[Movies] Superman Update
Posted by Ashish on 11.26.2009
What's going on with Superman?
Thompson on Hollywood spoke with unnamed Warner Bros. executives who said that they are currently working on a strategy to bring back the Superman franchise.
"We're working on a strategy for DC. Superman is the trickiest one to figure out."
They add that contrary to rumors, the Wachowski brothers and James McTeigue have never been approached about doing a Superman movie and that the project is on hold until the Superman legal situation is sorted out.
"The project is on hold as the studio waits to emerge from legal limbo over the fate of the Superman heirs. It's about who controls what divided rights going forward and who owes what to whom when. Warners may be trying to settle with the Siegel and Shuster families, who in 2013 will retrieve the copyright of the Superman material published in Detective Comics' Action Comics Vol. 1, in order to merge all the Superman rights."
Is it sad that when I saw this link my first thought was "They're making a John Cena movie"?
Posted By: Mattheapar (Guest) on November 25, 2009 at 11:57 PM
The Superman franchise, at least in terms of summer blockbusters, is dead. It's almost impossible for the audience to relate to him or his struggles and they overuse their one plot devi-err, I mean, kryponite to the point the audience expects it. One reason why Spiderman and Batman are so popular are because the main characters have flaws in them and they are adjusting to their new powers/abilities while trying to lead double lives. Difference between Clark Kent and Superman are a pair of freaking glasses, for crying out loud. Fact no one around him even suspects due to that is moronic.
Posted By: Xenodias (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 12:40 AM
Could Superman really exist in a Paparazzi society.
Posted By: Guest#8175 (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 01:37 AM
Xenodias, your statement pretty much sums up the recent idealogy of the Superman that he is completely one-dimensional and unstoppable.
Anyone that knows anything about the superman franchise knows he is actually a very deep character and his weakness is not kryptonite but his compassion for the human race.
Posted By: JF (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 01:43 AM
I wonder if anybody who matters has ever given any serious thought to a movie/story in which the everybody knows that Clark Kent is Superman. I think that'd be the only way to make it work on film -- like That Other Guy said, the real problem (and the main problem I had with Superman Returns) is that I just can't buy into the fact that people don't know who he is without his glasses anymore. I dunno, maybe it was easier when I was a kid, and it's certainly easier on paper than it is on film, but... I just can't really buy it.
Posted By: Used (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 02:57 AM
Is it sad that when I saw this link my first thought was "They're making a John Cena movie"?
Posted By: Mattheapar (Guest) on November 25, 2009 at 11:57 PM
No, buddy, not sad at all. Just unfunny. Very, very unfunny.
Posted By: Ser Drake (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 03:13 AM
It could do well. Superman is a one-dimensional hero. Us Americans don't want to have to try and figure out what the hero is going to do next. That's why all of these stupid fucking superheroes are all the same exact fucking characters. Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Wolverine, same characters with different powers and varying levels of emo faggery. They always make the same decisions, just different levels of fake drama. We love these guys because they're completely, hopelessly predictable.
Now Rorschach - there's a character that had me going. Why isn't Hollywood tripping over themselves to completely fuck up the Watchmen with a craptastic prequel?
bah!
/beer
Posted By: Mike (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 03:15 AM
Xenodias you don't know what you are talking about. Kudos to JF.
There's a reason why Smallville has been on for 9 years.
Posted By: Guest#4409 (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 05:13 AM
Right. What Superman really needs are villains who are powerful enough to plausibly beat him without Kryptonite, not Lex Luthor and Kryptonite Strategy #3,417.
Posted By: The Great Hibachi (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 05:51 AM
Xenodias, your statement pretty much sums up the recent idealogy of the Superman that he is completely one-dimensional and unstoppable.
Anyone that knows anything about the superman franchise knows he is actually a very deep character and his weakness is not kryptonite but his compassion for the human race.
Posted By: JF (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 01:43 AM
Bullseye.
