Sequels Making Superman 2 a Box office Success

[Thunder Emperor]

Get a new director and set of writers and you have a boxoffic ehit. keep singer there andd it is the end of the franchise.

 

[buggs0268]

My version of making the next supes movie a success :

1 Setting a new VFX facility on the WB lot :
If there is one thing that the superman movies need , it's their own VFX studio. Preliminary VFX tests as well as animatics could be done here as well as the bulk , if not all the VFX.
There needs to be a coordination between this facility and the writers of the next movie.
As well as providing technical support and VFX to the studio , it should also be a place where they try and get creative minds to solve the difficult VFX.
ANY VFX can be done the hard way : Just going for pure animation.
But why waste lots of money on these animators , when you can shoot something in real time and get the same quality ?
There are always ways to doing these things. And the VFX studio should look out for such talented people.

2 Writing the script :
With SR now well into the release , iSinger shouldn't wait till Superman has hit 400 million worldwide. He should start working on the script right now and actually look at the criticisms that fanboys and comic book writers have said upon viewing SR. And especially use the comic book writers to work out a good story. It would be great to bring a bunch of comic book writers and just for a month or so brainstorm about various ideas and which comic stories they can take or change slightly to fit within the "now created storyline of SR".
Also they should be thinking about certain restrictions , such as the budget and the time of the movie. IMO , they should be done late 2006 or early 2007 .
And then , one of the most important aspects of all , give the script to all major comic book writers and artists and get their seal of approval. Next come the movie sites siuch as JOBLO , LATINOREVIEW , SHH , CHUD and others where they can also review the script ( without spoiling it of course ) and post their reviews online. This helps to create a huge , huge advantage as people know that they will get a good movie. There's nothing better then advanced hype.


3: Production and Shooting
Now with the script finished and early VFX tests done to see what can be done and what can't be done , they should begin with production working early 2007 and begin shooting from mid 2007 all the way to the end of 2007.
Again give a budget of 200 million MAX. Not higher. At least you know that you can break even on a 200 million budget with cinema income , dvd income , television rights and of coursethe comics and merchandise.
Spend 100 million on the VFX alone and the other on the movie. Salaries such as 10 million to the director , should be kept to a minumum . Instead go for the back-end deals .
Shoot the most difficult scenes first. And i'm not talking about dramatic scenes , but VFX scenes. These things take a long long time to animate and the sooner you start on them , the better.
Once the movie is finished shooting , let the animation department create some cool money shots for the teaser trailer and then release it . This is the advantage of owning you're VFX studio since you can "force" them do deliver certain shots. The end of 2007 or early 2008 is the period when lots of family movies are planning in the cinemas. Since this is the audience that you need ( after all , Superman is for ALL AGES ) , it's the perfect oppurtunity to get their attention.
With advanced buzz of the script being excellent ( see my writing point above) , combined with what you can expect upon viewing the first teaser trailer , then the hype will begin. And the hype will start in 2008 . A full year before release. How great is that !

4 : Post Production , Comic Conventions , Marketing
As post production goes into full gear , it would mean that the movie has 2008 as their post. prod year. This is great since it would mean that everything can go along as planned without being rushed. It also helps greatly because as shots are delivered , you can assemble them and release them with new trailers. Of course, The Dark Knight is THE movie to release you're next trailer . Why :
1 Unlike SR , BB is loved by critics and fans alike. That fanbase has been growing since 2005 and you'll get an immense positive reaction when you release the first big trailer . The buzz keeps growing and growing.
Comic conventions also help , with cast and crew coming there and talking. Earn the respect of the comic fans by being honest about certain decisions and anknowledging that things on SR did go wrong ( such as for example not being action flick or being waay to much like the donner films) but still defend you're decisions in a mature way. What also would help is if you got the comic book writers who had worked on the script on the stage along with cast and director. THis would show to the fans that movie is beingt taken seriously and it has the blessing of these writers.
And release brand new footage , which is available online !
It here that editing plays a big role . IMO keep the audience entertained. DOn't take too much time with scenes that tend to drag. But don't throw in action scenes as soon as the momentum slows down. Don't be like SPiderman 2 where you have a solid opening , really boring mid section and then action packed last half. And also keep an eye on the running time. 2 hrs max !



