We have an interesting bit of news regarding the future of the Superman franchise this morning thanks to our friends at cinematical via Variety.
Variety’s Anne Thompson reports that the studio is really taking their time in deciding what to do, and how Bryan Singer will play into it. At this point, despite all the rumors and excited quotes from Singer, no one is working on a Superman script.
Surprisingly, they’re with the majority of fans on this one, and feel that the movie didn’t revive the character the way they wanted, or the way they know it can be done. (You really have changed things, Christopher Nolan.) Thompson was told that the studio is making the Man of Steel a top priority — and if Singer is willing “to go in the right direction,” they’ll keep him, if not, he’s off the property. One executive freely admitted that “it might be better to start from scratch.”
We have been wondering this very thing around these parts for some time. Others have made it known that they want ahold of Superman and the studio has been very slow to release a sequel. I am going to guess that at this point, a restart is probably more likely than a sequel. As I have said before, I feel bad for Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey, I thought they did very well, it’s just a shame that the story wasn’t the greatest.
International friends – would you prefer to see a restart at this point, or would you like to give SInger a second shot at bat? Will Routh fly again and don the S on his chest?
Reboot and recast Superman!Let`s start fresh!Bryan Singer`s time is up!Singer had his chance and he blew it.I say let Mark Millar try his hand at Superman.
Happy New Year!
I think Superman is in dire need of a reboot. Firstly , eliminate the entire cast of Superman Returns and keep Bryan Singer far away from it. Get an actor for Superman who is probably in his early-mid thrities with a greater physical build and get an actress for Lois Lane who has that sensual cynicism that Margot Kidder had (Kate Bosworth was horrible). I think that more people are losing interest in Superman because he’s so overpowered that he never has to struggle with anything. What Nolan did for Batman was show a character who is flawed and troubled but not in an emo way, someone who we can relate to. The audience can’t relate to someone when bullets bounce off their eye!!! Superman Returns was so boring and what the new film needs is more action but not braindead type of action. The series needs to start over and free itself of the past continuity like Batman Begins did. Superman’s powers also need to seriously be toned down, make it so that he can’t lift things that are enormously heavy (or at least he struggles to lift it) and there are tons of things he’s weak against other than Kryptonite such as gases, electricity, drowning and most importantly he can be attacked psychologically. The series also needs to use a different villain other than Lex Luthor, he’s appeared in 4 of the 5 Superman films and he’s gotten too played out, he can be reintroduced in a later sequel but not in the first film. I think they could really use Braniac, he could perfectly use his intellect to exploit Superman’s weaknesses and push him to the edge. Superman also needs to be darker but by darker I don’t mean he’s pulling guns out on people, I mean he’s more realistic and flawed. The origin also needs to be retold in a modern setting, The original film “jumped” a lot when showing Clark Kent’s past and the origin could be better fleshed out in the new film. We know that pretty much the whole world knows Superman’s origins but the new film could add a new unique touch. What if Superman was really sent to conquer Earth, not save it? That would be a gutsy and interesting approach.
I know the screenplay of the sequel:
magneto helps Superman spin the world to the past so he can stop Nolan and Raimi from directing any superheroe movie. The film lasts 1 hour and five minutes, it has four dialogues, five of them are between Magneto and wolverine, one is between superman and magneto, they talk about wolverine. The last one is a monologue where brian singer disguized as Maron Brando explains how it would be a dialogue between wolverine and richard donner (singer acts the voices). I give the movie 8 out of ten stars, but this screenplay should be directed by lars von trier.
Also, if the storyline is to continue then kill the damn kid and mother (Kate Bosworth – boring piece of ass) and Lex Luthor in the first 10 minutes and move on to a more hard-ass Supes which will puch the bejesus at Darseid or Myxyzptlk.
%100 REBOOT
Keep Routh (only good thing fron SR).
Singer’s take on SR was not for fans, more for his personal affection to Donner which was a lame idea.
It’s retarded to pay homage to Supes movie that was *already* been done that way. The narration and story was out of line for a Superman Returns. The kid stuff is shit! Those ideas work best in comics where story arcs can be written over a period.
