the 21st century…he is going to be sitting on a ruined franchise!!
Now is that to much to ask for!!!???
AMEN, sometimes I wonder If I even saw the same movie as the Brian Singer internet fan boys when they talk about Superman. The basic problems were rehashed plot lines, being chained to a 30 year old continuity, an uncharismatic cast, lack of action, shoddy editing, an anti-climactic climax, etc.
“In order for the next Superman movie to better the studio needs to jetison Bryan Singer, Kate Bosworth, and writers who wrote Superman Returns. They also need to pretend that Superbaby and James Marsden never happened.”
I Like that, I would go see that movie.
The reason Superman Returns underperformed at the box office was that it wasn’t good either by the standards of comic-book movies, but by the standards of movies in general. The casting, writing, acting, and direction was less than mediocre. It didn’t just fail in one area, but because it failed in so many areas. Here are just a few examples:
1. Lois Lane was played by a 22-year-old actress who could have easily passed for 16. She would have been a fine choice for a something like “American Pie: The Next Generation”. The role of Lois Lane requires a certain combination of intellectual maturity and spunk. This actress had neither. Let’s face it, there’s probably aren’t any 20 something year old full reporters on the staff of the New York Times or Washington Post, let alone a 22-year-old veteran reporter with 7 or more years experience. For Kate Bosworth to play Lois Lane, we’d have to assume that she began her journalism career when she was 13. Watching her play Lois Lane was like watching a 15-year-old actor play Willy Loman in a high school production of Death of a Salesman. No matter how masterfully the 15 year old thespian performs, he’s
I hope they retain Parker Posey in the sequel and even expand her role… she was fantastic in Returns.
The only time i fell to in a movietheatre was Miami Vice, but this was close. If this movie wants is goign to be any better rhan SR they need to get rid of Bryan Singers ego, and not make remakes of the imperfect Superman-movies made 30 years ago. Base the movies on the comics and if they want to base it anything else base it on Superman The Animated Series, the best adaptation of the comics so far
Superman Returns was definitely superior to Dead Man’s Chest. I don’t think loading the sequel with action will benefit it though. They have to find a happy medium, much like X2. For all his fantastic directorial ability, Singer leaves a bit to be desired in terms of all-out-action.
It kills me to see Returns not doing the best in the box office. I thought POTC2, sucked. Didn’t deserve to make the money it did. Returns will bring in a good bit of money with DVD sales. I agree more action should be in the sequal, but to be honest I was happy with the amount of action in Returns. There wasn’t even a lot of mushy love scenes in it as I expected.
It was tOOOOOO LOOOONG. Superman movies should 2 hours with lots of action!!! Not 2 and half with no cars flying around. I almost fell a sleep twice when I saw that movie! More action!!!
I’m just happy they’re making a sequel. I just wish it wasnt gonna be Zod. Do something new, something fresh. Braniac, Metallo, hell even Doomsday would be better. And sideline Lex’s real estate schemes. Just for a little bit. Hopefully Singer will take it in a new direction and not just rehash Superman II. This means no teaching of any lessons to any rednecks!
I’m still amazed at how relatively poorly Superman Returns performed at the box office, especially compared to Pirates Of The Carribean, which is an inferior film, I think.
A sequel is something to look forward to, though, and I’d love it if they added a bit more action. As long as they can keep Bryan Singer from jumping ship, this is good news.