5 : RELEASE DATE
Set a release date where you know that you won't get any problems. SR was hurt alot with POTC 2 and the world cup.
Events like the World Cup of the European Championships may seem small to the americans , but they are big here. Luckily they won't have the World Cup in 2009 but they will have the European Cup. So at all costs , avoid mid-late summer period .
Instead go for the coveted May release date . Studios will be a bit wary when they hear just how much positive buzz is building. And play release the movie simultaneously in all markets. Not with a month of sometomes two months apart. Piracy kills you're BO .
One of the more interesting aspects here is also that you can't please everyone. There will be some who will diss on the movie ( either for legitimate reason or for really lame reasons). These people can be either just you're ordinary audience member or a very respected person(critic...). What these people do is creating bad Word-Of-Mouth. In this day and age , WOM makes or breakes a movie and by limiting the time of WOM , you can ensure that more people will see Superman.
I mean face it , bad press will be bigger when a movie opens a month after it's US release date right. But if the movie opens on the same day or even earlier then the US release date , you honestly think that bad press has a chance ?



I won't do any major predictions , but i expect at least that the movie opens with a 80 million opening going all the way to at least 300 million domestic and 500-600 million worldwide.

Warner Brother's already had their own EFX company called WBIT (Warner Brother's Imaging Technology) in the 90's. They mostly did Warner Brother's movies, but they actually did do shots for other studios movies. They did Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. But they shut down at Batman and Robin as they found out running an EFX company was too prohibitive with all the R&D costs, and equipment upgrades associated with it, so they shut it down. it is far more cost effective to go with a set of effects vendors that to have your own effects companies. Lucas can actually do it as his company was the first, still the best, and he financed research with the pricetag that he charged films. He actually advanced the early CGI stuff in the 80's and 90's on money he charged the various studios to do EFX for their films. What he has now is alot of these companies that make CGI programs actually started from ILM (Pixar) and when he sold those companies to the people who used to work for them, he sold them cheap but with the proviso that any updates or new programs they make he gets for free.

 

[OzzMosiz]

I agree. Get the trailer out early. TW messed up by leaving it too late.
Hell Spidey 3 has already had their first teaser out!!

Film the VFX shots first, and ensure you don't give all the good stuff away in the trailers.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Warner Brother's already had their own EFX company called WBIT (Warner Brother's Imaging Technology) in the 90's. They mostly did Warner Brother's movies, but they actually did do shots for other studios movies. They did Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. But they shut down at Batman and Robin as they found out running an EFX company was too prohibitive with all the R&D costs, and equipment upgrades associated with it, so they shut it down. it is far more cost effective to go with a set of effects vendors that to have your own effects companies. Lucas can actually do it as his company was the first, still the best, and he financed research with the pricetag that he charged films. He actually advanced the early CGI stuff in the 80's and 90's on money he charged the various studios to do EFX for their films. What he has now is alot of these companies that make CGI programs actually started from ILM (Pixar) and when he sold those companies to the people who used to work for them, he sold them cheap but with the proviso that any updates or new programs they make he gets for free.

I agree that unless you can keep up the production of a (big) VFX company , it isn't realiable to have a VFX company. But look at what Sony is doing. They have their own VFX studio and aside from other movies using SonyImageworks , many of the own VFX movies of Sony are done by Imageworks as well.
Ghost Rider , Spiderman 1 & 2 & 3 , Monster House ...i could go on an on. If WB agrees to let their own studio do shots for their studio then i think that they can survive.

When you have you're own VFX company , you can be assured that you have the technology and you can work on you're technology on a contineous basis.
If studios see that you can deliver quality work , they will come to you. And what i also said about the VFX studio coming up with new and creative ideas to make VFX shots , you don't get that guarantee with VFX studios. MAny studios will just get take the traditional hands on approach of animating anything whereas you can use other camera techniques or whatever to create the same VFX.
It also establishes you as an VFX firm where you can go for quality VFX for less cost.

