Superman is in a holding pattern and everyone can thank Bryan Singer. In a recent conversation I was very lucky and blessed to have, a WB exec explained why there has been no movement on another Superman film. While he gave the typical "thanks" to Bryan Singer for his efforts, most likely because they still have other business dealings, it was clear the not so well received Superman Returns has caused such confusion about what went wrong and where to go now that they've decided to switch focus to their smaller properties.Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, "While we have not abandoned the Superman franchise, we feel that now is not the right time to move forward with another film. There are still many great stories to tell, however agreeing on which one to start with is never an easy task." He went on to say, "Right now, we have to focus on Green Lantern which is set to go behind cameras late this summer in Australia. Shortly after that, we hope to get moving on Wonder Woman with Silver Pictures. There have been some really exciting new ideas discussed about it so far. And of course, we're still talking with Chris [Nolan] about the next Batman."
Now don't let this get you too down. I'm very interested in seeing the other heroes on screen finally. And in my opinion, not rushing into another Superman with just anybody is better than handing Singer the camera again. Unfortunately, when pressed about plans to keep or lose the cast, all I got was "That all depends" and when asked about the effects of the lawsuit with the Siegel family I got nothing.
What do you all think about Superman being moved aside? Good, bad, so what?
I have mixed feelings about this...
ReplyDeleteIn one hand this is good because they wont have to rush to get a mediocre Superman film..Then the selfish part of me wants a Superman film released..
Steve,
If WB don't fold in the next TV season, is it possible that WB is waiting for Smallville to run its course and maybe use Tom Welling?
Its only a year wait and the movie could start production right after the show ends production in late February or March.
It could be possible, but I don't want to assume too much. At this point, I know of over a dozen top name writers who have pitched ideas and all have been politely rejected. They just don't seem to be in a rush for a Superman film considering how they fell over $150mil short of expectations with 'Returns'. And even though WB broke even in the long run, Legendary still is in the red and they want to move forward. Relationships (business-wise) have been strained to the breaking point and they don't seem to be getting better yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the huge success of Dark Knight made some people start to think about things and that is another contributing factor to the confusion on which way to go. Personally, I'm of the opinion that if Ledger didn't die, it wouldn't have made over $325mil in the US. I seriously was not a big fan of that film. And Bale didn't come across to me as being that interested either. His recent comments about a third film make it seem like he regrets signing a three picture deal as he said he's "stuck" doing another no mater what Nolan decides if WB wants it to happen.
BTW....with Green Lantern filming in Australia, I'm guessing they worked out their problems with the Aussie government. So, was their another reason behind JLA's collapse as I've previously suggested? Hmmm....could be...
"Personally, I'm of the opinion that if Ledger didn't die, it wouldn't have made over $325mil in the US."
ReplyDeleteSteve, you reiterate a similar point I made previously.
I've been of the opinion that if Ledger HADN'T died, then TDK would've probably made more like IRON MAN money. Definitely domestically, & possibly internationally. However, another likely scenario I could see would've been that TDK would've made about what Indy 4 did internationally, over 700 million dollars, but THAT would've been about the 'cap' that I would've put on its' earning power.
Keep in mind it DEFINITELY would've exceeded Begins simply because there was already a fair amount of hype as to what was Ledger gonna bring to the role of the Joker, especially in light of Jack Nicholson.
What HAPPENED, though, is Ledger's death caused this film to become a MONSTER! A monster it WOULDN'T have been otherwise. It's like when Elvis died. Some say he sold MORE records AFTER his death than he did BEFORE!
Steve, this is what I believe happened. All you had to do was look over at duh apologists at SHH to see, "LEDGER THIS!" & "LEDGER THAT!", as well as all the 'FIRST' morons, to see how this film mushroomed into what it did.
The thing is, though, is that, IMHO, Nicholson is STILL the man when it comes to the Joker. Don't let these idiots fool you. And it's also a shame that WB can't give us a SUPERMAN FILM in spite of TDK.
