It seems that the team behind the new Superman reboot has changed over the years as much as Clark Kent has changed into Superman. Now the word from the phone booth is that director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) will be directing the new Superman movie, tentatively titled, The Man of Steel.
The script, penned by The Dark Knight scribe, David Groyer (Blade, Batman Begins), will be produced by Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight) and Emma Thomas. “The script is a modern-day take on the character,” Snyder said in a recent interview with MTV’s Splashpage.com. “It addresses the question, Why Superman? As in Why is he relevant? Who is he now? I think those guys (Groyer and Nolan) have done an amazing job with that. That’s the real trick.”
As to what the story is about and who the villain is, Snyder won’t say, but rumors are that the villainous General Zod will be in the film—can anybody say, been there, done that? For anyone who’s a regular viewer of the TV show Smallville, Zod has been played-out. Plus he was the villain in 1980’s Superman II. How about picking one of Superman’s other rouges like Darkseid, Metallo, or Brainiac? Considering how zombies have become so popular of late, how about Bizzarro (yes, I know Bizzarro is not a zombie, but close enough). I can see the filmmakers doing similar take on the character as portrayed in the John Byrne, Man of Steel comic book mini-series.
Although Snyder was hush-hush about the details of the script, he did say that production on the reboot was going to go quickly. Probably because Warner Bros. as assigned top priorities on this film, as it’s to serve as a linchpin for their DC Comics line of superhero-based films, leading to the much-anticipated Justice League of America movie. The other reason Warner Bros. is in a hurry to get the movie made quickly is that it may lose the rights to the character to the family and heirs of Joe Shuster and Jerry Seigel, the creators of Superman (litigation on a lawsuit is still pending).
A few years back, DC had attempted to re-launch the Superman franchise with Superman Returns (2006). Although the film did gross $200m domestically, it was considered a “failure” to the studio (due to it’s high production cost of $150m), and a disappointment to fans, but not for the reasons Hollywood and many critics and columnists think.
Hollywood, columnists and critics think that Superman is outdated— a flag-waving Boy Scout, who believes in truth, justice and the American way. They believe, as Borys Kit writes in his column for The Hollywood Reporter, that his moral and ethical code is “too black and white” and not “hip” enough for modern audiences, “who prefer their heroes to be more morally ambiguous and drawn with tones of gray,” turning to the success of the rebooted Batman franchise.
However Batman and Superman are very different characters—like night and day, and to try make Superman a darker character is not to understand what made the character so endearing to comic book readers and fans of the 1950’s TV series, The Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves and the Richard Donner film, Superman: The Movie(1979) for over 70 years.
They believe that Superman Returns “failed” because the filmmakers tried to capture the tone and feel of the Richard Donner film—a film that they feel presents an outdated character for an outdated audience. They couldn’t be more wrong.
The “failure” of Superman Returns was that it had a weak script and a weak cast. It made fans of the original Donner classic realize just how good Christopher Reeve was, and how brilliant Gene Hackman was. They not only made you “believe that a man can fly”, but they made you believe in Superman and everything good that Superman represents.
The fact that Hollywood and the mainstream media don’t get this, is evident— just as they don’t understand the Tea Party movement, or America’s rejection of liberalism. They’re out of touch with America and Americans, as evidenced by a recent Gallup Poll, which shows that 40% of Americans identify themselves as conservative, and 35% identify themselves as moderate (34% of which say they tilt to the right).
Given the current political climate, it would do Hollywood well to present moviegoers with a more conservative, pro-American message with character who believes in “a bright new morning” and is a “beacon on top of a hill” that believe in “Truth, Justice, and the American way.” Who better to do that than Superman?
Comments
totally agree... superman returns failed because of the horrible lois lane and her boyfriend casting and the boy... those characters and their storyline was just so dull and boring...
I agree with most of your post but would like to add my two cents. I feel that Superman Returns had a decent script -- if it hadn't been a Superman movie. They tried to make Superman relevant by bringing him into the present with problems that "normal" people face in their daily lives. The problem with this is that Superman is supposed to be morally and ethically unimpeachable. Thus, having a child out of wedlock, spying on the girl you love and even tempting her to leave her fiance are things Superman would NOT do. Additionally, if you take into consideration that he abandoned his child at the end of the movie, it was an epic failure. I understand that the writers tried to "update" Superman and give him problems that made him "relatable" to the audience, I think that if it hadn't been Superman, it might have worked. He was mature and understood that he was absent, and Lois moved on with her life. Lois was now engaged to a decent man who loved her, and he didn't deserve being cast aside despite being inferior to Superman. So, yes, Clark did the decent thing; he stepped aside and did the mature thing. Superman's moral compass on the other hand, ends up not being so righteous. This is where I feel the problem lay. Add to that the fact that there was only one GOOD action piece in the entire film and I can see why so many fans were underwhelmed. Not a bad movie, just not fitting with Superman.
I enjoyed your article until you tried to draw a connection to politics. Your gallup poll numbers essentially suggest that roughly 50% of Americans are either conservative or lean that direction. Common sense would then suggest that the remainder (50%!!!) of Americans are liberal or lean that direction as well. To suggest that America "rejects liberalism" is off-base. Your implication that pro-america, truth, and justice are only conservative characteristics is also off-base. Back to the movie... I thought Kevin Spacey was great as Lex, as well as Parker Posey's role, but most of the cast just didn't work well. The movie was definitely slow-paced for this day and age, but I think the script could have been tweaked to be much better. Thanks for your thoughts!
i hope they make this superman reboot right this around.. but come to think of it.. i have a suggestion. why do they make the superman earth one comic book story in this movie. i think it will be good and awesome... just to refresh it to other superman fanatics out there..
I like that superman fans make up excuses when in reality audinces just don't like him anymore hell returns wasn't even a failure and on a number of review sites it has high marks.It even got nominate for awards so it wasn't a fail mabey at the box office but then again it's superman whose comics sold so bad they killed him to get interest again.The dudes played out for alot of people.Also your very conservative dude we know but no need to turn your post into a "liberals suck!" post after that I now see you les as an intelligent person and more of a child whose mad someone disagrees.
I think some of you are missing the point the writer is trying to make... he's not saying liberals suck. He's saying that every time a Superman movie fails, or when the comic book sales lag, they [Hollywood, the Mainstream Media, the comic book creators— who are all mostly liberals] always point to the character and say that he's not relevant, that he needs to be "darker" or reflect today's values—that's why it didn't work.
But the problem is not with the character. By pointing out the stats, the writer is showing that most Americans embrace traditional values—BTW the stats show 40% conservative, another 35% lean right that's over 70% that are right or lean right vs. 20% who are left and 10% more who are middle and lean left for a total of 30% who are left or lean left.
That's why most people still love the Flieicher Superman cartoons, The TV series with George Reeves from the 50's, and the Donner Superman.
We want Superman to be Super! To reflect the values and principles that founded and built this country. The very same values and principals most Americans (70%) still believe in. So statistically, it would behoove the filmmakers and comic creators to adhere to the "market research", and write the character to reflect what a majority of the audience relates to, and expects—but hey, why use logic :)
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