 

[buggs0268]

I agree that unless you can keep up the production of a (big) VFX company , it isn't realiable to have a VFX company. But look at what Sony is doing. They have their own VFX studio and aside from other movies using SonyImageworks , many of the own VFX movies of Sony are done by Imageworks as well.
Ghost Rider , Spiderman 1 & 2 & 3 , Monster House ...i could go on an on. If WB agrees to let their own studio do shots for their studio then i think that they can survive.

When you have you're own VFX company , you can be assured that you have the technology and you can work on you're technology on a contineous basis.
If studios see that you can deliver quality work , they will come to you. And what i also said about the VFX studio coming up with new and creative ideas to make VFX shots , you don't get that guarantee with VFX studios. MAny studios will just get take the traditional hands on approach of animating anything whereas you can use other camera techniques or whatever to create the same VFX.
It also establishes you as an VFX firm where you can go for quality VFX for less cost.

Sony had the umbrella of a large company behind it which makes more money than Warner's. And the fact is that that is the reason that TW closed WBIT down. It is in an article in Cinefex. Back then it was too costly. Back then you were relegated to having to use SGI workstations and programs written for that platform. The cost of SGI wrokstations ans servers was astronomical. The programs were outrageous too. If I remember correctly photoshop for SGI was in the neighborhood of tens of thousands of dollars. It was rediculous, but you had to use them as that was the 64 bit computer running on UNIX. Now you have AMD 64's computers costing a few hundred bucks (I saw a dual core 64 3500+ for $450.00 yesterday at PC Club) and Linux is free. But the problem is still building the infrastructure and everything else. Warner's may get into it again but who is to say. The thing about using another company is that they already have the pipelines, they do R&D whenever they do anything. Trust me, they are not using generic tools from one film to another. Maybe on somethings but not most of the stuff they use. And even if they did have their own EFX company, no more time would be spent on R&D that isn't already spent hiring a vendor. Trust me. These guys spend a lot of time on R&D for each film, and also advancing their tools for every film.

And the fact is that Singer personally chose SPI. He was at an In and Out burger when he heard two EFX Supes talking about the CGI city they were doing for Spiderman 2, and Singer went over and struck up a conversation with them. The guys who had done The Matrix Sequels were tipped by the studio to work on whatever Superman movie was going to be made. I believe they were already doing R&D on flying shots and other stuff, but when Singer came on board he passed on them and went straigt to Sony, and that company went out of business.

And the fact is, I just don't see Warner's doing that for a while. I think they still have a bad taste in their mouth from WBIT.

 

[boywonder13]

- Focus it more on comic book lore
- Move a little away from the Donner visin
- Have Zod and Brainac and Luthor in the movie
- Lana Lang
- More action



Thats what you need..

 

[XCharlieX]

All they need to do is do away with luthor now. The homage is over.

The new villains need to be of that wide universe theyve had for many films yet havent used it fully. And now with this reboot showing us what they can do with computers and selling the universe, the likes of Darkseid, Brainiac, Doomsday etc should definitely be in.

For 2 my suggestion is brainiac, and no luthor making a deal with him, just Brainiac. And he should look absolutely amazing. Id imagine how the cartoon version would look. They can blend that with live action but more creepier look to it. Stan Winston knows those type of designs well.

 

[boywonder13]

Heres what I think on the situation:

Luthor needs a Krytponian to help him work some Kryptonian tech so he revives General Zod, Zod helps him work Brainiac but Brainiac has his own Agenda....

Luthor should die in the next movie....