What a crock!
"I seriously was not a big fan of that film. And Bale didn't come across to me as being that interested either."
ReplyDelete- Steve
You kidding? Bale SLEPT through that movie most of the time. As for TDK itself, when people go on and on about how deep it is and how awesome it is, etc, it just shows me how stupid American society has really gotten. TDK is good popcorn fun but it's nothing special.
"The thing is, though, is that, IMHO, Nicholson is STILL the man when it comes to the Joker"
- non-amos (if indeed that is his real name)
You are correct sir.
"BTW....with Green Lantern filming in Australia"
- Steve
BTW, any word on who's going to do the Clark cameo? My guess is it'll be someone other than Tom Welling (scheduling conflicts) and BJ The Bartender (he sucks).
"You kidding? Bale SLEPT through that movie most of the time."
ReplyDeleteAnother bad thing also is how Ledger gets ALL the accolades for TDK, yet Bale was 'supposedly' the film's LEAD ACTOR! Yet Ledger gets ALL the praise! That really sucks I'm sure, especially for an aggressive actor like Bale. OUCH! That smarts!
"- non-amos (if indeed that is his real name)"
Colors, you keep evading the issue. Just WHAT are you getting at anyway? ;)
On GL:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scifidimensions.com/main/2008/11/10/greenlighting-green-lantern/#more-57
GL might work IF, instead of a blantant DCU superhero tale, it injects some unexpected humor and humanity.
Humanity is THE F/X.
SUPERMAN is THE DCU property. As the Caped Crusader recovered from BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN and STAR TREK is warping back from a string of loser movies, the Man of Steel can fly higher than ever before.
ReplyDeleteAs a brand name and an image, SUPERMAN remains marketable around the globe, BUT…WB needs some time to find a ‘new’ young Superman who will fit and triumph in the 21st Century.
And if WB had a clue, there’d be something in the works. They don’t even know where or when to begin their SUPERMAN reboot. I’d like to believe WB continues to look.
Let others write off this website as a wannabe dream scheme, but hey, right now, we’re no closer to the next Superman than WB is. To spend time and energy slamming each other isn’t going to get us, and Superman, anywhere.
I do like that wb/dc is trying to get some other characters finally to the big screen like marvel has in the past decade. I do hope gl and hex do well enough for the company so hopefully it can help characters like flash/ww/aquaman to hopefully be the next ones in line. As for superman i do hope they play it smart this time around and take the right amount of time so they can do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteOMG...
ReplyDeleteWe've NEVER seen Green Lantern or half these heroes on the big screen. We NEED to get what has been read in the comics onto the screen. This whole need you have for humanity and story crap is what is killing the fun of comic films and most movies in general. Movies are a place to ESCAPE REALITY! Keep the lame crap out of it. All a film needs is a solid cast, a hook, action, more action, and yet more action. These are fucking SUPERHERO films! The constant overdramatic bullshit injected into Spider-Man with Mary Jane being the focus of every villain thus far, getting kidnapped in the end, and needing to be saved by Spider-Man makes me want to puke. THESE ARE NOT CHICK FLICKS!
Sorry, but I'm so sick of some people's NEED to have extra shit what should ONLY be an ACTION FILM.
Steve, you make another good point about 'realism' in comics films. Just look at Nolan.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2005, I went to see Batman Begins the day it opened. Although I'm a big fan of the '89 Burton film, I was also aware that this was a reboot, or at least what I understood a reboot to be at that time. Nevertheless I loved the film because it seemed to take more influence from the comics, i.e., one thing I DIDN'T particularly care for in the Burton film was that Jack Napier/Joker was the one who murdered the Wayne's, but in Begins, I felt like they tried to do it more like the source material, with the no-name Joe Chill. I also didn't like Nicholson's Joker being killed off at the end of THAT film either. However, as for Begins, I knew that a reboot had become necessary & I was pleased with the results, for the most part.
