If Snyder can put together a slick, badass, action-packed Superman trailer (which I have no doubt he'll be able to do), I'm sure it will get people's attention in a way SR never did, and get them just as excited about this character as they were about Iron Man or Thor.
I doubt Snyder is going to have any sway in the marketing for
Man of Steel. Warner Bros.' marketing department controls the advertising of their films. According to cinematographer Wally Pfister, the director or production crew have little input on the construction of trailers, posters, etc. All the input people like Pfister have is color timing the trailer.
The marketing campaign for
Superman Returns was fairly decent if memory serves me correctly. The teaser trailer was poorly received because a much better trailer, that was edited by the film's co-writer, premiered at San Diego Comic-Con just a month or so before. Footage and descriptions had leaked, so people were expecting a much more exciting teaser than the one that was officially released.
However, I think the film's best trailer, the international one, didn't even make it toward mainstream American audiences which was a shame. The theatrical trailer for the film was actually strong, and portrayed a more adventurous and exciting film than the one we received, which was far more meditative and thoughtful. I think a part of the reason why
Superman Returns wasn't such a huge hit is largely because it opened against
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Superman Returns received great reviews, and had a solid opening (and ended up earning over $200 million domestic, which is fairly strong). It just didn't make the kind of money Warner Bros. was hoping for, and fans didn't like the film, which didn't bode well for a sequel. A lot of people wonder why
Superman Returns didn't get a sequel but
Batman Begins did, and besides the difference in budget costs (
Returns was budgeted around $185 million;
Begins was budgeted at $150 million) the fan reaction to
Batman Begins was much more favorable than the reception
Superman Returns received. I think that played a somewhat significant factor.
It just comes down to making something that actually looks cool and exciting-- something the Marvel movies always manage to do, and SR and GL had serious trouble with.
I don't know about that. Like I mentioned before, the theatrical trailers for both
Superman Returns and
Green Lantern were fairly exciting. Interestingly enough, both films had similar openings at the box office. However, the steep decline for
Green Lantern was because audiences clearly didn't connect with the film. The under-performance for
Superman Returns was probably due to some audiences favoring the much more action-oriented
Pirates sequel that was in theaters at the same time, and had more of a contemporary resonance (i.e. Johnny Depp).
