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Bryan Singer: Why 'Superman Returns' Didn't Work

supesd.jpg

what is the point this poster is trying to illustrate?
Call it a Superman Rorschach test. What does it say to you?

Bu also this.
 
I suppose if and when that Justice League movie happens, it'll be all-new actors for Supes and Batman... alongside whoever else.

How would it go down with say, Brandon Routh and maybe Michael Keaton playing Batman old and grisly, Dark Knight Returns style. Serious buck that perfect 30-ish casting for action heroes.

I quite liked what Superman Returns tried to do. I suspect, more than I'm going to like sitting through that damn origin story all over again.
 
I give Singer credit for at least admitting his movie failed both creatively and financially. These days you generally get Bermanesque "we're very pleased" comments no matter how badly they do.

Personally my biggest problem with the film was that I found myself actively rooting for Richard White, who was far more heroic than Superman. Any movie that has you rooting for someone other than Superman to get Lois Lane has completely and utterly failed as a Superman movie.
 
I think the opinion is universal that, while SR may have had flaws, it's still infinitely better than The Quest for Peace!

Alex

In no way, shape, or form, will I ever agree with that.

Quest For Peace was hardly the best Superman film, but it was light years ahead of Returns.

Hmmmm...I need to give Quest for Peace a watch, it's in my Superman 1-4 Box Set, but, never actually watched it. If it's light years above Superman Returns, it's gotta be pretty great, since Superman Returns was pretty decent.
 
Welcome to the world of Orange & Teal. Can say what you want, at least the Star Wars Prequels had natural colors.
Aye, that post is very astute, but I vehemently object to the notion that color grading in general, or even Orange and Teal in particular, is inherently evil. Iron Man 2 and The Wolfman both look fantastic; they're otherworldly stories, so why shouldn't they look unrealistic? That said, there are times when massive grading is completely inappropriate, including (as the post rightly observes) Hot Tub Time Machine, and KOTCS especially.
 
2 totally different characters in 2 totally settings in 2 totally different franchises, but still in the late 70's/early 80's!
 
Iron Man 2 and The Wolfman both look fantastic; they're otherworldly stories, so why shouldn't they look unrealistic? That said, there are times when massive grading is completely inappropriate, including ... KOTCS especially.

How is the Indiana Jones universe (face-melting Ark, Crystal Skull aliens, the Holy Grail and its undead guardian) really more realistic than Iron Man?
 
Two, there's budgetary reasons. According to Box Office Mojo, BB cost 150 million to make, and SR cost 270. And that's just the official production budget. You always want to add on AT LEAST 100 million for marketing and distribution costs, and Superman also has tens (if not hundreds) of millions in silent costs, all the money thrown at the aborted movies in the 90's and early 00's (Tim Burton, Kevin Smith, JJ Abrams, McG) that WB hoped SR would recoup for them.

I'm pretty sure the $270 million dollar budget included the money used on the aborted films.
 
Iron Man 2 and The Wolfman both look fantastic; they're otherworldly stories, so why shouldn't they look unrealistic? That said, there are times when massive grading is completely inappropriate, including ... KOTCS especially.

How is the Indiana Jones universe (face-melting Ark, Crystal Skull aliens, the Holy Grail and its undead guardian) really more realistic than Iron Man?
Two massively different protagonists, who set the tone for their various movies. Henry Jones is an ordinary guy who, with sweat, blood, and a middle-class job, occasionally encounters magical and terrifying things. Tony Stark is hugely rich (symbolic magic) who then gains and wields the magic of the Iron Man suit - in effect, double magic.

Henry Jones could be the guy getting flapjacks next to you in a suburban diner. Tony Stark lives in a totally different world.

KOTCS turns Indy into a superhero with a big house, no money woes and the ability to withstand nuclear blasts, and, as such, that movie's comic-book color scheme is internally consistent. It's just not the Indiana Jones were once knew and loved in one great film and two deeply flawed but spiritually similar sequels.

Superman Returns, OTOH, looks more like Seven than it does Iron Man, and I think that was a huge mistake.
 