Superman is god-like powerful, we don’t want to see him toying with emotions as a mortal. Leave to the Batman to deal with those persona.
@Ransom Betty
hahaha Hayden Christensen as Superman.
“but it’s Lex Luther’s fault” whino.
I say give Singer a shot to “go Wrath of Khan” with Superman.(by that I think it is Singer’s intention to kill the kid and Richard!) What does WB have to lose? Superman Returns made more money than Batman Begins. X-Men United was better than X-Men so if anything this gives Singer what he needs to redeem himself. Singer seems to do better the second time around. I am afraid that if they go the route of a reboot we will end up with a Brett Ratner directed pile of dog shit. With Hayden Christensen playing Superman!
I liked Singer’s Superman. I think it fits into cannon well, and was good setup for another movie. Brandon Routh and Spacey were great – keep them.
It would be good for Superman’s kid to die, though. Great potential for a character line for Superman! Imagine it – bad guy kills his son!
I loved darren’s idea of having the magical Myxyzptlk messing with Supes reality–brilliant! In a perfect woild……hope spwings eternal!
-Mr. Fudd
Superman should wear pants. I know he is a kryptonian and all, but…how long has he been here on planet earth?? i mean what have the Kents been teaching him?? you know… the farm thingy and red under wear is just gay. @#%$!
anyway… well a reboot might do the trick, but don’t call it superman. call it Kal El. We need to know Kal El as how Batman Begins tells the story of Bruce Wayne. Origins are very important, we can’t afford to have another Superhero flying around and saving people out of good up-bringing. I mean Why does he do that? why does he need to save humanity? is it because by saving humanity, its a reflection to what he could have done to save krypton? TELL A STORY for gods sake, don’t just throw it to our face and expect us to like it just because its “the most famous super hero on the planet”. shit for brains i tell ya.
oh…and bryan singer should be banned from directing. he mostly fuck things up. X-men could be waaaay better than what he did. he directed X-men like Tim Burton directed Batman. Good but not excellent. (well mainly singer is the jack ass, Tim still rocks,)
I think Singer did a great job with Superman Returns and I also think Routh wasn’t bad in it. When I first saw the Superman logo with the music, I felt like if I was seeing the Superman of my youth. Routh did well as Clark and Superman to my taste. Of course, I also agree that the story wasn’t the best that it could have been but, it was all right. The story in Batman begins wasn’t exactly perfect either, although it was close to it (didn’t like the part with the microwave thing).
I’d say, bring Singer and Routh back and let them tell a new story. Let’s forget about Luthor for a while and bring a real villain for once. Superman II was the closest to a real villain but even that, wasn’t exactly perfect. The new Joker is to me, the best villain ever… Let’s try to do it again for Supes…
No restart, no reboot.
All you need in the next Supeyman…is Mytzlyplk. Dear ol’ Mytz, we soon discover, made an alternate universe that Superman thought was the real Earth; when Supey finds out the truth he finds out that the kid never existed, Lois isn’t married, and that Darkseid has enslaved the human race! Mytz has only concocted a distraction for Supey.
Okay, it’s probably what they won’t go with. Maybe the kid grows and mutates into Bizarro. Maybe the kid rebels against Super Dad and has to be severely punished. Maybe Zod gets revenge and wipes out the kid and the son of Perry White in the first reel. Maybe in his five year travel to space, Superman had a dream that Lois was married, that a kid may be his offspring and he isn’t alone as he thought. But his memory is hazy, as he returns to Earth for real, and Lois Lane is played by Parker Posey!
Sky’s the limit.
But seriously, one or two dumb ass things in Supey Returns isn’t enough to warrant a reboot. In fact, is there something wrong with NOT making reference to the past films? Where’s the kid? Kara’s babysitting him!