I've also felt that one thing they've never dwelled into is the fact that he typically always sees things in black and white, which gives him an almost arrogant sense of righteousness that doesn't always allow him to make the right choices. His relationship with Batman always allowed those character flaws in Superman to come to light.
There are other struggles, too. His difficulties in keeping his lives separate. His struggle to protect his Earth parents. The alienation he constantly deals with at being the sole survivor of his entire race. Superman has alot of layers that most people, and Hollywood especially, tend to overlook in favor of more shallow popcorn fare. It's understandable why they do that, I suppose. But there's much more to the character than what they give it credit for and I've never fully understood why they don't capitalize on it more. They made Batman more "real" and it had a huge payoff. Why not Superman? He's just as flawed and just as complicated. They scratched the surface in some areas with "Returns," but never really got into it the way they should have, imo.
Posted By: Joe (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 06:56 AM
The New Adventures of Superman TV show in the 90's understood that an invincible hero is boring, so they made Lex Luthor extremely cunning and cerebral to the point where he almost defeated Superman several times before they even dicovered Kryptonite.
My point is that whilst the writing of that show had much to be desired, the idea of a villain manipulating Superman's principals could make an interesting movie if done right.
Posted By: Quimby (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 07:42 AM
superman can work. just have the villian be someone besides lex luthor. supes' rogues gallery is full of characters that can stand toe to toe with him.
Posted By: rey (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 08:12 AM
Is it sad that when I saw this link my first thought was "They're making a John Cena movie"?
Posted By: Mattheapar (Guest)
Yes.
Posted By: James (Registered) (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 08:14 AM
SMALLVILLE MOVIE
this is the way to go
Posted By: 6543212 (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 08:28 AM
'Anyone that knows anything about the superman franchise knows he is actually a very deep character and his weakness is not kryptonite but his compassion for the human race. '
Well that's the problem isn't it. As a fan you obviously know this about the character, but most film goers will be casual fans at best and only know what they see on screen, which is usually reduced to clark fancies louis, louis fancies Superman, Superman fights bad guy, bad guy gets out kryptonite, Superman overcomes odds, Superman wins (wow that DOES sound like John Cena!).
On screen (and note I said ON SCREEN, not IN THE COMICS) he comes across as a rather 2D character.
Posted By: Louwax (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 08:35 AM
JF - Your comment is right on. I have always hoped that they do a Superman/Batman film. Two superheroes that have a vastly different approach to fighting crime. They could easily create conflict with one another by the way they approach fighting crime. It would work, be entertaining, and more importantly-remembered.
Posted By: Jeff (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 09:25 AM
The only way a superman movie will work is if you give him an adversary that is legit. Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey are great actors but neither could make Lex Luthor seem very dangerous. If they want to take a page out of the dark knight find some one to play Lex as Heath Ledger played the joker. It's amazing that the animated versions of Superman can figure this out.
Posted By: paul allen (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 09:32 AM
JF nailed it. People who don't know anything abut Superman shouldn't try to analyze the character.
Posted By: Havok (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 10:11 AM
The whole "He's just Superman with glasses" thing is really only part of it. If a writer or an actor can pull it off well enough, Supes is supposed to be rather adept at making everyone believe he's really two different people with the way he talks and presents himself.
I mean, would you really believe that some dorky wallflower from the middle of nowhere was a confident and mega-powered superhero? It'd be like finding out that Godzilla was secretly Steve Urkel.
Posted By: Cosmo (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 10:50 AM
xenodias, if you think superman can't be an interesting character, watch david carradine's monologue in kill bill vol 2
Posted By: d-po (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 11:23 AM
There was an SNL with Dwayne Johnson years ago where they ran a skit like that, where everyone knew he was Superman. It was really funny actually, probably the last time SNL has been funny.
The problem with the last film was that it was a feminist piece of trash. Women aren't interested in Superman so why bother, women like romantic films and junk like Twilight. All you do when you alienate your main audience for a reach audience is you put up a film that nobody is going to watch at all, and essentially destroy any good faith you had from your target audience, or rather your main demographic since your new target audience wants nothing to do with it.
