superman returns

There's little in the way of story details just yet, but Latino Review does cite Brainiac and Lex Luthor as the villains. Hooray for Brainiac, but can we please skip Luthor for at least one installment of the series? No film has quite gotten the character right, and I'd rather see Supes face off with someone he can actually have physical action scenes with -- Parasite, Mongul, Bizarro, anyone but Lex Luthor.

A new Superman movie sounds like a really tough sell, and this is coming from a guy who actually liked Bryan Singer's homage to Richard Donner. I acknowledge that it wasn't the Superman movie than most fans wanted to see, but it still strikes me as odd that Superman would ever be in a position where he'd actually be hard to market. Once bitten, twice shy, I guess. I'm hopeful that Nolan and company can turn this image problem around. There's still a lot to love about the Man of Steel.

An interesting bit of news from Deadline Hollywood this morning reveals that director Christopher Nolan is being asked to "godfather" a new Superman film. It's an odd choice of words, but it may reveal that Deadline Hollywood has no idea what Nolan is doing if he's taking meetings with Warners over the proposed film. To me, "godfather" sounds an awful lot like "producer", if they're naming Nolan as a man to come in and shepherd the project. I just don't think they know what he's doing (yet), but it makes sense that Warner Brothers would approach the man who brought us The Dark Knight and at least get his opinions on what he'd do with Superman.

And what would Nolan do with Superman? Nolan has admitted in the past that he's not a comic book reader, and I have to wonder how familiar he is with the character, first of all. Secondly, are we craving another deadly serious Superman film after Bryan Singer's Superman Returns? Nolan is a skilled director, but his creative interests (namely, complex mysteries) seem at odds with the material. I think fans have been waiting for a more fun approach to Superman on film -- something with more comic book science-fiction and large-scale action. We're waiting on Darkseid and Brianiac and Mongul and Doomsday, not another Lois Lane/Superman love story set against a Lex Luthor money-making real estate scheme. Maybe, just maybe, they're meeting with Nolan to get his thoughts on revitalizing Superman by having him appear in the third Batman film?

Warner Brothers is moving forward on the project while they still have the chance. The rights to Superman revert entirely to the estates of Superman creators Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster in 2013, and a new deal would have to be negotiated at that point (which I'm sure will happen anyway -- I can't see Warners letting Superman go). If they're trying to put something together for Summer 2012, they're going to be moving quickly, so expect more news on this soon.

It's a new day, which means another franchise thought to be abandoned to the depths of time and memory is being resurrected by Hollywood. This time, it's the cult 1970s British TV series UFO and it looks like Fringe star Joshua Jackson is on board. Or so says Variety.

My experience with UFO is limited in that I have never seen it and have never heard of it, but that's why Variety gets paid the big bucks:

"Jackson will star as Paul Foster, a test pilot who joins S.H.A.D.O. (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), a covert org built under a Hollywood studio that defends Earth against a race of aliens who have been abducting humans and using the body parts..."

Okay, as a fan of secret organizations with needlessly overwrought acronyms for names, consider my interest piqued. I'm also into the whole "humans fighting evil aliens" thing, but don't tell anyone.

UFO is being directed by Matthew Gratzner, a first time director, but a serious visual effects veteran. And by serious visual effects veteran, I mean this man has worked on everything from Iron Man to The Fountain to Superman Returns. His IMDB page reads like a laundry list of the best, worst and most interesting genre efforts of the past decade or so. Interest remains piqued.

By Elisabeth Rappe

When Warner Bros announced it was rebooting the Superman franchise, we all held our breath a little bit waiting to see what Gigantic News would come next. Of course, nothing happened. Last week, Omelete talked to Brandon Routh on the Scott Pilgrim set, who revealed that his Superman contract had expired, and that he had no idea when or if he would return to the character. (Pause for a moment and realize how much it has to suck to get the part of Superman, and have it go utterly sour.) That news suggested one of two things: that Warner Bros would let the franchise expire too, or that they were planning on picking out a new Man of Steel.

Now, Warner Bros and DC Comics have won a favorable ruling in the suit filed by Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson, the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel. If you're curious about the lawsuit in its entirety, ThinkMcFlyThink has a pdf of it, but the part that concerns Superman fans is this: Warner Bros president Alan Horn testified that he'd like to make another movie, but that the project wasn't currently in development at the studio. There isn't even a script being written. The earliest another Superman film could hit theaters would be 2012.

But they now have a pretty big incentive to do it, as the court ruled that if Warner Bros doesn't get a Superman film underway by 2011, the Siegels could sue for damages. Their lawyer Marc Toberoff gives every indication to Variety the Siegels will do just that. So, we could see the studio kick their reboot plans into high gear ... or they'll leave Superman in his Fortress of Solitude, and quietly go to court in 2011.

[via ThinkMcFlyThink]