I think Brian Singer should definitly return and do a sequel. Superman Returns is one of the best comic book films of all time imo. Yes, it didn’t have a super villain in it, but that’s part of it’s charm and seperates it from the other DC and Marvel super hero films. Look at X-Men 1, it was practically boring but delivered to some extent, and then X-2 was off the hook and amazing. I say, bring ’em back and have Superman go against a villain this time so real punches can be thrown to rectify things for the people that had a “problem” with Superman Returns. Give Supes a villain to fight with Singers direction.
yeah lets give Routh and Singer another chance….Superman Returns wasn’t all that horrible
give it to chris nolan…
he da man!!
Routh wasn’t brilliant. If anything he did a good impersonation of Christopher Reeve. To do a proper start over, they need a new character who can make the part his own, and not be compared to Reeve. I didn’t think anyone could do that with Joker after the brilliant job done by Jack Nicholson, but Ledge proved it was possible. I’d like to see someone play Superman in their own way.
I’d like to see someone with a really good physique play the part. The strongest man on earth should LOOK like the strongest man on earth. Not that I’m recommending him, but someone like WWE’s John Cena. You can’t change the iconic costume, but by having a totally different look to the old movie, you’d help set the tone that THIS is a new Superman story.
The problem with bringing Routh back, who I agree was excellent, is you really have to make a sequel then and then you have to do something with the surperkid. If you start from scratch with a new actor then you can just pretend that SR (and the kid) never happened.
I thought Spacey was annoying, almost as bad as Parker Posey was in that movie. Mostly though it was a soap opera that should have been an action movie. Id definitely get rid of Singer and the writers. Routh is the only one Id consider bringing back.
I love Smallville and besides the old cartoons (from the 1940’s) and the Donner films, I think it reflects the spirit of the Man of Steel better than any other version of the Superman mythos.
Granted, I haven’t read any of the comics so I can’t judge that particular medium. But I do know this: Superman doesn’t deal in gray areas like Batman does – Superman sees the world in black and white and this aspect of the character needs to be respected. Does it mean that a good Superman movie can never be made with such paladin? Not if you have the right people together with the right vision. I once thought that the Batman franchise was dead after Shumacher. Nolan proved everyone wrong. Surely, someone can give the Man of Steel his due on screen as well?
A reboot (or a sequel, it doesn’t really matter to me) that reflects the spirit of what Superman really is, is in order and like Van Easille said, DC needs to grow some balls and take some creative interest and ownership of this great DC character. There are great comic book writers out there that could do a new script true justice!
A reboot would be a great idea at this point. A Superman film does not always have to be based on the first film. It’d be like basing every Batman film on the old 70s TV show. Writers and directors brought on board need to start from scratch, and pay no attention to the old films.
I say they should do an opening montage which tells the origin story, so that then the film can get straight into the action. Bring on board a bad-ass villain who will be a physical challenge to Supes. The guy is so damn strong, give him a villain worthy of facing him in combat!
A reboot should look at fitting into a style which would possibly exist in the same universe as the Nolan Bat-franchise. That way we can eventually have a cross-over.
If Superman follows like Smallville and with tons of action, even better I say,
lol.
they cant figure out how to make supes interesting.
The “darkness” present in the books IS the villains. The charactrer is an icon of noble behavior, doesn’t take a life, etc. Superman and baqtman are two different types. “Dark-Knighting” the Man of Steel would be the worst thing to do. DC needs to exert some CONTROL over they’re property and demand a take that reflects the history of the character–Nothing Less! There are intelligent writers that can tackle this, Dan Jurgens, Mark Waid, guys from the ranks of they’re own stable, who I don’t know–are familar with the mythos!!!!!
They can creatively deal with the illegitimate child, which was a heinous addition. A parallel Earth scenario, Eath I, Earth II, something the parent company will not be embarrassed about.
And, they can do this with Singer still on board, just wrest creative control back to DC for final approval. Crisis on Infinite Earths is a shinning example of the genius at the parent company.
Afterwards, maybe a Kingdom Come film adaption–now THAT would be worth the price of admission! Think about it….
I want a sequel made by Bryan Singer. I want the movie to be darker like The Dark Knight were. But without Lex Luthor because I’m tired of him! Especially after watching the TV-show Suckville (Smallville) from time to time.
