Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes – known as “Batman vs. Superman” – after the $215 million “Superman Returns,” which had disappointing box-office returns, didn’t please executives. “‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”[/I]
The article also talks about Warner Bros. adapting other DC properties over the new few years. “By 2011, Mr. Robinov plans for DC Comics to supply the material for up to two of the six to eight tent-pole films he hopes Warner Bros. will have in the pipeline by then,” it says. Those projects will likely be about single characters at first, and will be darker much like The Dark Knight:
With “Batman vs. Superman” and “Justice League” stalled, Warner Bros. has quietly adopted Marvel’s model of releasing a single film for each character, and then using those movies and their sequels to build up to a multicharacter film. “Along those lines, we have been developing every DC character that we own,” Mr. Robinov says.
Like the recent Batman sequel – which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far – Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.
The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.
What’s darker than Superman coming back to Earth, finding the only woman he’s ever loved married to another man, raising the son he didn’t know he had and having to do the noble thing and stay away?
Agreed! Superman isn’t Batman. He doesn’t need to be darker, he just needs to fight something. It’s always Lex Luthor in the movies and Lex has never been done justice. I was really hoping Spacey would bring it, but instead we got a Superman I rehash. At least with SMII we had Zod. So let’s try someone else. How about Brainiac or Darkseid, Doomsday.
Batman withstanding, Warner Brothers and DC, please see recent Marvel films for how to make a comic book movie.
Superman himself won’t be dark, that’s just not the character. But the situations he’s forced to deal with can be very dark. I wouldn’t mind seeing something like that.
Oh, yeah, that’s it. Batman was awesome BECAUSE it was Dark. Not because it was directed brilliantly, with a compelling plot and great action set pieces on a backdrop of Grade A acting.
Fucking stupid as shit movie studios continue to be oblivious to the real reason a product is successful, news at 11.
Time to bust out the Red Kryptonite again! Maybe they could have Superman act like a dick, and do stuff like blow out the Olympic flame, or straighten the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
