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Superman flies again . . . but can even he save Hollywood?
The Times ^ | May 6, 2006 | Chris Ayres

Posted on 05/05/2006 11:06:21 PM PDT by MadIvan

Sequels and franchises will dominate this summer as Tinseltown fights to lure people away from their DVDs and back to the cinema

WHAT can save Hollywood from another summer of dire sequels and box office catastrophes? Is it another documentary about exotic birds? Is it a story about a hijacked plane? No, silly — it’s Superman.

That, at least, is the hope in Hollywood, which collected only $3.6 billion (£2 billion) from American moviegoers last summer, its worst performance since 2001. Yet with summer releases accounting for up to 40 per cent of annual sales Hollywood is desperate for a caped hero to save the day.

“I told my wife somebody could have driven a car into my theatre and not hit anybody (last year),” complained one multiplex owner, at a recent movie industry conference in Las Vegas. “When you have a well-crafted, entertaining film that people will want to see, they will come out in record numbers.”

The National Association of Theatre Owners — and the rest of Hollywood — hopes that Superman Returns is such a film. It is due for launch in American cinemas on June 30. It will reach British cinemas a couple of weeks later.

The hype began this week with the first trailer for the movie, which will star a 26-year Iowan named Brandon Routh as the bumbling Clark Kent, who rips off his business suit to become the Man of Steel. Bryan Singer, the director, who made his name in Hollywood with the popular X-Men movies, justified casting a relatively unknown actor by saying that a known actor came with “baggage”.

“Superman is much larger than any actor. I wanted him to come just with the baggage of the superhero — that's enough history to contend with.” It was reported that James Caviezel was turned down by Mr Singer for the role of Superman because he was too famous after appearing as the Son of God in The Passion of the Christ.

The film’s star power will come from the other players. Lex Luthor, the semi-comic villain, will be played by Kevin Spacey, and the role of Superman’s crush — the ambitious Daily Planet news reporter Lois Lane — has been taken by 22-year-old Kate Bosworth.

It has been 68 years since Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (owned by DC Comics) and 28 years since the the first Superman film, directed by Richard Donner, who was already well-known for The Omen and The Twilight Zone. The production budget of the 1978 movie was $55 million. Superman Returns is expected to cost north of a quarter of a billion dollars.

The film — which has taken ten years and multiple writers to make — is an uncomfortable reminder of the fate of its original star, Christopher Reeve, who was paralysed from the neck down after a riding accident in 1995. After a long struggle with disability he died in 2004. His wife, Dana, died from lung cancer this year.

The trailer for Superman Returns begins with portentous music and the God-like voiceover of Superman’s father: “Even though you have been raised as a human being, you are not one of them!” It cuts to footage of Superman leaping through cornfields as a child, in homage to the original film.

Mr Singer has claimed that Superman Returns is not a sequel to the four movies in which Mr Reeve starred, although it begins after the battle between General Zod and his gang of Kryptonian villains. Superman has disappeared from Earth for six years while he searches for other survivors from his home planet. The plot involves him returning to Metropolis and resuming his identity of Clark Kent. He soon finds out that Ms Lane is in a relationship and has a son. The residents of Metropolis have learnt to live without Superman.

Although critics are generally more enthusiastic about this year’s roster of films, they have pointed out that the summer season is still dominated by franchises and sequels. Other big films of the summer include Mission: Impossible III and another X-Men instalment. There is also a remake of the 1972 hit The Poseidon Adventure, directed by Wolfgang Petersen.

“Everybody is concerned, but it looks like maybe the tide is turning,” Mr Petersen said about the 2006 release schedule. “We have been killing ourselves to get something really exciting out there.”

There are many other familiar-sounding summer releases, including remakes of sequels to Miami Vice, The Fast and the Furious and Pirates of the Caribbean. Later in the year there will even be a new James Bond film, Casino Royale. Original projects include The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown’s bestseller book, starring Tom Hanks as the scholar who unravels the deepest secret of the Roman Catholic Church. Animated films — a huge genre, thanks to Shrek — will include Cars, from Disney/Pixar, and Over the Hedge, from rival studio Dreamworks.

Owners of film theatres are not betting everything on the boy from Krypton. Terrified that the public has exchanged nights out at the movies for nights in with DVDs and surround-sound home theatre systems, multiplexes are testing ways to make going to the movies more pleasant.

Ideas include offering electronic tickets via mobile phones and using technology to block mobile phone signals while movies are playing. Other ploys may include shortening pre-film advertising. In Hollywood the Arclight cinema lets moviegoers book seats as though they were on an airline and offers a bar service, espressos, digital projectors and a restaurant.