I want a sequel made by Bryan Singer. I want the movie to be darker like The Dark Knight were.
@ COLE
Haha. That’s what I thought of. If they continue from Superman Returns we have that whole Superboy aspect now. How lame.
Yes, reboot , i think the new movie needs: a better actor for the lead, dont bring any kid, more action scenes, a enemy that superman CAN PUNCH and he cant hit luthor and dont kill him so bring luthor but not as the main villain.
Too things I hate. The connection to the Donner movies & the Kid. I liked Routh. As hard as it is for me to say this but I prefer a new re-telling of the origin & new start for Superman. While were at it lets throw out the whole look of crystal Kypton & the crystal theme. It just never worked for me.
I know he’s a animator but whoever the superman franchise goes to I think Bruce timm I the best Pin to word vision of superman I’ve ever read or seen on the cartoons and his writing is on par with josh weaden style. He also enamored with apocalypses and new genesis (darksied) I think WB needs to go this route and use the writing that is successful. Compare a Superman animation Script against Superman Returns it’s like a 4 year old wrote it. The animation have been the better writing not the movies, Brian singers superman continued the prier movies in the same style giving us a movie that was close to the same. Timm’s versions of the Superman (justice league) would be a breath of fresh air.
I have no doubt what so ever that Warner Bros. will go the re-boot route. I feel bad for Brandon Routh because I thought he was very good, and this franchise gives him his only chance to become a big name celebrity. Having said that, Im sure someone will see the light and simply take the Chris Nolan approach and let Superman exist in a world were terrorism isn’t a cartoon, but a serious threat, that will make its audience uncomfortable like The Dark Knight did. I know there is a place for the character of Superman in todays movie world, just not the one on Singer version, as it had a feel of been there done that! Personally I like Superman Returns as it did alot right. It was just stuck a little to much in the past and the man of steel needs to move foward!
Tough decision here. Is Superman passe? Is he like Captain America – a superhero rooted in a different time period?
I say reboot – I like Routh visually as Supes but still don’t know if the dude can act. What’s he doing these days anyhow? Taking acting classes at the very least I hope.
Superman needs to be tweaked for today’s sensibilities. Make him a little less powerful and more internally conflicted.
p.s. could you dedicate 20 minutes of the Movie Blog Uncut to this topic. I
Studios (and fans) are obsessed with calling for reboots as a crutch every time they see a movie they don’t like. Spider-man 3 sucked? Reboot it! Fantastic 4 sucked? Reboot it! Ghost Rider? Daredevil? Superman? Reboot! Like rebooting is some magic pill that’ll make all the bad go away and everything will be happy again.
So what if they screw up the reboot? Do they reboot it again? How many versions of the Superman origin story are we going to see? We’ve already got eight seasons of one on the CW. The thing is, not everyone hated the last movie, and to reboot the whole franchise because of it is like an insult to them.
Why not do what they used to do in the old days and just try to write a better sequel? The world created for his films is still open for creativity and can become as dark or as family friendly as they want it. They don’t need to mention his kid or have Lex pull another real estate scheme. They don’t need the same cast and crew. And there’s no rule that says sequels need to copy the styles of their predecessors anyway (Aliens, Terminator 2, Incredible Hulk.)
I’d rather just see a new Superman movie where something shows up to destroy the earth, followed by two hours of ass-kicking. Forget the origin story, ignore the kid, and skip Lex’s wacky schemes. And bring in a more manly Superman. A little stubble never hurt anyone.
Get rid of routh and bring in someone who has, I dunno, maybe an ounce of charisma. R
Routh’s superman was quite possibly the blandest super hero of all time. He was a blank pretty slab.
Superman should be that – SUPER. Not boring.
bury the franchise completely, the story has been done to death. superman sucks and the last movie proved that. seriously – it’s time to move on.
Maybe the studios could think about making ORIGINAL ideas for a change? Stop making damn adaptations of kids cartoons from the 80’s, books and comics and forget reboots and remakes, and NEVER EVER touch video game projects.
