[MadIvan]

Not looking good...for Hollywood that is, film otherwise will thrive.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

WHAT can save Hollywood from another summer of dire sequels and box office catastrophes?

Decent scripts, decent direction, and decent acting. Good luck finding any of that in Mission Impossible:3 and the other explosion laden dreck out there. The best movie of the summer is likely to be one that features no live actors - Pixar's animated feature "Cars".

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***and 28 years since the the first Superman film,***???

The first Superman film was made in the 1940's and in the 1950's George Reeves made one about little men from inside the earth.

[weegee]

ANOTHER REMAKE.

Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn.

We know the origin of Superman. It isn't that great a story. You want to tell a Superman story, tell a story about this guy. But not THAT story again.

[Darkwolf377]

This is the monthly "Can Hollywood be saved?" story. The exagerrations in this piece--driving a car through a theater and not hitting anybody, i.e. nobody going to the movies--is such bunk. They make it sound like the Hollywood economy is in the toilet.

It's not making as many megabucks as before, but it comes and goes, and always has since TV came along.

This movie won't "save" Hollywood anymore than the last movie to "Save Hollywood" did, be it Star Wars, King Kong, The Passion, etc. etc.

I won't see this movie because Superman, simply put, is boring; the movies I saw about him were boring, Superman 1 being one of the great schizo movies ever: epic and beautiful up to the point where Reeves shows up, then dominated by boring TV show characters and a silly villain. Also, it's directed by Bryan Singer, whose X-Men movies are among the most overrated genre exercises in years.

I'm looking forward to Mission Impossible 3, which I've heard from people who've seen it has a good story and characters; The Fountain, because it is genuinely weird; and X-Men 3, because I read the comics as a kid and need SOMEthing big and epic-looking.

The problem with Hollywood is not with the direction or acting, which are both fine generally, or with the craftsmen and women, who are at their most polished. It's with the producers, who are back in the driver's seat with more power than ever, their roles more like those of television producers rather than just financial officers; the writers, who go along with the dictates of these people because they get paid buckets of cash to write crap and that's what they deliver, polished crap with snappy comebacks and little character interest; and yes, the audience, which keeps this crap at the top of the box office.

I get bored with people bitching about Hollywood because if we didn't pay to see this stuff, they wouldn't make it.

[jwh_Denver]

Poseidon

They're chiseling at the bottom of the barrel.

Superman 43?

[Centurion2000]

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.

Stop putting out liberal, pudding-eating gay cowboy movies and start with some fresh APOLITICAL or conservative ideas and you will get record crowds.

[peggybac]

I'm tired of remakes and wish the high paid writers and studio heads could actually be creative instead of constantly remaking old flicks. That said, I adore Brandon Routh and hope the film succeeds for his sake.

[Paleo Conservative]

Is Hollywood even worth saving?

[staytrue]

Superman Returns is expected to cost north of a quarter of a billion dollars. ...which has taken ten years and multiple writers to make

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it is the biggest box office bomb ever.

[Vicki]

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.

[sphinx]

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 ....

[sgtbono2002]

When you have a faggy looking 5'6" pretty boy like Tom Cruise kicking hell out of peopl in MI3 its no wonder people just dont believe it.

[Caipirabob]

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

Hollywood can't help itself. The cinema exists as a platform to slander anything that is even marginally pro-American or for decent family values.

This summer, look for :

[Caipirabob]

“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.

That kind of tells me all I need to know about the director.

I would have gone to see Caviezel in a flat second. He's a wonderful actor and from what I can tell a great guy. At least that's what's come across through his acting and interviews.

Is there also the fact that Caviezel played Jesus and the director is afraid he might combust at the sight of Caviezel on the set? Caviezel knew that his part in the awesome "Passion" would mark him for the rest of his career. This is just one sample.

At any rate, it's now a promise I won't put a "red cent" into this film.

[Oztrich Boy]

Mission: Impossible III (opened yesterday) Tom Cruise returns to the screen as everyone’s second-favourite secret agent, Ethan Hunt

Ah hem: David Callan, (and his daughter, Nikita Jones), Max Smart, John Steed, Charley balitomre, and numerous others.

[discostu]

This year has a few more probable fat blockbusters than last year. Starting this week with MI:3, then X-Men 3 later this month, Superman Returns, Pirates of the Caribean 2, Da Vinci Code, plus a couple others. This will not be like last summer, last March I looked at the summer schedule and spotted at best 3 probable blockbusters, this years I counted 7 or 8 and most of the will probably be bigger than any from last summer.

[Porterville]

How about movies that are not about liberal cause celeb.

[operation clinton cleanup]

There are many other familiar-sounding summer releases, including remakes of sequels to Miami Vice

Miami Vice? Whats next, The Flintstones, Dukes of Hazard, The Brady Bunch??? Oh... never mind.

[Richard Kimball]

I'll probably skip this one. A gay Superman is too much for me.