Now, you may ask, WHAT does all this have to do with the price of eggs in China? This is my point. Remember, the Burton film had that creepy gothic look to it, like a lot of Burton's films do. Well, when I saw Begins, I noticed how REALISTIC everything looked. As a matter of fact, I remember sitting there thinking to myself, that if a man could REALLY be Batman in real life, then this could be how it could really be done.
Keep in mind, in 2005, I didn't know SQUAT about Christopher Nolan. I really didn't know much about Bale either. SO..........little did I know that REALISM was EXACTLY what Nolan was striving for. So here I am, noticing it myself, while not having a clue that THAT was his intention. Now I think we ALL are aware of how Nolan wants to treat the DCU with his 'ultra-realistic' approach.
Now, that may work to an extent for Batman, as well as having a very troubled hero, BUT..........the entire DCU should NOT be so! Like you said, Steve, movies ARE an escape. Anyone want to venture a guess as to why the INDIANA JONES films have been so popular? Because they're FUN! Not necessarily real, but fun.
And isn't THAT what we need for a successful superhero franchise, especially in the summer months?
Exactly. And Nolan has said point blank that HIS version of Batman would never work with the Justice League because of the realism he's introduced.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, listening to interviews with Bale, I'm willing to bet we get a reboot of Batman by 2014. Possibly sooner.
WB wants so badly to follow the success of Marvel with their team-ups. When Avengers is released and makes huge bank, I guarantee we'll get big news of JLA coming again.
The problem with realism is that it's self-defeating in a superhero genre. Stories about men dressed like giant bats, aliens flying around in their underwear and hotshot test pilots with magic rings simply don't lend themselves to realism. Just by showing up, the hero betrays the reality that has been thus far created. Moreover, anything else which deviates too far outside of reality as we know it (ie, a sonar device which allows borderline omniscience in Gotham City) strains the boundaries of this immaculate reality even further.
ReplyDeleteBut at least moviegoers don't have to suffer the indiginity of a Joker with bleached skin. *rolls eyes*
As for non-amos (IITIHRN), Bob Kane was on the record saying that if the Joker had been created in 1939, that's who would've killed the Waynes. He *LOVED* that idea.
I've said a few times over on Countingdown that Nolan's Batman 3 should incorporate Bane as a villain and end with his breaking Batman's back, that way they can take as long as they need to plan where to take the series, and when Bale has eventually been recast (because I don't see him going beyond a 3rd movie), they pick it up/ reboot the series with Batman returning to action after recovering. This way it is easily rebooted/ recast, but it doesn't have to be a restart and ignore the Nolan movies.
ReplyDeleteBut Bane isn't a recognized enough villain to the general public for the film to be successful. Also, if not done properly, we'll get BATMAN AND ROBIN. What they'll have to do to top TDK will be to use a VERY recognized villain(s) from the mythos & PROBABLY get some big name like Johnny Depp to play the role IF they want it to be on par FINANCIALLY with TDK.
ReplyDeletenon_amos (IF that IS my REAL name) ;)
Maybe not, but Ra's Ah Gul and the Scarecrow weren't recognisable villains to the general public either, but Batman Begin's was still a success. Now that the series is a success and respected it should still make money with Bane as the villain. He could also be used as a secondary villain, as the Scarecrow was in Begin's, with the Riddler or another popular villain up front.
ReplyDeleteIt still comes back to what colors said. Realism in an unreal movie defeats itself. Comic superheroes all live in the SAME universe. Marvel gets that and has successfully attached Iron Man to Hulk and will be doing the same with the others all the way up to Avengers. WB allows their directors to have "full creative control" because the WB execs have no clue about any of the characters aside from the fact they have made billions off comic sales, etc. What we need is for DC to get creative control of film properties and comic writers to do ALL the scripts.
ReplyDeleteYea like colors and steve said not all comic characters work for that realism angle. only a few for dc for example like batman, or the question work with a realism angle the rest are usually alien/magic based and need to keep those elements intact for the character.