 

[matrix_ghost]

Sony had the umbrella of a large company behind it which makes more money than Warner's. And the fact is that that is the reason that TW closed WBIT down. It is in an article in Cinefex. Back then it was too costly. Back then you were relegated to having to use SGI workstations and programs written for that platform. The cost of SGI wrokstations ans servers was astronomical. The programs were outrageous too. If I remember correctly photoshop for SGI was in the neighborhood of tens of thousands of dollars. It was rediculous, but you had to use them as that was the 64 bit computer running on UNIX. Now you have AMD 64's computers costing a few hundred bucks (I saw a dual core 64 3500+ for $450.00 yesterday at PC Club) and Linux is free. But the problem is still building the infrastructure and everything else. Warner's may get into it again but who is to say. The thing about using another company is that they already have the pipelines, they do R&D whenever they do anything. Trust me, they are not using generic tools from one film to another. Maybe on somethings but not most of the stuff they use. And even if they did have their own EFX company, no more time would be spent on R&D that isn't already spent hiring a vendor. Trust me. These guys spend a lot of time on R&D for each film, and also advancing their tools for every film.

And the fact is that Singer personally chose SPI. He was at an In and Out burger when he heard two EFX Supes talking about the CGI city they were doing for Spiderman 2, and Singer went over and struck up a conversation with them. The guys who had done The Matrix Sequels were tipped by the studio to work on whatever Superman movie was going to be made. I believe they were already doing R&D on flying shots and other stuff, but when Singer came on board he passed on them and went straigt to Sony, and that company went out of business.

And the fact is, I just don't see Warner's doing that for a while. I think they still have a bad taste in their mouth from WBIT.

YEah it sucks they ( ESC FX ) lost the VFX contract of SR. This is why i was saying that WB should in fact have kept the VFX studio. What Sony is doing is essentially letting their movies being done by their VFX studio. Dunno if this in their contract or what , but giving you're movie to you're own VFX studio ensures the existance of you're VFX firm.

WB shoudl've done that. I really do like the work done in Matrix Revolutions and i really think it's shame that Singer skipped on this. CG Superman looked less real then CG neo and smith. Besides they had the experience and technology at that time . But alas , Singer choose Sony instead.
Hopefully SOny Digital can work on the facial animation even more. Especially hair movements. There are alot of shots in SR where you can really tell it's CG routh.


Anyways that was my part of the rant on WB. Hopefully they will go and hire their own VFX studio. IF not , well i still say they should begin writing now and do some early VFX tests.
Singer should just skip on his Logan's run movie and just make the sequel instead. TIme's running out and unless they want to pay 250 million again for the sequel , Singer should start writing now.

 

[buggs0268]

YEah it sucks they ( ESC FX ) lost the VFX contract of SR. This is why i was saying that WB should in fact have kept the VFX studio. What Sony is doing is essentially letting their movies being done by their VFX studio. Dunno if this in their contract or what , but giving you're movie to you're own VFX studio ensures the existance of you're VFX firm.

WB shoudl've done that. I really do like the work done in Matrix Revolutions and i really think it's shame that Singer skipped on this. CG Superman looked less real then CG neo and smith. Besides they had the experience and technology at that time . But alas , Singer choose Sony instead.
Hopefully SOny Digital can work on the facial animation even more. Especially hair movements. There are alot of shots in SR where you can really tell it's CG routh.


Anyways that was my part of the rant on WB. Hopefully they will go and hire their own VFX studio. IF not , well i still say they should begin writing now and do some early VFX tests.
Singer should just skip on his Logan's run movie and just make the sequel instead. TIme's running out and unless they want to pay 250 million again for the sequel , Singer should start writing now.

They should have done what ILM did with the vampire brides in VanHelsing. They used the real actress (in makeup) upper body and just tracked the CGI double body to it. they could have done that and kept rouths head and hands real. But then again sometimes EFX films now will do stuff to futher push the envlope of CGI. I am watching Spiderman 2 now and the effects, hell even the CGI city looks so much better than the CGI city in SR. Same company. Dont know why?