The cinema owners acknowledge that the most important factor is one over which they have no control: the quality of films. If the Man of Steel can’t save the summer blockbuster, they ask, then who can? The pressure is clearly being felt by Routh. “If I really sat down and thought about all the possible implications, the good, amazing things it could mean, you could go a little crazy,” he said.

Superman Returns was initially supposed to be directed by Brett Ratner, but he left the project after reported clashes with Warner Bros over casting. It is thought that actors including Ashton Kutcher, Brendan Fraser and Josh Hartnett were considered to play the man who is faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. By 2001 McG (as Joseph McGinty Nichol is known) was tipped to direct, but he left in 2002 to make Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, returning to Superman in 2004. He left for good after reported disagreements over budgets and locations.

Mr Singer was chosen to replace him because the studio was impressed by Batman Begins and thought that the X-Men director could create the a similar noir atmosphere. The director also agreed to shoot the film in Australia. The Kent farm in Smallville was shot in Tamworth, New South Wales.

Superman Returns is expected to include footage of Marlon Brandon as Superman’s father from the original movie. General Zod will not appear because Mr Singer could not persuade Jude Law to accept the role and did not want anyone else to play it.

IS IT A BIRD...

#

The 1938 comic-book Superman's skills were relatively limited. He could lift a car above his head, leap an eighth of a mile and was vulnerable to all projectiles larger than an artillery shell

# By the 1980s Superman could fly into space, had x-ray vision, moved planets out of orbit and could survive a nuclear blast

#

The first Superman movie, which came out in 1978, starring Christopher Reeve, spawned three sequels in the following nine years as well as the disastrous 1984 movie Supergirl #

Between them, the films grossed $330m at the US box office alone #

The original Superman cost $110m to make, Superman Returns will cost $200m-plus #

The late Marlon Brando, who played Superman’s father in the first movie, will be digitally recreated to appear in this summer’s Superman Returns. Clark Kent’s home farm in the film was built on a sound stage, disassembled and moved to Australia where it was rebuilt

# DC Comics are releasing four comic books to explain the events that shaped Superman’s life between his last big screen appearance and Superman Returns

#

Studios are confident that Superman Returns will be a success — there are already plans for a sequel

COMING SOON TO A CINEMA NEAR YOU: THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER

Mission: Impossible III (opened yesterday) Tom Cruise returns to the screen as everyone’s second-favourite secret agent, Ethan Hunt. This time he abandons cushy retirement to battle a sadistic arms dealer, Owen Davian, (Philip Seymour Hoffman). M:i III, as it likes to be known, is the most expensive of the three Mission: Impossible films, with a budget of $150 million (£80 million).

The Da Vinci Code (May 19) The movie least likely to make it to the Pope’s DVD player might not have even made it into our cinemas if the recent court case had had its way. Copyright assured, the film of Dan Brown’s book looks easily set to recoup its estimated $125 million budget when it opens in a fortnight. Tom Hanks plays Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon; French actress Audrey Tatou is his cryptologist sidekick, Sophie Neveu.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (July 7) In one of the many sequels of the summer, Johnny Depp reprises his role as pirate Jack Sparrow. In debt to Davey Jones, he battles to save his soul from eternal damnation in the afterlife while trying to save the wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley).

World Trade Center (September 29) Oliver Stone directs the second of the year’s movies to dramatise the events surrounding the terrorist attacks on September 11, the other being United 93. The action is based on the true story of the last two people to be extracted alive from the World Trade Centre, officers John McLaughlin (Nicholas Cage) and William Jimeno (Michael Pena).

The Omen 666 (working title, June 6) Thankfully there have not been 665 Omen films since the 1976 classic about a couple who had the misfortune to adopt a satanic baby. This instalment, cleverly opening on 06.06.06, is a remake of the original and stars Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and Pete Postlethwaite.

Poseidon (June 2) The director Wolfgang Peterson gambled $175 million on this remake of the 1972 film The Poseidon Adventure, which cost $5 million and grossed $84 million in the US. As in the original, a boat capsizes and survivors clamber through the bowels of the ship to safety. Stars Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: hollywood; superman; trouble
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To: MadIvan
What more could they do in this movie that hasn't been done on the successful TV show "Smallville?"
21 posted on 05/06/2006 12:11:59 AM PDT by R_Kangel ("He who lives in glass houses should never invite "He who is without sin" into his house!!!!")
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To: MadIvan

Hollywood is asleep at the wheel. They have grown comfortable and take us "peons" for granted and figure we will fork out the bucks for their remakes and sequels. They have grown lazy and are more involved in political matters than film making. What a shame for us and them.


