I think rebooting is a dumb idea.
Superman Returns was not a failure. Did it underperform? Yes. Guess what? So did Batman Begins. And the two film's budgets were pretty identical -- the only thing people presume that Returns had a higher budget because of the accumulated costs from the previous unproduced attempts, which quite frankly shouldn't count.
Yet The Dark Knight was an even bigger success. I think with Singer's proven track record at making a bigger, better and more successful sequel (X2), I think it is very dumb on WB's part to sit idly by.
The solution should have been simple: reduce the budget, and make it a more action-packed story, which Singer had wanted to do in the first place!
Now, it's been three years, and a sequel should be out in theaters by now. But it's not.
WB keeps on missing the ball with this franchise.
Agreed entirely.
The problem is, and I speak as a fan of SR, while Batman Begins may not have been as big a hit as expected, it was received a lot more positively among those who did see it than SR was. It consequently did better on DVD and got a good word of mouth which led to genuine anticipation of its sequel. I'm not sure that there was quite that widespread desire for a SR sequel, even among its afficionados.
SR got good critical reviews but fan response was divided, lukewarm even. And while I liked it, I didn't leave the cinema anxious to see what happened next, in the same way that I did with BB. With BB, for the first time with a Batmovie, I felt that they'd captured Batman just right, created an onscreen universe that I wanted to see more of. With Superman, yes, I would have gone to see a sequel, but I didn't have quite that 'What next?' buzz. Perhaps it was because there had already been two great Superman movies from my childhood, perhaps it was because I felt that Spacey's Luthor was too much a retread of Hackman's (one of my least fave things about the Donner movies), because Kate Bosworth was a lacklustre Lois Lane (try saying that after a few beers) ... And I'm not an anti Jason Lane person, but I didn't feel that the Lois/Jason/Richard/ Superman dynamic was all that interesting and I felt that Singer and Co had somewhat written themselves into a corner.
Having said that, I am disappointed that it looks like Routh won't be back (though it's possible he will) as he was the best thing in SR, IMHO. When you think that we might have had Nic Cage, Josh Hartnett, Jude Law or other totally miscast actors as The Man of Steel, I don't understand how people can find fault with his charming, pitch perfect performance. What a shame if he were to be the George Lazenby of the Superman series.
I still think they could and should bring him back even in a new continuity or reboot of the series. He just looks and sounds like Superman. The average cinemagoer will accept that he's Superman - they won't waste too much time and energy dwelling on why he's surrounded by a different cast. I mean, if Judi Dench can return as M in a rebooted 007 series, I don't see why he can't reprise the Man of Steel, particularly if there's a sustantial gap between SR and the next movie - as now seems inevitable.
And that, my friends, is the epitome of shoddy and incompetent storytelling. 