 

[Visionary]

Making SUPERMAN 2 a success


Unlike Batman Begins, which completely, 110% revived the Batman franchise, Superman Returns has not completely revived the Superman franchise. By that I mean, Batman 2 will gross just about as much as any Batman film could (as long as quality continues, of course). Superman 2, at the moment, is not going to gross all it can if it stays on course for summer 2009. That’s the reason I concocted this theorem.

The EXCEL THEORUM

Fast track Superman 2 for winter 2008. Summer 2009 is a 3 year wait, and that simply is too long. 2 is too short, but 2 and a half is perfect.

The “EXCEL THEORUM” is exactly this to sum up: Green light a 200 million dollar budgeted SUPERMAN 2 with EVERYBODY returning from both cast an crew. Give Superman a physical villain to FIGHT as well as keeping luthor around in a smaller role. You have to keep this at 140 minutes or under. Then on Friday December 10th 2008, release Superman Returns in United States in as many Imax screens as possible as well as conventional theaters.

What I would do for the plot


The film’s plot has to go a certain way. First and foremost, the credit sequence and score have to stay. That’s a given. In terms of changes, Superman and Lois have to get together (no not that way!) at some point in the film. There has got to be at least 1 physical villain for Superman to fight. It needs to look considerably lighter too. By this I mean traditional no more gloomy, dark cloudy sets (this isn’t Batman!) and while Superman saving things is spectacular, it isn’t that exciting anymore. But superhuman fights are.
The exact way I would have it go is have Brianiac arrive on Earth. Give him a male krptonion as his heir, and a female kryptonion as the heirs girlfriend. They come to Earth after being distracted by New Krpyton. They want power, and Superman isn’t going to let them have it. Lex Luthor weasels his way into by showing them the fortress of Solitude. Lois discovers Superman is Clark at the very end. Richard can do one of 2 things: he is still there, and at the end he breaks up with Lois because not only does he know Jason isn’t his, but he knows Lois doesn’t love him anymore and that she should be with Superman. Or he can die for Lois. I’d go with the first one.

Green light it NOW with a budget of 200 million again. W.B. know that it isn’t that large of investment, given how huge toy and merchandise sales would be during the holiday season. Worldwide gross would be enormous. D.V.D. sales and rentals would be big as usual. This is just fanboyism, but I would cast Jason Isaacs as the cold, ruthless, and enormous Brainiac. Billy Zane-get him younger looking and a cool costume and weapon-as the heir. Sophie Marceu (that chick from World is not Enough) as the female kryptonion. Those are 3 very, very good actors who would cost about 5 million combined. Start production in mid-late Summer 2007. General marketing campaign goes as follows:

-Trailer one with BATMAN 2 in summer 2008. D.C. fan boys-as well comic book fan boys in general- will be out in full force for what promises to be huge midnight screenings, so buzz among comic fans will skyrocket. The general public will be out as well, in what could be a Matrix Reloaded-sized increase over Batman Begins in the domestic department. I don’t think W.B. knows how well received Batman Begins really was or how much quality means to that franchise (please give it May 2nd or May 16th in 2008. PLEASE!). Pirates 2 has proved that word of mouth from previous films carries over to the sequels opening day. Word-Batman 2 is gonna be big.
-Theatrical trailer with looks like the biggest movie of October (not a horror movie)
-TV spot campaign hits around thanksgiving.
-Release date is December 10th for conventional theaters.

Why this will work: in today’s box office climate (and most likely 2008’s), sequels always open much bigger. Superman Returns 52.5 million opening weekend, and 84 million 5 day overall, signals what would have been roughly 75 million 3 day take has it opened on June 30th. The sequel’s opening promises to be bigger. A Friday, December 10th, 2008 release promises an opening north of 70 million due to it being a sequel. The fact that it features a physical villain would make it much more appealing to teenagers as well still keeping the kids/family audience. A 75/80 million 3 day would be expected. The thing a December release gives it that May doesn’t, is an extraordinary set up for it’s box office legs. It could open to 90 million in May, but falls horribly and not get 250 million again. If quality kept up par, a December release assures a multiplier of at least 3.5 after an 75 million opening, due to holiday legs. That right there is a basic minimum gross of 260 million. A multiplier over 4 is not out of the question at all if quality is up to standard. That’s 300 million or more. The character of Superman when done lightly like it should be, has unlimited appeal to families and the holidays are the biggest family going movie time of the year. Superman would hold extremely well in 3rd and rise on its forth weekend as well as having weekdays bigger then it would in the summer. It’s weekend would probably look like this:

Opening weekend:75 million
2nd weeknd-40 million
3rd weekend-25 million
4th weekend-25 million

no that isn’t a typo. It would stay the same if not rise from its 3rd weekend to 4th weekend due to the way the weekends line up for the holidays. Look Narnia. 63 million opening, 290 million total all from HOLIDAY LEGS while going up against juggernaut King Kong in the process. Superman could do this.

Merchandise

And that’s just the box office. It’s the holiday. Christmas time. A new superman movies out, and can you remember the last time there was a big super hero movie out then for kids to go see? Nope. Its merchandise sales-by that I mean the boards game toys action figures, the whole works-would be selling out the ASS for Christmas presents. You don’t understand how much money would lie in this.

The only Negative

This isn’t even really a negative, cause there isn’t a way to test it. But rumor among us box office followers is the first big superhero movie of the summer does better then second. See x3>superman returns (maybe not), batman > fantastic four, x2 >Hulk, spidey 3>fantastic four 2(yeah that hasn’t happened yet but that’s a given). So no one knows whether it translates for the whole year, and if Batman 2 already having been huge would effect Superman 2’s box office. I tend to doubt, no trends show it.

TO SUM UP

W.B., you’ve gotta keep the budget big if you want the franchise to continue growing. You’ve gotta add a physical villain and make it lighter while still keeping it’s crowd pleasing abilities from humor and drama, and having the fighting to make the teenagers come this time. Then give it the trailer with Batman 2 and holidays 2008 release date, and the franchise will be set. Because this one would make so much money, and be well received by so many (assuming qualities on par!), you could go back to the summer for say 2011, and by that time it would be anticipated by many. Routh and Bosworth would have grown into their roles. And it would have a great shot at a 300 million+ domestic take.


if you agree, say so!

Superman having a chance at 300M domestically...BWAHAHAHA...!

Superman is dead in the hands of Bryan Singer. Get rid of him and then we'll talk about 300M domestically.

 

[matrix_ghost]

They should have done what ILM did with the vampire brides in VanHelsing. They used the real actress (in makeup) upper body and just tracked the CGI double body to it. they could have done that and kept rouths head and hands real. But then again sometimes EFX films now will do stuff to futher push the envlope of CGI. I am watching Spiderman 2 now and the effects, hell even the CGI city looks so much better than the CGI city in SR. Same company. Dont know why?

Don't blame the company. Blame the director. It's ultimately them who are mainly responsible for the approval of the VFX.
It's the same with ILM.

Compare the recent movies of George Lucas , Spielberg and Stephen Sommers.
We all know just how atrocious the VFX in The Mummy Returns looked. Not to mention the horrible animated and oh so unrealistically looking and moving Jekyl/Hyde . Heck even the final battle with CG werewolf and CG vampire just looked bad.

George Lucas. On one hand i gotta hand it to him that he pushed ILM for the digital worlds and characters. CG Yoda looked truly awesome. However despite the realism , there is something lacking with those VFX. Live. Íf you can't give an image you just fail miserably.

Whis is why Spielberg succeeds. His VFX are great. It sucks you in as a movie viewer and he understands how a certain VFX works.
I mean that scene in WOTW when the Tripod comes out of the ground. Tell me you were impressed with that. Jurassic Park. AI. He knows his VFX.

And that is the thing. People get worked up soo much on the technical details that they ultimately lose sight of the story and the characters.
This is really my opinion , but i really didn't think that they got the animation on Doc Ock face right. Some scenes looked flawlessly real and some really don't. Still that scene did look spectacular and they're miles ahead with what they did in Spidey 1.

