Superman News

Recent movie rumors focus on the next installment of the Superman franchise.

When will a sequel to Superman Returns hit theaters? Will the tone be darker?

In a new interview, actor Brandon Routh responds to a couple of these questions.

On time line for sequel: No, I don't have a time frame. I haven't really heard the studio's stance, I've just heard what's in the media and that every time I see somebody from Warner Bros. they tell me that they are working on it and are going to figure it out soon. But that's about the answer I get.

On a darker tone for Superman: I don't think the character necessarily has to be darker, I think he is kind of dark in a sense, emotional dark, in Superman Returns, and the movie as a whole was slightly dark, they could have had more prowess in it I suppose, and I think that's one thing that can be done in the sequel, so I don't know how much darker you want to make it necessarily. You make the stakes higher, you make the villain darker, I think that's a way to do it. But I don't think Superman himself needs to be darker.

He definitely has to struggle, how does Superman be a part of the world? And does he have to make sacrifices to be a part of that world? To fit in and what purpose does he really play in the world? Those are all kind of dark places to explore. But, I don't think Superman should ever be dark and brooding, that's not is nature. And that's now what people what to see.

Graphic novelist Mark Millar, who saw his big screen adaption of Wanted bring in major bucks at the box office this summer, says he knows how to fix the Superman franchise.

In a recent interview, Millar pitches the idea for an eight-hour, three-film series, with the movies to be released in consecutive years. Here's how he describes his vision for the Man of Steel:

"It's gonna be like Michael Corleone in The Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now.

Once he got going, Millar couldn't help but add more details about his Superman plans:

"I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers."

It was scarcely touched on during a recent Kevin Spacey feature in Great Britain's The Independent, but the actor is set to return to the Superman franchise.

According to the interview, the producers of the upcoming Superman Returns sequel "will be paying (Spacey) big bucks to reprise his role as Lex Luthor next year."

It was reported in August that Warner Bros. plans to reintroduce the Man of Steel to audiences by 2011. Major changes may be afoot, however, as the previous Superman movie failed at the box office and with critics.

Kevin Spacey will be back for another Superman movie... but will audiences?

We already know that Mark Millar is planning a Wanted sequel.

Recently, though, the graphic novelist talked G4 about a possible Superman movie.

As the video below depicts, Millar says he pitched the idea to Warner Bros. Pictures and hopes to receive a response  over the next few weeks.

"I've had this plan for like 10 years for a big three-picture Superman thing, like a Lord of the Rings epic, starting over from scratch again with a seven-hour Superman story. One to be released each year." Millar said.

Watch the video of Millar discussing this possibility now:

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov said the studio will be reintroducing Superman in a future movie. Critics and fans, of course, were displeased with the results of Superman Returns.

Here is what the article says:

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," said 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. But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.

No other information on the next Superman movie has been released at this time.

Batman.

John Connor.

Will Superman be the next iconic character to receive a franchise rebooting?

As fans might expect, Warner Brothers has been thrilled with how Christopher Nolan reinvented Batman for the new millennium with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. And McG sounds like he had big plans for Terminator Salvation.

But the studio hasn't been pleased with Bryan Singer's updated vision of Superman in Superman Returns. Now, according to Variety, the studio is trying to determine what direction to take the films starring the world's most well known superhero.

The publication writes:

Fans have been clamoring all over the web... for a complete reboot. And within the halls of Warner Bros. the same debate rages on. They too believe that the last movie didn't break the mold and wound up in some kind of middle limbo. Today I was told that it is a priority at the studio to find the right direction and if Bryan Singer is willing to do that, fine, but if he gets in the way, he may not stay on the project. There are no writers working on a Superman script now.

The studio wants to figure it out. "It might be better to start from scratch," one exec admitted.

Mark Millar, the comic book writer behind Wanted, held nothing back in a recent interview with The UK's Daily Record.

He wasn't a fan of Superman Returns, but has extremely high hopes for the next film in the franchise.

"Since I was a kid I've always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century," said Millar. "I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think.

The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost [a good chunk of change], but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it. Sadly I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas."

Who would you wanna see direct the next Superman movie?

Bryan Singer is busy at work on the new script for the next Superman movie. It sounds as though the scribe will both write and direct the film.

"I'm just getting back with writers after the strike. We're just in the development phase. I'm starting to develop a sequel…with the intention of directing it," Singer said.

Regarding the negative reaction to the the focus on the drama instead of the action in Superman Returns, Singer said:

"The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film… And now that the characters are established, there's really an opportunity to up the threat levels."