Superman Returns

[Pubrick]

Superman may win the battle, but Batman will always win the interest factor. Superman's blandness will make the antagonist.

yeah totally, they should compete on the stand-up circuit.

[RegularKarate]

Dudes, Superman TOTALLY already fought Batman.. that shit was a DRAW!

I think Bats woulda won though because he was using kryptonite and fightin' dirty.

[polkablues]

Screw this Batman/Superman stuff.  The real question is: who would win in a stretch-off between Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic?  And anyone who even mentions Stretch Armstrong gets punched in the mouth.  I don't care if his arms do stretch all the way to next week.

[Derek]

Saw it. Loved it.

Everyone keeps referring to this movie as sort of a sequel to Superman I & II. But didn't Clark Kent reveal his superidentity to lois at Niagara Falls in Pt. II? Which would kind of make this a sequel only to Superman: The Movie?

[Gold Trumpet]

Saw it. Loved it.

Everyone keeps referring to this movie as sort of a sequel to Superman I & II. But didn't Clark Kent reveal his superidentity to lois at Niagara Falls in Pt. II? Which would kind of make this a sequel only to Superman: The Movie?

He did reveal his identity to her in part II but he erased her memory of it before the end of the movie. More importantly, they had sex in the sequel thus making the subplot of Superman Returns possible.

[matt35mm]

Wow.




This wasn't that good.  I expected to like it more than I did.  It was made out of plastic.  Kate Bosworth will always look like a baby doll (an actual baby doll).  I saw it in IMAX 3D, which was neat enough but doesn't affect my opinion of the film either way.  It was pretty dull in the writing, and executed with a perfect mastery of the standard approach.  I didn't dislike it, I just was surprised by how little I felt for it.  That's about all there is to say.

[MacGuffin]

EXCLUSIVE: Super ($200 Million) Man or Else?
Source: TMZ.com

Will Hollywood blockbuster budgets continue to fly "up, up and away?" Not necessarily.

At least, not at Warner Bros. Pictures. After a $225 million "Pirates of the Caribbean" sailed into port, taking the wind out of "Superman Returns'" $205 million Spandex, Warner Bros. executives are said to be circumspect as to whether the Man of Steel will fly again.

Talent agency insiders with ties to the film tell TMZ that Warner Bros. Pictures president and COO Alan Horn has informed agents that a sequel hinges on whether grosses of "Superman Returns" can crest the $200 million mark domestically. What's more, the studio plans to shave millions - many millions - off any "Superman" sequel's budget. (Amusingly, in the current "Superman Returns," Lois Lane pleads with Lex Luthor, "But millions will die! " It turns out she was right on the money.)

As Variety's box office guru Ben Fritz noted last July 4th, "Superman Returns is off to a strong start, albeit not as fast as a speeding bullet. Warner Bros. superhero tent pole grossed a solid $52.5 million on its opening weekend and $74 million over the five-day Fourth of July frame. Since its Wednesday opening, the Bryan Singer-helmed franchise restart has taken in $106 million."

Talent agency insiders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, insist that Horn is so concerned about being burned financially by ionospheric "Superman" special effects costs that any sequel's budget would cost far less than Bryan Singer's quarter billion dollar baby: a meager $150 million. That's a whopping $35 million less than its predecessor was green lit at, and roughly $55 million less than "Superman Returns" alleged final negative cost. So much for a getting a raise.

However, no one could blame Horn for being cautious. Despite opening at No. 1 in all its territories, overseas, the Man of Steel is starting to look just a bit rusty. The just-ended World Cup meant that Warner Bros. took a pass on European and Latin American territories, and its second weekend in release overseas, "Superman Returns" dipped 55% to take in $9 million from 1,800 prints in 14 markets.

We're bracing to hear how director Bryan Singer will react to this newfound fiscal restraint.

Our guess: Not well.

Says one executive involved in the production and financing of "Superman Returns," "They can try and spin it as 'There are certain economies of scale that come from the making of the first one, blah blah blah. But the reality is, it's harder to play in a smaller sandbox and still push the envelope."

Calls place to Horn were not returned, and a studio spokeswoman declined to comment on the fiscal retrenchment.

[Gold Trumpet]

So much for good word of mouth. Fan boys and the initial wave only seemed to have went to this one. A worthy failure for a movie that wasn't even enjoyable.