Really, there must be piles of amazing scripts lying in an office somewhere – there has to be one or two fresh ideas to effectively REBOOT Hollywood into life. What happened to storytelling? cinema? It’s all a fucking wank fest at the moment.
All of my minds free time is spent thinking about a new Superman movie. Superman Returns was hands down the greatest theater going experience of my life. I have hated superman ever since 1995 when the movie “Angus” brought to my attention that Superman isn’t brave because he is pretty much invincible. Superman Returns changed my entire outlook on Superman… He is Brave. Never in my life has my mind changed so quickly. I really want to see a sequel to the franchise we already have. I love Superman Returns! I hate Superman’s son. You can’t have 60 some odd years of Superman and just decide to all of a sudden give him a kid out of nowhere. I agree with “The Movie Blog” when they say the next Superman movie needs to consist of killing off the kid in the first act and then having Superman dealing with fits of absolute rage and revenge. Superman is always in control. what would he be like full of anger? how do you make superman mad? you kill his kid! have Lex do it. or have Lex have doomsday or Darkseid do it. or just have Brainiac do it on his own. Whatever they do with a sequel, it MUST be the final installment so that a reboot can take place 3ish years later by Mark Miller. It worked for the Hulk, it will work for Superman. But Please please please! WB if you’re reading, Make a sequel using Brian Singer and fix the already awesome existing franchise by killing off Superman’s kid. Don’t worry about an R rating or how families will feel about offing a child. Make it compelling and make it work! that’s whats important.
Or what would be awesome for singer to do just becuase of all the shit his first film caught on these two specific issues, in the start of his sequel, have luthor kill supermans son, so then superman kills lex Luthor, like all within 20minutes.
I think it would be easy to continue superman returns:
Its simple, do a sequel, kill off his son in the beginning by some new villain and then we get to actaully see an angry superman going apeshit on everything.
Or a reboot, who cares at this point, unless I see some action with the man of steel I wont be interested.
Reboot! For the love of Supes, reboot!! Singerman must never fly again!!!
Brandon Routh was a good Superman, but not a good Clark Kent. I too start to doubt that he is a good actor, especially because I haven’t seen him in anything since SR came out, which was already over 2 years ago. What’s going on there? What’s he done in the last 2 years? Non-Stop partying?
I think they should keep him, but get him a good acting coach and more chances to, you know, actually act in the next films. You know, with lines and dialog and all that stuff.
Anyway, they don’t have to start again, but they have to do one thing especially:
RECAST LOIS LANE! Bosworth was the biggest miscast ever. She was terrible, terrible, terrible. Get rid of her. Nolan got rid of Katie Holmes for DARK KNIGHT and no one complained, it shouldn’t be a problem with Bosworth as well.
The other big problem is the kid.
Ohhh the fucking kid. What were they even thinking when they came up with this idea in the first place? It makes no sense and fucks up continuity big time. So Lois and Supes did do the nasty before he left? Was that supposed to be in one of the earlier films (I know they shagged in SUPERMAN 2) or just happened off-screen?
I think they should go a lot more darker than they did in previous Supes-films. DARK KNIGHT is dark as hell and did phenomenally well. Superman in the movies finally needs an edge, a darker twist to the character and can’t just be the wholesome do-gooder all the time. Todays audiences simply aren’t interested in that type of hero. They want flawed heroes.
And of course they need to come up with a decent adversary for Supes to have a physical confrontation with. No more Lex Luthor by any means.
My concept would be:
The kid gets killed by some new villain and Superman freaks out, runs amok and in his rage causes human casualties. Driven nearly mad by grief and guilt he faces his deepest crisis ever, while (RECAST) Lois goes through hell at the same time and through their mourning, their relationship starts coming together again. That and loads of fights between superhuman beings. There’s your movie.
I know, sounds depressing as fuck at first, but at some point, this franchise simply has to make a dark turn.
But if they don’t do a sequel then how will the audience ever find out what happens to Supermans son?
Please reboot the franchise.
