What needs to be done to make a successful Superman Reboot?
All the way back on August 22nd, Warners Brothers President Jeff Robinov stated that the studio was going to be reintroducing the character of Superman. After the ridiculous gobs of money earned by The Dark Knight, the studio figured that the correct direction was to be “dark”.
Comic Book writer Mark Millar (The Ultimates, Wanted) has been making many public statements about his pitch for a new Superman trilogy. He’s said that he wants it to be Lord of The Rings-esque and be the ultimate way to make the character “hip” for the new generation.
Recently he spoke to Empireabout his vision. Here’s what he had to say : “It’s gonna be like Michael Corleone in the Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now.”
- “I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers.”
- “The problem with Superman Returns was like releasing Star Wars in ’77, The Empire Strikes Back in ’80 and then waiting 28 years to release Return of the Jedi, it wasn’t relevant. I understand what Bryan Singer was trying to do, to pay homage to Richard Donner’s original vision, but I think you should pay homage by doing something completely different.”
And while that indeed gives me a nerdrection, here’s the thing : no way in hell will it happen. While Warner has said that they want it dark, they probably still want it to have at least an ambiguously happy ending that can at least set-up a few more sequels. And 8 hours? Do you really think Warner will make dedicated almost three hours to each movie? While The Dark Knight was very long, nobody (well except Barry) complained about the length. But what was one of the main criticisms of Superman Returns? That it was way too long. Unless there’s an explosion every 20 minutes then this will easily get shot down.
My prediction? WB will give it a The Incredible Hulk treatment. Meaning lean, simple and jam-packed with CGI creations beating the ever-loving crap out of each other. And to be honest, I think that’s probably the right decision. While I think that Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns was a terrific film, the disappointing box-office numbers really speak volumes. The public doesn’t care for Superman. And as Millar mention, the Singer film was mostly a homage to the Donner film of the late 70’s. Audience want modern, not to look back. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. We’ve seen that Superman, do something new with him on the silver screen.
So what do you think is the right approach? Another homage? Superman fighting Al-Qaeda? Superman as a pot-dealing ninja leprechaun? Superman in the 1930’s? Dark gritty reboot? Give some feedback!
P.S. Also tell us who you think should direct and star. Millar has alluded to having a “big action director” with ties to WB working on the project with him. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that this is none other than Wolfgang Petersen. He has made The Perfect Storm, Troy and Poseidon all with Warner in the past 8 years. He was also attached to direct the abandoned Batman Vs. Superman film over 5 years ago. But also keep in mind that Poseidon was a major bomb. This could cause some major reluctance in WB giving him over 300 Million to make this trilogy. As for the star? A young unknown is probably the right choice, but wouldn’t it be awesome to see Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as Supes? You tell us!