[modage]

watching the film, as much as i enjoyed it, i can see that its not going to be a huge hit.  my guess is more along the lines of Kong backlash as far as its reception and BO. 

[Ravi]

I vaguely remember seeing the original Superman film, but have no specific recollections of it.  I had my reservations about Routh at first, but he turned out to be pretty good.  His performance was stoic and strong, but also less guarded when needed to be.  Bosworth looks too young for the part, but she was better than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins.  Kevin Spacey was good as Lex Luthor.  The film as a whole was pretty good, but it felt more like a setup for future films than a film to be fully enjoyed in its own right.

At the IMAX showing I went to the DTS CD skipped when SPOILER Superman was under water and Lois saved him END SPOILER and it kept repeating one of Jor-El's lines.  At first it seemed like an artistic choice, but it kept going and it was clear that it was an error.  The theater gave us a free pass to see another film, yay.

[Derek]

Saw it. Loved it.

Everyone keeps referring to this movie as sort of a sequel to Superman I & II. But didn't Clark Kent reveal his superidentity to lois at Niagara Falls in Pt. II? Which would kind of make this a sequel only to Superman: The Movie?

He did reveal his identity to her in part II but he erased her memory of it before the end of the movie. More importantly, they had sex in the sequel thus making the subplot of Superman Returns possible.

SPOILER


Okay, but if he erased her memory of having slept with him, her 5 year ols with superpowers would come as a bit of a shock then?

[Gold Trumpet]

Saw it. Loved it.

Everyone keeps referring to this movie as sort of a sequel to Superman I & II. But didn't Clark Kent reveal his superidentity to lois at Niagara Falls in Pt. II? Which would kind of make this a sequel only to Superman: The Movie?

He did reveal his identity to her in part II but he erased her memory of it before the end of the movie. More importantly, they had sex in the sequel thus making the subplot of Superman Returns possible.

SPOILER


Okay, but if he erased her memory of having slept with him, her 5 year ols with superpowers would come as a bit of a shock then?

And Superman was without his powers when he slept with Lois Lane. So how would the child inherit his powers?

But, why are you asking these movies to make sense? They aren't even logical to begin with.

[MacGuffin]

Exclusive Interview: DIRECTOR BRYAN SINGER TALKS HOUSE, SUPERMAN II AND X-MEN: THE LAST STAND - PT. 3
In the final installment of our exclusive interview, the director talks about what the future holds for the filmmaker 

After a whirlwind of publicity, director Bryan Singer recently granted iF Magazine an exclusive interview to discuss SUPERMAN RETURNS and we conclude the three-part Q and A by discussing his upcoming film projects, his TV show HOUSE, Richard Donner's SUPERMAN II cut and his thoughts on X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. 

iF MAGAZINE: When would you make a decision if you were going to jump back in to directing another movie?

SINGER: Part of the vacation is a vacation of the mind, where I test myself to not think about or pressure myself as to what is next.

iF: Does it make you want to go back and do a small film where you're not dealing with pre-vis and heavy special effects. I know MAYOR OF CASTRO STREET has been on the boards for a while for you to direct.

SINGER: That's in the very early stages of development, but yes, it certainly does.

iF: Would it be weird getting back on a set where you don't have a huge blue screen most of the time?

SINGER: Not at all. Between X2 and SUPERMAN RETURNS, I directed the pilot as well as the first episode of HOUSE, M.D. HOUSE was basically [shot in] 15 days, 56 pages, bang, up in Vancouver and then I broke in the L.A. crew in 10 days. I shot the first episode after the pilot and it was just actor's talking on a hospital set. Bang. It was like the USUAL SUSPECTS days, all over again. It was awesome. It was enjoyable too. I had a great cast, I had Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, I had these actors I cast and it was this great dialogue, [creator] David Shore is a great writer. It was fun. It was very relaxing. It was serendipitous that it all worked out so well and people liked it so much. But frankly to me, it was the most relaxing shoot I've been on in a long time. It would be nice to go back to that on a film scale. Maybe I'll direct another pilot.

iF: Did you get to see X-MEN: THE LAST STAND?

SINGER: I went opening night to the Mann's Chinese Theater.

iF: It's ironic fans were concerned with you directed the first X-MEN and then they were upset when you weren't doing X-MEN 3.