Anyway going back to superman. I still think that for alot of shots , they had to go with virtual doubles.Certain scenes just needed full on CG bodies. and i think that is why they went for a digital brandon.
I still would want to know why Brian Singer ditched Michael Fink ans his VFX supervisor. . That guy knows his VFX. His work on Constantine and X1 and X2 looks great. I'm sure that if thet would've gotten him , the VFX work in Supes would've looked great.

 

[MJB]

Won't happen, superhero flicks this big are never ever released during that season, unfortunetely.

I don't see why people think a superhero film won't do well in the winter or even at Thanksgiving. it worked out well for Harry Potter, LOTR, and the Narnia film.

 

[Excel]

bump...not gonna lie; things are pointing at holidays 2009. score!

 

[BareKnucklez]

Get a new director and set of writers and you have a boxoffic ehit. keep singer there andd it is the end of the franchise.

yup

 

[buggs0268]

superman the movie.

Superman the movie was originally slated for a summer release, but they missed that date. Eager to get the movie out, Warner Brother's firmly made a Christmass release mandatory and told them to stop all work on Superman 2. But Superman the movie was originally slated for a May or June 1978 release.

 

[Billy Batson]

Why is this thread called; Making Superman 2 a Box office Success?
Superman II has already been a Box Office Success.
Don't you mean SR II A.K.A SUPERMAN 6.

 

[Jazner]

As far as the budget goes, I think $180 should be enough. One thing to remember about the excessive budget for SR was that WB already had $60-80 million invested in the film from previous failed attempts to make it with Burton, McG, Ratner, etc. So really, dropping the budget to $180 is really only dipping it $20-30 million below SR's actual cost.

As for the story, I know everyone wants to see Brainiac and while I'm not object to that, I really think the time has come to dip into the original Superman lore, find a new villain (alien in nature) and possibly tweak the story a bit to better fit the big screen.

Side Note:Under NO circumstances should Zod be a part of this movie (and I don't think he will).

As for the story, it's got to be about the characters. That's the only thing that'll make a Superman movie fly with today's audience. Because he's all powerful and can solve virtually any crisis, people don't buy that act like they would in a Batman movie. Unlike Bats, Spidey or Wolverine, this guy really can't be hurt. That's why the conflict has to be internal. Put the kid in harm's way, or Lois......someone Superman cares about. First rule of being a bad villain: if you can't hurt the hero, hurt those around him and watch him fall.

For this type of story, and this is just my own personal taste here, I'd love to see a Joss Whedon-written screenplay with Singer directing and Whedon producing.

As for Lex, keep him in the picture and make him what he should've been from the beginning, a really frickin' evil S.O.B. who's hellbent on destroying Superman. In other words, less 'Hackman-Luthor' and more of the guy from 'Smallville' who killed the Doctor in the cript with his bare hands because he threatened to expose one of Lex's schemes. In other words, just plain EVIL! FYI, go watch 'Seven' and tell me Spacey wouldn't do that role justice.

In closing, the only hitch that might come with this kind of movie might be Routh. Make no mistake about it, I loved Brandon as Superman. I thought he was perfect, but the fact of the matter is he wasn't asked to do too much in the way of acting. With this type of story, BR will really have to dig in and portray some seriously hardcore emotion and we don't know yet if he can do that. This is what happens when you cast an unknown with as little experience as Brandon has. That's not to say he can't pull it off. All I'm saying is we don't know and if he can't, the movie will be horrible. On the other hand if he can, I think it'd be a home run.

Those are my thoughts, so feel free to debate and or debunk.

 

[hammy]

Get a new director and set of writers and you have a boxoffic ehit. keep singer there andd it is the end of the franchise.

Sad but true.

 

[supesfan80]

I agree with the original post. I can;t understand why Christmas releases aren't considered more often. Usually, the theater is filled with special Christmas-crap movies. A Superman sequal would be perfect for a winter release.

One thing they do need to change though is they type of toys they make for the sequel. The ones for return were just not that cool. It had nothing to do with the movie, just the style of toy was not that great.

