Superman: The Reboot --- Its official

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Captain Craig, Aug 22, 2008.

  1. RobertScorpio

    RobertScorpio Pariah

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2008
    Location:
    San Diego
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Bravo!!!! The first person on this board who actually remembers the Golden Age Superman and the world (WW2) from which he sprang from..dark it was indeed..

    Rob
    scorpio
     
  2. Jack Bauer

    Jack Bauer Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 1999
    Location:
    Jack Bauer
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Gah...please...no origin story! Have Superman as an already established hero. And no Lex Luthor as villain...get someone new.
     
  3. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    The reference to the success of the Nolan movies and the suggestion that Superman (and other forthcoming DC movies) should be darker shows up one of the main flaws in WB's handling of their superhero movies. Namely, that they think one size fits all for superhero adaptations and that when movie proves successful, any others should follow that template.

    For example: Tim Burton makes successful Batman movies. So they decide to get him to do a Superman movie. But it's got to be like Batman - he will have a black leather suit, no special powers and a cool car. And like Batman, he won't be played by a traditional square jawed hero, he'll be played by an offbeat-looking quirky actor with a receding hairline (Nicholas Cage, following Michael Keaton).

    Burton was a pretty obvious choice to helm a Batman movie, given his penchant for darkness and freakery, but for Superman? No way! But WB could only see that he'd proven a success before, so they were ready to shoehorn him into another franchise. Fortunately, it all fell apart.

    When Joel Shumacher's Batman Forever was a bigger hit than Batman Returns, WB decided that the key to success with Batman movies was lightening them up. So Batman and Robin had to be bigger, brighter, gaudier and more jokey than its predecessor. What a surprise, it was hated by fans and critics alike and killed that series of Batmovies.

    Can't get your Superman franchise relaunched? Hey, let's steal Bryan Singer from Fox! After all, he's made successful X-Men movies. Never mind that Singer was hired for X-Men because he'd proven with The Usual Suspects that he had a capability for ensemble movies. Never mind that he was attracted to that project because of its outsider & bigotry metaphors. Stick him in any superhero movie and it'll be a success, right? So went WB's thinking. Well, much as I like SR, that thinking doesn't seem to have been correct.

    It'd be like if Marvel had opted to have Sam Raimi direct all their movies after the success of Spider-man or have David Goyer write all them, after Blade was a hit. The people making Marvel movies seem to have exercised some care in the choosing of their directors, even if they don't always work out. Raimi and Singer, nuff said. Ang Lee's movies have often dealt with repression - homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain, repressed emotions in Crouching Tiger or Sense and Sensiblity - so you can see the logic in having him make a movie about a man repressing the monster inside. Tim Story's movies had featured squabbling characters, which led him to get the FF gig (Reed and co being like one big arguing family). Neither choice was particularly successful, but fair dos for trying. There are, of course, the outright dumb choices - Brett Ratner for X3, being one. However, for the most part, Marvel hasn't done too badly with their creative teams, Favreau being the most obvious recent example. The likes of Gavin Hood, who is to make the Wolverine movie, are hardly studio hacks or safe hands, a la Ratner & Shumacher.

    WB just seems so derivative and reactive in its approach. Other than the choice of Nolan, there seems to be little creativity in the movie makers it approaches to make its movies - McG and Brett Ratner were among the giants it approached to make Superman before Singer. Why don't they take a chance on a new movie maker, an up and comer? Some whizzkid? Or they could go the opposite route and get Spielberg, Michael Mann or Ridley Scott? But for godsakes, get someone who will make their own movie - not just a version of The Dark Knight, only with Superman in it instead of Batman.
     
  4. Supervisor 194

    Supervisor 194 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2003
    Location:
    Somewhere between timelines
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    That's too bad--I was looking forward to seeing where they would go next in the Returns universe. However, SR still stands as a beautiful ending for the Donner movies--a project I would never have even dreamed someone would make so many years later.

    The wording of the announcement was a little vague--it's still possible that Singer and Routh will 'reintroduce' Superman--but I suspect a full 'reboot' is what will happen. The only thing that really concerns me is the idea of taking 'darkness' as far as they can for characters other than Batman.
     