SINGER: It's not unexpected. Fans are very intense about these things. For me, I know the task of juggling all those characters and adding the new one's you ultimately have to add because of what the audience expects and then there was [director] Brett [Ratner] coming in the process, not in the very beginning. When I do one of these movies, I'm there Day 1. I develop the script, I co-write the story. I'm there from the very, very beginning. Here, he didn't have that option, in light of all that, [the movie is] extremely impressive. And I had a good time. And I ran into Brett at the theater. He was theater hopping and I ran into him, so we ended up talking for a half and hour and people started to come up to us.

iF: How much do you know about Richard Donner's cut of SUPERMAN II that is currently being re-assembled?

SINGER: Oh yeah. Not only am I aware of it, but I ran into Dick on the lot recently and he took me into the editing room with [uncredited SUPERMAN 1 and II screenwriter] Tom Mankiewicz and showed me the first part of it and it was awesome?

iF: So what exactly are they doing? How intensive is this? I thought Donner wasn't involved and now he is?

SINGER: He came in to take a look at it. They had an editor to work on it, and he and Tom came in and were going through it. A lot of it is elements of sequences that were shot and put together. I feel bad we're talking about it, because I'm sure they want to talk about it, but it was such an impressive and fun thing to watch. They took two separate screen tests and cut them together and it's this great scene where Lois Lane puts Clark to the test, because she believes he's Superman and there's a gun involved. That's all I'll say. At first you're watching it and it's very odd to watch these two separate things. It keeps looking differently to your eye. The lighting of the scene and construction of the scene is so good, that by the time the scene pays off you're captivated by it. I watched it in the cutting room. It was a thrill for me. I had just laid the opening credit music for my movie and then suddenly I was in the cutting room in a building across the street watching this with Dick and Tom and it was a thrill?

iF: Are they shooting any additional stuff to link it to SUPERMAN RETURNS?

SINGER: That I don't know. I just watched the first 20 minutes or so. They did want to want to borrow a prop at one point, but I don't know if that was used.

iF: If they borrowed a prop, then they must have been shooting stuff?

SINGER: They did -- they shot certain things. They shot and reconstructed certain things. It isn't for a massive release I don't believe or anything, but they did shoot additional elements. They really went back to Richard Donner's original intention of the film before he left it.

iF: It seems that whenever a filmmaker has a certain level of success, the press and fans always want to tear you down, even if it's not warranted. They did it with Peter Jackson with KING KONG. Instead of focusing on the movie, everyone was talking about running time. Do you feel there was a target on your head for SUPERMAN RETURNS?

SINGER: You're at the mercy of expectation and that is sometimes quite terrifying. This movie has had very mis-reported budget issues for instance. The budget of SUPERMAN RETURNS came in at about $204 million dollars. But somehow, somewhere, maybe they were factoring in past incarnations, which I had nothing to do with or Australian dollars or marketing, I don't know how, somehow, the $250, $300 million figure started being bandied about and no body stopped it. I don't want to sit there declaring the economics of a movie, because they're not really relevant. The movie is relevant. You don't want people to focus on how much money it cost, you want them to focus on the movie. Yet, I start feeling like I'm being portrayed fiscally irresponsible, which I am not and that made me very upset. So then, you have this perception of a very, very expensive movie and you're coming off the success of X-MEN 1 and 2 and it's SUPERMAN and in reality these movies, at the end are extremely profitable. It's still a very expensive movie and you have to achieve certain things, but you're also getting held to a whole other standard and if they don't perform crazy numbers like the previous movies the filmmakers made, every one goes after them. But that's very Hollywood.

iF: What did you think of that L.A. Times article posing the question "Is Superman Gay?"

SINGER: You would have expected that back in the X-MEN days, because that was the subtext there. Here, it was like "what?" My first reaction I looked at it, "oh, great picture of Superman above the fold." It's normal I guess. I was even on Larry King and he asked Brandon [Routh] and he asked me. And I told Larry, "this is probably the most heterosexual movie I've ever made," but in a way, we're in a different age, a much more liberal age and yet sex is always on people's minds and it finds its way into everything. Here is a guy in tights. I don't know. It's an easy leap, I guess.

iF: I don't buy it.