22 posted on 05/06/2006 12:14:23 AM PDT by Vicki (Washington State where anyone can vote .... illegals, non-residents or anyone just passing through)
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To: Darkwolf377
Hollywood, which collected only $3.6 billion (£2 billion) from American moviegoers last summer

This projects out to 10 billion in annual sales. That really is pretty bad.

23 posted on 05/06/2006 12:14:40 AM PDT by staytrue
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To: staytrue
This projects out to 10 billion in annual sales. That really is pretty bad.

Not when you consider it in terms of the industry's usual take. Hollywood's not nearly as big as some are led to believe--the shoe industry, for example, rakes in astronomical sums compared to Hollywood.

On the one hand, it depends on who you ask about this year's box office:

"The season, which lasts roughly four months starting the first weekend in May, earns movie studios as much as 40 percent of annual ticket sales. Already this year the box office is up, and highly anticipated films such as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" have optimism running high. "The marketplace is definitely on an upswing," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc. "'M:I:III"' is the type of movie that will set the tone" for the summer ahead. But Dergarabedian sounded a cautious note saying that just one slip-up could lead to box office gloom, which is what happened last year when the season began with a bomb, "Kingdom of Heaven." That is why the "M:I:III" start is so important. ADVERTISEMENT When the season ended, the box office was down 8.5 percent from 2005 at $3.6 billion, and attendance was off 11.4 percent at 565 million, according to Exhibitor Relations. By contrast, year-to-date ticket sales in 2006 are up 6.7 percent at $2.6 billion and even slightly ahead of 2004. Attendance is also up, by 3.4 percent at 397 million.

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/va/20060426/114608890700.html

On the other hand, what's box office been like overall the last few years?

US box office for 2005 was $8.99 billion. For the fourth straight year, domestic cumulative box office from all studios continues to hold near $9 billion. (Refer to page 2 of the 2005 Theatrical Market Statistics Report)

http://www.mpaa.org/researchStatistics.asp

So ten billion would be one of the biggest box office years ever.

24 posted on 05/06/2006 12:44:06 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (If you flame me I'll ignore you. Assume that to mean I think you're an idiot not worth my time.)
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To: Darkwolf377

I'm going to go see M:I3 because I love Lost and like what I've seen of Alias. Don't particularly care for Tom Cruise, and I never saw the first two, but that's okay. It looks good, and the word-of-mouth is pretty strong.


25 posted on 05/06/2006 12:51:40 AM PDT by Rastus
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To: Vicki

What I'd pay to go see is a docu-drama about the second Battle of Fallujah. 'Course, finding a man with the (ahem) of (now)SMaj Kasal would be daunting.


26 posted on 05/06/2006 12:51:54 AM PDT by Maigrey (FRiends don't let FRiends stay stuck on Stupid!)
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To: Rastus
Yeah, a friend says this time they go for more of an "Impossible Missions Force" feel--it's not just The Tom Show.

I personally have no problem with Cruise, couldn't care less about his dopey personal life. And SOMEONE likes his movies, the way they haul in the cash.

As for JJ Abrams, I don't watch TV but he seems like a smart, creative man. But if he makes Ben Affleck Captain Kirk (and I ain't even a Trekkie), he's clearly losing it.

27 posted on 05/06/2006 12:57:24 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (If you flame me I'll ignore you. Assume that to mean I think you're an idiot not worth my time.)
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To: peggybac
That said, I adore Brandon Routh and hope the film succeeds for his sake.

Has he been in something we might have seen?

28 posted on 05/06/2006 12:58:02 AM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: Darkwolf377

Yep, that's what I've heard. Abrams says he loved the show growing up and insisted on making it a team effort.

I haven't liked Tom Cruise for years. Strangely, it's since he's gone nuts that I've gone back to his films! Well, saw War of the Worlds, and now this.

I don't believe the Ben Affleck rumors for a second. If true, you won't need wild horses to keep me away from the theater.


29 posted on 05/06/2006 1:03:04 AM PDT by Rastus
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To: The Foolkiller

Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League were much more respectful of Luthor as a real bad guy. Batman Begins showed that you can do an origin story and get it right. Spacey aside, hopefully this won't suck as much as Superman III and IV did.