Superman really only works well when he is teamed up with Batman. By himself I've never liked him since he is written to be too damn strong.
Posted By: Guest#3171 (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 11:28 AM
They need to ditch Luthor as the villian. His real estate schemed are lame as hell. How about Supes fights Bizarro or Darkseid?
I don't mind the Clark Kent/Superman deal. Christopher Reeve did a hell of a job making the two very different (Clark's a bumbling nerd, Superman is confident and strong; Clark's voice his higher; they part their hair on dfferent sides, etc). That works.
What bugs me is that he works at the Daily Planet under the assumption that any big news that happens he hears about right away so he can save the day. Well what about that trick where he hovers in space and focuses his hearing to pick up n trouble? Wouldn't that be easier?
And if he's Clark so that he can relax, why would he have to have Clark hold down a job and have commitments? Why not just chill out at the Fortress of Solitude, play some XBox 360, and then throw on a t-shirt, jeans, glasses, and comb his hair different and head to town to pick up a chick for a one-night stand? It's not like they'd think he's Superman because Superman doesn't even wear a mask of gloves to conceal his identity. Why would they think he has a secret identity?
Posted By: Zingy (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Superman can be great again. Just get Tom Welling to be Superman.
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 11:50 AM
um, yes, you really can buy it if you stop being so critical. All movies are about suspending disbelief. Because its a freggin movie! none of it is real, even when they say it is. If you can't buy the fact that no one can tell the Clark is Superman, which they hinted on in Superman Returns, then you shouldn't go see..um..Friday the 13th. I just can't buy the fact that someone would have claws and kill me in my dreams.
and Superman is not dead..because the last movie wasn't bad at all. Everyone expects a Spiderman movie, or now a Dark Knight in which they want to turn Superman dark.
Posted By: coldstone (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I had a good idea... and a big name director attached
Posted By: Miles Miller (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 12:35 PM
I was always more of a Batman fan than a Superman fan, but over the past two years, I started following Superman because Geoff Johns, who is amazing, started writing the books. Now that I have gotten to know Supes a bit better, he isn't a one-dimensional boy scout anymore. In the DC universe Superman is the light of hope... someone that parents can hold up to their kids and know that he is a good example, always. As JF said, this is one of his greatest weaknesses... He cares too deeply for humanity and he knows what he means to the people of Earth.
Now, he has other weaknesses... obviously the rainbow of Kryptonites, he is immensely susceptible to magic, mind-control comes into play from time to time, altering the wavelength of the sun's rays and many, many other things. Then you add in the bad guys that movie goes have yet to see like Darksied (and the rest of Apokalypse), Bizzaro, Metallo, Lobo, Brainiac, Doomsday, Blue Moon and others who are pretty even matches to Superman in one way or another. Zod made it into one of the movies, and I enjoyed the Zod bits... Superman has yet to be truly challenged in a movie the way he should.
Now to the point about no one being able to tell Clark Kent is Superman... yeah it is pretty silly. However, it isn't just glasses, it is attitude, it is how he holds himself and it is an aura around the hero that is missing when Clark is being Clark. There are some actors that can walk down the street without any sort of disguise and very few people recognize them and there are some that cannot be missed. It is the same thing with Supes. Besides, "You think Joe from accounting is the world's most famous person? What are you a frigin' idiot?"
Really, the Superman character is rich and could be mined for gold, but only with the right director and the right script. Not that DC is having actual comic writers, like Geoff Johns, work closely with the film properties, it could happen. And, I for one will be right there in line for tickets when they do it.
Posted By: Matt in Omaha (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 12:37 PM
'Is it sad that when I saw this link my first thought was "They're making a John Cena movie"?'
no, but it makes you like like a massive homosexual with a Cena obsession.
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 01:20 PM
Superman "Deep", LAWL. Jog on chaps. Superman is super lame. He's the original overpowered chump, given the massive achilles heel of Kryptonite just to make him worthwhile.
