Things have just gotten even more confusing on the Superman sequel front. As recently as April Singer hinted that he was finally getting to work on his Superman Returns follow up, and it was just a few days ago that Brandon Routh told everyone that a script for his second movie was being written. Now there’s word that they may be tossing everything out the window and starting completely over with an entirely new concept and an entirely new director.
This latest development comes from The Daily Record where writer Mark Millar claims he’s about to reinvent Sueprman for the big screen. He says, “Since I was a kid I've always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century. I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011.” Apparently he missed the fact that Superman has already been done for the 21st century. Oh wait, no he didn’t, he’s just ignoring it. He continues, “The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost Û200million, but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it.”
I can’t remember the last time I read a bunch of more misguided, ill-informed quotes. Toxic? That’s accurate, only if you conveniently ignoring that Superman Returns made just as much as Batman Begins domestically, received stellar reviews, and that most of the movie’s financial losses had nothing to do with the film made by Bryan Singer and were the result of previous failed attempts to make other Superman films by Warner Brothers. Singer’s film actually cost $270 million to make, and it earned nearly $400 million at the box office. That’s a cool $130 million in profit. Since they have those actual numbers, you’d think the folks at the WB would be smart enough not to buy into the line of bullshit Millar is spewing, but Millar makes it sound like his replacement Superman is a done deal.
Even if any of the crap coming out of Millar’s mouth about the state of Superman were true, you’d think someone at Warners would have learned a lesson from Marvel’s attempt to do the same thing with Hulk. Their recently released Incredible Hulk reboot made fewer bucks than its predecessor on opening weekend, as less hardcore audiences poked their heads up, looked around, and collectively groaned “they’re starting this over again?” If Warner Brothers wasn’t happy making $200 million, I doubt they’d be happy with $175 million. I can’t believe anybody at the WB would really be stupid enough to let this happen, especially when it’s seemed pretty clear recently that both Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh are ready to get moving on a proper Superman Returns sequel.