  5. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    I just had a horrible thought.

    What if the Smallville producers Gough and Miller were not fired for being incompetent idiots, but they were promoted to the movie franchise and they were given a year in secret to get their shit together to make a Tom Welling Superman movie?

    Shit as that movie might be even compare to the shit last one, it could cause millions of people to go out to coscos and buy 8 seasons of Smallville to appropriately feel that they have the complete story.
     
  6. Out Of My Vulcan Mind

    Out Of My Vulcan Mind Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2002
    Location:
    Wherever you go, there you are.
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    So, plans for four DC films over the next three years, with announcement of their plans to come in a month (if things stay on track). Fingers crossed for Green Lantern to get the go-ahead!
     
  7. A beaker full of death

    A beaker full of death Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2002
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    QFT.
     
  8. Jack Bauer

    Jack Bauer Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 1999
    Location:
    Jack Bauer
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    If done right I think a Green Lantern film could be an Iron Man type hit.
     
  9. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2001
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    I believe the article mentioned four tentpole pictures over the next three years, two of them being the third Batman movie and the Superman film, and then two others. The article then said that WB plans to also actively develop Green Lantern, The Flash, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman.

    I wonder what the two other DC films are, besides Batman and Superman, unless those are either GL, The Flash, Green Arrow or Wonder Woman. I do hope one of them is Green Lantern. I can't tell you how long I've waited to see a big-screen version of that character.
     
  10. Out Of My Vulcan Mind

    Out Of My Vulcan Mind Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2002
    Location:
    Wherever you go, there you are.
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Here's the bit that I was referring to:

    I sure hope Green Lantern is one of the other two and that the announcement comes a month from now.
     
  11. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2001
    Location:
    2001 - 2016
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Eh could be worse.
     
  12. Galactus

    Galactus Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2002
    Location:
    The High Father
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    I so hope this is true. That is all for now. I have so much more to say later.
     
  13. Jack Bauer

    Jack Bauer Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 1999
    Location:
    Jack Bauer
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Aquaman starring Vincent Chase should be one of those movies. :D
     
  14. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    2 hours of Mandy Moore in a bikini?

    Cleaning up the theater after one of those screenings would be slippery to say the least.
     
  15. Hicks

    Hicks Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 22, 2004
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Put me down as in "wait and see mode" if they do reboot the franchise.

    I, for one, liked Superman Returns, and while I think it's definitely a B and not an A, I suspected heavily that the eventual sequel would be to Returns what X2 was to X-Men. In other words, one of the best superhero movies of all time. But sadly, that appears to be dead now.

    It reminds me a little of how I felt when Singer left X-Men 3 to do Returns in the first place. I was disappointed in X-Men 3.

    But since this is a reboot and not a sequel, it's a wild card, thus my "wait and see" mentality.

    Still, I can't help feeling Singer's sequel could have been awesome. Oh well.......
     
  16. The Borgified Corpse

    The Borgified Corpse Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2000
    Location:
    Ouch! Forgotten already? You were just down ther
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Actually, IIRC, the writer of those movies was the one attached to the Batman vs. Superman movie that Wolfgang Petersen was going to direct.

    I dunno. I mean, you'd have thought the same thing from the monster successes that Warner Bros. had with Batman & Batman Forever in 1989 & '95.
     
  17. JacksonArcher

    JacksonArcher Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2001
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Well, I've been hearing from some "sources" that this will be a complete reboot, which means no Bryan Singer, no Brandon Routh, and pretty much none of the cast or themes from Superman Returns.

    Also, WB is apparently targeting a 2011 release date.
     
  18. TheArsenal

    TheArsenal Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2003
    Location:
    Sunny Southern California
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    Good point. But the overall climate would seem to be more favorable to superhero films now. There are now several out there, and bit more variety, that haven been proven to be very profitable.
     
  19. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial

    They tried. They really, really tried.

    Nick Cage and Polar bears for fraks sake.
     
  20. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007
    Re: Superman: The Reboot --- Its offcial


    here comes the suit in a can! and turtle friend for Lara