SINGER: I don't buy it either. I just laughed. And Larry said "so you think it's funny." And I'm like, "how could you not." I sat there declaring, "it's so heterosexual" and I'm like, "why do I need to do that." Then I feel stupid, why do I even need to say that. Musicians, politicians, everybody experiences a bit of an attack. It's just the nature of these things. But then, because it's become a story, people have to ask, then I guess if they're not talking, it could be worse, they could not be talking about it at all.

[MacGuffin]

Singer sees 'Superman' sequel for summer '09
Source: Hollywood Reporter

SAN DIEGO -- If director Bryan Singer has his way, Superman will take to the air a second time.

Singer, who directed the current "Superman Returns," told fans Friday at Comic-Con International, that he has had discussions with Warner Bros. Pictures about directing a sequel for release in the summer of 2009.

"Superman Returns," starring Brandon Routh, has grossed $169 million domestically to date, a figure that has been regarded by some observers as a disappointment given the movie's production costs of more than $200 million.

But while Singer stressed that plans for the sequel are still tentative, he expressed his interests in keeping the franchise aloft.

"I plan to get all 'Wrath of Khan' on it," Singer said -- a reference to 1982's "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan," which is generally considered as having breathed life into the "Star Trek" franchise after 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" suffered critical barbs. "We haven't concluded a deal. That's always iffy," Singer added. "The intention is to do it for 2009."

[MacGuffin]

Some more info: 

BRYAN SINGER CONFIRMS ANOTHER SUPERMAN MOVIE

The big news today at Comic-Con was Bryan Singer confirming that 2009 is target release date for the next SUPERMAN movie that he will direct. Although he admits it's still too early to talk about story, he did offer the following tidbits of info.

"I only have ideas," he notes saying he wants to build on the mythology he created in SUPERMAN RETURNS in terms "certain reveals and a great sense of unresolved and romantic dilemma Superman faces."

"I will probably take the characters as they've been established in SUPERMAN RETURNS and move from there," Singer says. "But this will be the starting place, kind of like X-MEN 1. I had to find a place to begin to educate people who weren't familiar with that universe and here there is a whole generation not familiar with Superman, and there is a lot of value to having them return to the Donner universe and continue forward. It was always a delicate balance, particularly the character this steeped in history and ubiquitous because he means so much to so many people all over the world."

Singer also adds, "And now that the characters are established, I'd like to take it as an opportunity to bring in perhaps a more threatening, foreboding element."

Could this mean Brainiac might be on tap as a super-villain in the next film?

"We were talking about that," he reveals. "We were having a Brainiac conversation, but I don't know."

Singer also noted he's still contemplating a fuller 3-D version of SUPERMAN RETURNS in IMAX with the Return to Krypton sequence restored which might offer up an even more modified cut of the film currently in theaters. This release could happen as early as next year if the financials are worked out. Additionally, Singer says he'd like to fit in a smaller film before he begins work on his SUPERMAN follow-up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exclusive: Singer on Superman Sequel & DVD

ComingSoon.net/SuperheroHype.com got to talk exclusively to Superman Returns director Bryan Singer on Friday and we asked him about the possible sequel, the DVD and what he's planning on doing next:

CS/SHH: Is the sequel going to happen?
Singer: Yes, probably for a 2009 release.

CS/SHH: You planted a lot of seeds in the first film, what do you want to cover in the second film?
Singer: I'd like to build on the seeds that are planted, you know, expand upon relationships, you've got now a child, you've got these other elements, but also have the opportunity to have the characters more established to bring in some more action and have some more stuff going on.

CS/SHH: In the comic adaptation there were little hints that the New Krypton settled into orbit.
Singer: Yeah, New Krypton has got these crystals on it, so anything's possible.

CS/SHH: What do you have in store for us on the DVD?
Singer: A number of things. There's the in-movie experience where during the movie you'll be able to pop-off to the set and see things live as they were shot. There's things like that. Plus we had a continuous presence of video on the set to the point... there's a lot of funny, interesting, kind of theater that you don't get to ordinarily see in the documentary material and then there will be deleted scenes.

CS/SHH: Do you want to do the entire sequel in 3-D?
Singer: I'd like to do more, I don't know how that whole experience would work out, depends how long the film is, it will probably be shorter.

CS/SHH: What's next for you?
Singer: Possibly a smaller film and a grand vacation.