30 posted on 05/06/2006 1:04:50 AM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (Common sense will do to liberalism what the atomic bomb did to Nagasaki-Rush Limbaugh)
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To: The Foolkiller

"When will Hollywood learn that Lex Luthor is NOT a stand-up comedian?"

I liked some of the lines in the first 2 Superman movies by Luthor. Like the "the greatest criminal mind surrounded by idiots". They had to have some kind of comedy. Superman was boring as hell as the rest of the charactors, excepting Lex Luthor. Though the fat guy was funny at times.

I won't see any Superman movies ever again.

Zod, I must admit was a good character.


31 posted on 05/06/2006 1:07:59 AM PDT by jwh_Denver (Illegal immigration 24/7, the GOP ain't making it 24/7, Oil 24/7)
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To: Rastus
I don't believe the Ben Affleck rumors for a second.

Actually, they're not rumors; I believe it was an open story that Abrams did talk to Affleck about a Star Trek project, though no mention was made of the role. But when you charge what Affleck does, on this kind of project, it's not so hard to guess.

As a non-Trekkie who only liked the original show, I think they should either let that franchise die, or, if they must continue, do hire someone like Abrams, but go FORWARD, not backward. Ah but don't get me started on the horrors of ST from the first bad movie on...I'm putting my ideas for that kind of thing in a novel I'm writing. :)

32 posted on 05/06/2006 1:18:30 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (If you flame me I'll ignore you. Assume that to mean I think you're an idiot not worth my time.)
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To: weegee

This isn't about the origin of Superman, it's set after the Reeve movies.


33 posted on 05/06/2006 1:27:40 AM PDT by stands2reason ("Patriotism is the highest form of dissent." - Mark Steyn)
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To: Rastus

Rosenbaum IS Luthor.

Spacey's Luthor I imagine is like his Dr. Evil in the movie in the movie Austin Powers:Goldmember. Ugh.


34 posted on 05/06/2006 1:35:23 AM PDT by stands2reason ("Patriotism is the highest form of dissent." - Mark Steyn)
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To: Cementjungle

He's done a few guest star roles and was on contract on One Life to Live. I've always been a fan of his. I hope he can fill the large shoes that preceded him.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0746125/


35 posted on 05/06/2006 1:36:54 AM PDT by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: peggybac
He's done a few guest star roles and was on contract on One Life to Live. I've always been a fan of his. I hope he can fill the large shoes that preceded him.

I hope they gave him something good to work with on this one.

36 posted on 05/06/2006 1:40:00 AM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: Darkwolf377

Unless you have something beyond the Cinescape story, it's not only rumor, but not very believable either. Abrams planning to visit a set suddenly means Affleck is Kirk? None of it is even sourced. Some effects guy says "some others have heard" that "Ben is talking to Paramount." Please. Besides the tenuousness of the article, if they really are doing a "Kirk at the Academy" movie--which Abrams has failed to confirm--why would they pick a guy who is just about the same age Shatner was when he first played Kirk back in '66?


37 posted on 05/06/2006 3:01:04 AM PDT by Rastus
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To: Rastus

To be honest, I'm not interested enough to get all that excited about it, but I've heard it from a friend who edits a movie magazine.


38 posted on 05/06/2006 3:03:44 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (If you flame me I'll ignore you. Assume that to mean I think you're an idiot not worth my time.)
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To: MadIvan
He soon finds out that Ms Lane is in a relationship and has a son.

Huh? Is this a parody piece or were they really stupid enough to do that?

I mean, if they wanted to take fundamental liberties with core characters, how about a gay Superman? That's the ticket -- and then throw in a long, complicated-but-touching relationship with Batman and sit back for the Oscars to roll in ....

39 posted on 05/06/2006 3:22:41 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: WestVirginiaRebel

Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League were much more respectful of Luthor as a real bad guy. Batman Begins showed that you can do an origin story and get it right. Spacey aside, hopefully this won't suck as much as Superman III and IV did.




Yeah, I knew a guy once that was as big a movie buff as I am. He said back in the late 80's, "about all you can really hope for when you go see a movie any more, Dave, is that they won't f*&% it up TOO bad." Sad commentary, but pretty much true these days. And you're right, those cartoons were great, as was Batman the Animated Series, and BATMAN BEGINS had to be the best movie adaptation of a superhero that was ever made, at least to date (and Supe 3 & 4 were among the worst).


40 posted on 05/06/2006 3:28:14 AM PDT by The Foolkiller (BSXL* The game that made the NFL irrelevant..)
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