Smallville has been running so long because it's a) teenager bullshit, b) they've been completely altering the mythos to jam as many characters into his past as possible and c) they've got to the stage of inserting as many other heroes as guest stars as they can, a sure sign of running short of genuine ideas. They've already moved away from the original idea of "the story of how Clack became Superman" to become effectively "he IS Superman now" and the show jumped the shark when they brought in Zod.
If DC/Warner had any sense, they would pack this franchise into the attic and get working on Wonder Woman. We've already seen Superman a million times. Wonder Woman would be fresh and new, and she's not SO overpowered she needs a cheap plot device for legitimate conflict in the story.
Posted By: Frank (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 02:08 PM
Forget 'Superman', do a Smallville movie, and not just the upcoming one for tv...
Posted By: Guest#5396 (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 02:21 PM
What made the comic book version of Superman work in the mid 80's to 1990's was that the best stories were not necessarily about Superman, but about Clark Kent, who just happens to be Superman. A crucial 6 parter was the "Death of Clark Kent" series in which an old enemy of Clark's and later Superman discoveres he is one and the same and then seeks to destroy everything that makes Clark Kent who he is. Clark then has to defeat his enemy and then come to terms with the fact that he is Clark Kent.
What made the comic work is that Clark was not Superman's secret identity--Superman is Clark's.
Also, Superman/Clark was grounded b/c of the people around him, especially Lois. This dynamic worked very well in the comics, and also in the ABC series Lois & Clark (at least for the first couple of seasons). In fact, I dare say that while Christopher Reeve had the best Superman, I liked Dean Cain's take on Clark Kent.
Still, I'm not sure entirely how well this could play over a single movie, but they could easily make a Superman story that isn't about how indestructible he is except for Kryptonite.
Posted By: Michael L (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 04:52 PM
Smallville needs to go away. how long can clark kent be a teenager in smallville. its like hey dude...your almost 40. dont you think its time to move on. There are only so many cow stampedes you need to tackle
Posted By: jeff albertson (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 06:46 PM
I've said for a long time that if they wanna find some material for a new Superman movie, look no further than the era of the character that started with the John Byrne reboot from 1986. From 86-96 was my favorite Superman era.
Posted By: Miller (Guest) on November 26, 2009 at 09:16 PM
Smallville needs to go away. how long can clark kent be a teenager in smallville. its like hey dude...your almost 40. dont you think its time to move on. There are only so many cow stampedes you need to tackle
Posted By: jeff albertson (Guest)
He's actually in Metropolis now, working at the Daily Planet. Maybe you should watch the show before you complain. Dipshit.
Posted By: Guest#1203 (Guest) on November 27, 2009 at 08:20 AM
I agree with everyone that said that the reason the movies have been supbar is because he doesn't have an adversary who is capable of battling him toe to toe on a physical level. Let Luthor be the mastermind behind him or her or whatever but the tired plot device of Luthor infects Superman with Kryptonite and he finds a way to escape is getting cold very quickly. Thes best Superman film so far IMHO Superman 2 succeeded because Zod and the Phantom Zoners were physical equals for Supes. They could use a variety of villains tos erve this purpose. Braniac in the recent Superman/Braniac storyline was his physical equal. Mongol an alien conqueror could fit the bill. Then you have the more obvious choices like Luthor creating a duplicate of Superman (Bizarro!) or even Darkseid if they wanted to go that route.
Posted By: Jake Fury (Guest) on November 27, 2009 at 09:55 AM
For those who think Clark is still a teenager on Smallville obviously do not watch the show. He was only a teenager for the first 3 or 4 seasons, out of 9 so far. The high school years, as it were. Now he is a young adult, working at the Daily Planet. A few years have passed for the characters, and they know it, as time passing has been mentioned a few times.
Posted By: Paul in Canada (Guest) on November 27, 2009 at 12:20 PM
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