Visually, I loved the look of Superman Returns, and I kind of loved it…that says a lot since I have loathed Superman in all its incarnations except for Lois and Clark (including the mega old Superman TV show that used to come on Nick at Nite). Loosing Bryan Singer as a director would be a shame, however, I just don’t think he should have such control over the script as he did before. His geekiness for the property made him a little overindulgent in the execution of the script. I think if he is able to pull himself back as he must have done with X-Men, then I think it could be stunning.
I really feel for WB on this one. They seem to be trapped by negative backlash no matter what they do. If they re-boot it (and I would be game for a re-telling of the origin for the record – there are plenty of different directions to take than the 1978 film) then people will be pissed. If they keep Singer, people (as we can see above) will be pissed. If they do a direct sequel, people will be pissed because it will have to deal with the loose ends of Superman Returns like the kid.
I know i’m just repeating what has been said but the best way to go is make a sequel and make Superman a rollercoaster thrill ride with heart, good characters, an awesome villain and a well balanced proportion of action. Most importantly, Superman really has to be a guy who ‘kicks ass’ in this one. He must punch people 50 feet into the air and shatter buildings because that is the Superman that has never been on film before. All it takes is good writing and everyone will go for it.
Please, do not restarted it. We’ll just see the exact same villains all over again, that we’ve already seen.
We’ll have Lex Luthor yet AGAIN as the bad guy. Big fucking whoop.
Yeah, whatever way they go, they need to keep Routh.
Even if its a reboot. Just look at “M” from the Bond franchise. I know its a bigger leap, but still, the guy is perfect so why change?
I personally want to see Singers sequel, but like I said, as long as they keep Routh Im down for whatever.
I’m really torn on this one. I actually like Superman Returns, but I did think Routh’s acting was lacking and I wasn’t too fond of the kid. I also recognize that it could have been better. I say give Singer another shot. He’ll do better.
OUTRAAAAAAGE!
I liked Routh as Superman and I hope they keep him. If Singer can come up with a great script and cast the RIGHT people this time he should be able to stay. Spacey was good as Lex but the movie really had too many casting misfires.
Or else they can reboot the series with Routh still onboard and get rid of everyone else.
I’ve been saying it for a while now, the best way to make a superman movie is to make a Lex Luthor movie first and foremost. Base it on the graphic novel Lex Luthor: Man of Steel. Tell the Superman story from Lex’s point of view on how Superman makes the people of metropolis weak and dependent on Superman. villianize superman a little.
Restart plz. Get rid of Bosworth or course. Get people that look the correct age. Even tho I liked Brandon Routh.
Have him fight Doomsday or Metallo. An all out brawl instead of this Lex Luthor BS that isn’t exciting. Then I’ll care.
Singer is so overrated, his version of Superman was a disgrace! I for one would like a new direction and would also like to kick Singer in the junk for ruining the Superman Returns movie.
I agree with Chip Chief though, I see one more f*^kin Lex Luthor script and I am gonna go ballistic on someone!
I hope they reboot it. And I sure hope they don’t bring back Singer, Spacey, or Routh. Spacey was miscast as Luthor. I never liked Singer’s direction. And Routh cannot act. He barely could act on that god awful MTV show he was on. Brandon Routh is not a movie actor…i’m not even sure he can act. Roger Ebert nailed it when he said “They gave Routh so little lines, I suppose they thought he couldn’t act.” That’s exactly what happened. Routh was worse than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins. Routh was bland, wooden, and terrible. Yes, he looked some what like Superman…BUT HE CAN’T ACT. I swear he had likt three lines the whole movie. Change the cast, come up with an original story (I.E. Don’t rip off any of the old Superman films), and choose a great director. Not a gay one.
God these comic movie “reboots” are starting to get ridiculous.
WB is most likely testing the water to see if fans would be outraged with a reboot. I am kind of interested to see what Singer had in mind, but mostly just want to see the kid die. I would much rather have a restart. The problem is, I only want a reboot if they have a good story. If they reboot and give us Lex Luthor Real Estate Mogol AGAIN, no one will be happy.
That JJ Abrahms reimagining ( http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=13350 ) dont seem so bad no more.