ReplyDeleteSuperman CAN work in a "realistic" setting. At least INITIALLY. Show the world we know, the "rules" that are in place. Then show this man, this..Super-Man, BREAKING THEM ALL and how people REACT to it.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is, in Singerman Peeps, BS went the OPPOSITE direction. Remember BJ setting that CGI'D plane down in Dodger Stad..Um, whatever team that was supposed to be's stadium, and that KID yelling "Superman" like he has been around his WHOLE LIFE?? The kid was about 9! He should have reacted in SURPRISE and AWE. Not as a casual "fanboy".
God, I hate that POS....
My thing is for all these years all of these characters, including Batman, have existed in the same fictional universe. While I love Batman just as much as the so called hardcore, I love Superman just the same. And while I also loved TDK, its like everyone involved with the movie are thumbing their collective noses at the rest of the DCU. The one thing I really liked about Watchmen is that it didn't seem like the filmmakers and actors were ashamed that it was a comic book movie. Its like they give it a gigantic bear hug and ran with it. I appreciate what Nolan did w/Bats, but the problem is I think they may be going to far with the realism. I'm sure there are some Bats fans who would be happy to take him out of the entire DC universe.
ReplyDelete"The one thing I really liked about Watchmen is that it didn't seem like the filmmakers and actors were ashamed that it was a comic book movie. Its like they give it a gigantic bear hug and ran with it."
ReplyDeleteInteresting point. Ya know, I wrote of this back on the website, but let's face it, Watchmen got a bum rap! There's no 2 ways about it!
I'm aware that it wasn't 100% faithful to the source material, BUT..........enough of it was that it REALLY IMPRESSED the average 'fanboy'. Here we were gushing over how Zack Snyder delivered unto us a comics adaptation that was just that, a COMICS ADAPTATION! The look of the film was AWESOME, & even as LONG as it was, it was really a treat; the time just FLEW by!
But here's the kicker. The general audience, for some unknown reason, didn't 'buy' it, neither did they really support it. MY guess is that the storyline to the film was simply TOO WEIRD for them to swallow. I mean, think about it: an 'alternate' 1985, on the verge of nuclear annihilation with the 'Soviet Union', with Nixon in his FIFTH term as President; WE won the Vietnam War, thanks to Dr. Manhattan, who consistently displayed the 'blue dong'; AND a bunch of superheroes that, although known to fanboys, were NO-NAMES to the general audience. I believe Kingdom Come would be better received simply because of name-brand recognition.
So it's not that Watchmen was a sucking film, like say, Elektra. FAR from it! It was actually a well-crafted film that DELIVERED. It's main problem was that no one seemed to CARE! :(
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ReplyDelete"thanks to Dr. Manhattan, who consistently displayed the 'blue dong'"THIS.
ReplyDelete^lol
ReplyDeleteThe "Blue Dong of Doom" DID kill Watchmen for a LOT of potential moviegoers. Just like with Singerman Peeps, word of mouth "did it in" at the Box Office.
ReplyDeleteI agree the "blue dong" did turn a number of people away (mom and dad who's kids wanted to see it said NO) but there is another problem too. WB's marketing of the film was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI was in a comic store earlier this afternoon for "Free Comic Day" and people are seriously worried that WB is going to ruin Jonah Hex. The only reason people see it making a lot is every teen boy on the planet wants to see Megan Fox in barely any clothes. Another film that has people excited yet worried is Y: The Last Man. These studios NEED to start paying attention to the core fans and get marketing personnel who know how to make a comic film look great and appealing to general audiences at the same time. Too many people in the film industry HAVE NO CLUE about comics and how dedicated fans of them are. They don't get the stories, the characters, the fans, or anything. They pick up an origins issue and think they've got it down. It doesn't work that way.
The funny thing is, I think it will KILL in DVD sales.
ReplyDeleteDon't ask me why, just a feeling I have....