 

[omid17]

i want the next one to have action scenes just like how transformers did, of course not robots, but superman and villain battling through the city

 

[That'ssuper!]

To be honest I hated Transformers. Let's not make it into something only worthy being an extremely overstuffed commercial for a new line of toys. A new cast and crew sets this film good.

 

[ad101867]

Here's what I posted over at Millarworld:

____________

Hi, Mark! I'm excited to hear about your excitement for revamping Supes! I don't presume to be as gifted a storyteller as yourself, but for what it's worth, here are a few suggestions based on my reaction to Superman Returns:

(1) The suit. I realize the writer and costume-designer on a film are hardly the same person, but at the same time I would think the writer (especially one already established in the comic-book world from which Superman comes) could have influence here. The "updated" costume in Bryan Singer's film looked silly rather than powerful and impacting. Probably the very same design but worn by a body-builder with a physique similar to the comic-book Superman would have looked alright, but in reality this thing made Brandon Routh look too lanky rather than giving him a commanding presence. (Ironically, Routh has about the same height and build as Christopher Reeve, yet Reeve's costume looked better on him than this new one on Routh.)

Consider taking the bold step of eliminating the outer-undies! Without the undies, a good way to break up the colour scheme would be to have a 2-tone blue bodysuit and/or a low-slung gold belt (perhaps with red borders) in a similar shape and positioning to that of the utility belt on the Batman Begins costume. In addition, to help that "commanding presence" I mentioned, a larger \S/ shield would be helpful, and the high neck of the suit would be okay if the cape attachments came over the shoulders and down to the corners of the \S/. Otherwise, lower that neckline a bit so the cape can attach to it the way we normally see in the comics, thus allowing the shoulders to be "royally" accented.

But the bottom line: make Routh look powerful (and perhaps regal) and not to be messed with.

(2) Lex Luthor. This central character in the Superman mythos can be useful and interesting if he's a well-rounded character. This is probably the strongest creative factor in Smallville - and conversely the weakest factor of any of the modern-era Superman films. Superman Returns merely recycled the Luthor from the Reeve films - he had zero development, no explanation of why he is who he is and where in the world he gets his vast resources (no Lex-Corp???). What's more, all Returns gave us for Lex's motivation was another catastrophic land-grab. Yay. Outside of Smallville, two excellent uses of Lex in a powerful storyline are found in the comic-book Superman: Birthright (my all-time fave Supe story), and this year's animated Superman: Doomsday. (And either of those as a full-length, live-action film would have suited me just fine.) I much prefer storylines in which Lex has a paranoia about Superman-as-alien and has a perverted view of himself as Earth's saviour from alien domination.

If Lex cannot be put to good use along these lines, then ditch him.

(3) Supes and Lois. In Returns, while there was a super-heroic, messianic dimension to the title character (and, I thought, well-played by Routh), we are simultaneously given a rather unsavory side to this "hero": he knocks up Lois, becomes a deadbeat dad, then stalks his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. Nice. I don't even mind so much the idea of Superman fathering a hybrid child by Lois; but if this concept is to be continued in another film, then let it have a strong bearing on Superman's character, not merely by visiting the kid's bedroom (uninvited by Lois, no less) and giving him some poetic speech, but actually demonstrating a father's responsibilities to whatever degree is possible for Superman in his unique position as Earth's protector.

But ideally - ditch the kid.

All the best with your ideas and script treatment, Mark!

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Spiderine]

Put in Brainiac.Nough said.

 

[singer_will_fly]

Would you prefer a McG superman, another smallville, or maybe another X3. Listen Superman Returns is just the begining. Singer has said that the next superman will be his Wrath of Kahn. X2 was much better than X-Men 1. Just give the guy a chance. I trust him, we should all trust him, he loves Supes, and knows how to make good movies. Let's go out there and let the world know that the next Superman MUST be a SINGER/ROUTH Superman. Let's give them a chance, because the alternative is horrifying!