FWIW, I don't think it was necessarily problematic to change the color palette of KOTC -- different colors for a significant jump forward in time, creating a 50s-ish nostalgia could definitely work. Of course, the actual colors they chose are debatable. The same holds true for Superman Returns. Unfortunately, its visuals are part-and-parcel with the rest of the film: muted, bland, unremarkable, unmemorable.
 
Now, I could blast the script, and the lack of action... but I personally think this would be a radically different and better movie with 90% of the same script if they just corrected the Richard plot and recast Lois. If we cared at all about Clark/Lois the couple, and were rooting for them to get together, we wouldn't feel the lack of action so much.
Or make Richard the protagonist of the movie and run with it.

You know, I never considered that... :lol:

You could never REALLY do that, but I bet someone could fan edit the move to focus on Richard protecting his family from the creepy superhero, and it would be a more compelling film.

But it would be very interesting. Not protecting Lois from the Creepy Superhero, just protecting her from the Guy Who Can Never Properly Love Her (because He's a Superhero And Has a Bigger Duty).
 
I was just excited to see Superman done with modern special effects. I'm not hard to please most of the times.

I am with you there. I am an FX junkie and I will admit it. I think the action scenes we did have with Superman in the movie were the best by far.

On a side note. I liked the fact that they didn't make Richard White a bad guy. That would have been so easy and predictable. But the fact that he was a nice guy and loved Lois and wasn't a jerk was a positive move for the story. It really created more tension/conflict between Lois and Superman.
 
I really liked SR, but I'm one of the people Singer made it for. I was just the right age when the Donner films came out in the late '70s to be captivated by them. They've remained favorites of mine all my life. I couldn't have been more delighted when I saw a leading actor channeling the previous leading actor, the same visual style, the same film icon as Jor-El, another crazy real estate scheme, etc. It was the same feeling for me as when my father saw Back to the Future and loved all that '50s stuff. It was nostalgic. Unfortunately, after some thought I realized that most people under 30 won't give a crap. If they've even seen the Donner films, it was on video or TV on some Saturday afternoon. I't just not the same for the majority of the modern audience.
So, I'm just grateful that Singer gave my generation our nostalgia trip, sad that Mr. Routh only got one shot, and am looking forward to the reboot. Hopefully, I'll get a similar experience to what I got in the theater in '78.
 
Iron Man 2 and The Wolfman both look fantastic; they're otherworldly stories, so why shouldn't they look unrealistic? That said, there are times when massive grading is completely inappropriate, including ... KOTCS especially.

How is the Indiana Jones universe (face-melting Ark, Crystal Skull aliens, the Holy Grail and its undead guardian) really more realistic than Iron Man?
Two massively different protagonists, who set the tone for their various movies. Henry Jones is an ordinary guy who, with sweat, blood, and a middle-class job, occasionally encounters magical and terrifying things. Tony Stark is hugely rich (symbolic magic) who then gains and wields the magic of the Iron Man suit - in effect, double magic.

Henry Jones could be the guy getting flapjacks next to you in a suburban diner. Tony Stark lives in a totally different world.

I don't actually agree because I don't think the protagonist's starting position makes the story otherworldly or not (compare Pan's Labyrinth where Ofelia is a completely average young girl or much of Neil Gaiman's work for that matter), but you make a fair argument. But I think you overplay the unreality of Tony Stark situation considering we're talking about movies and in a world that actually produced Howard Hughes.
 
I think the opinion is universal that, while SR may have had flaws, it's still infinitely better than The Quest for Peace!

Alex

In no way, shape, or form, will I ever agree with that.

Quest For Peace was hardly the best Superman film, but it was light years ahead of Returns.

Hmmmm...I need to give Quest for Peace a watch, it's in my Superman 1-4 Box Set, but, never actually watched it. If it's light years above Superman Returns, it's gotta be pretty great, since Superman Returns was pretty decent.

Yeah, watch it at least once. Just don't go into it expecting a masterpiece. It's far from that. But I do think it's better than RETURNS. I also believe it's better than III, which also seems to go against popular opinion.
 
Superman IV - the Quest for Peace stinks to high heaven. I watched it last year to see if I would like it any better. Nope, I did not. I think Superman Returns is far far better.
 
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