Friday, November 03, 2006

Singer and the Sequel: What Could be Changing?

We're back after being away on a business for a few days, and unless you've been living under a rock (or throwing a giant one that contains a material that should kill you) you've heard the news that WB and Singer have a preliminary agreement for him to direct a sequel to Singerman.

At first I thought to myself, "great! he just got done raping Superman's corpse, and will now be coming back for seconds." Upon further reflection however, I think there's a few interesting tidbits to be gleened from the article that show things are still from rosey.

"Pic is tentatively intended for release in summer 2009, although the studio stressed that there's not even a script or budget yet.

Sequel is apparently at the very beginning of the development process and, as with any other project, there are any number of factors that must be addressed before it is greenlit."

Even though Singer is signed to some form of an agreement, there still appears to be a WAYS to go before this thing moves forward. Once the final take for Singerman can be determined, they'll set a budget for a proposed sequel, which will most likely be less since Singerman performed far below expectations. A script will then be submitted and then pruned to fit that budget.

"Insiders say Warners and Legendary are sure to insist that the sequel's production budget comes in under $200 million.

"Superman Returns" fell under endless scrutiny for its production budget, which the studio puts at $209 million after tax rebates and incentives. The number is much higher when factoring in more than $40 million in development costs -- "Superman Returns" was in the works for years --even though those costs were previously absorbed.

Critically, "Superman Returns" was disparaged for lacking in action. Singer has said he would address this concern in the follow-up."

And here's where things get a bit iffy. Singer's production budget is going to be cut to somewhere in the $140 - $175 million range we'd assume. Assuming it's the high end for argument's sake that's a minimum of $35 million minimum less he's got at his disposal. He's also claiming to remedy the action deficiency of the first film. Everyone knows that more action = more special effects work = more budget. Now granted some sets are already built and some of the CGI modeling is already done from the first go around, but we'd assume (hope) there will still need to be various new set pieces built and the CG work will have to be done extensively again, unless of course Singer plans on reusing his few action sequences from the first film. On top of all that, you have these rumors floating around about Singer introducing a super villain (please NOT Zod) this time. What effect do you think something like that has for the FX budget?
Granted I'm a bit shocked that the action criticism is actually being addressed, but how is it going to get done for less? And how many big budget sequels do you know that cost LESS than thier predecessors to produce? And how many of those were actually successful? None that I can think of. Sequels up the ante, which means you need to up the investment. Singer had free reign with over $200 million to play with and couldn't deliver the goods. Why should anyone assume he'll put out a better film for less?

"In terms of casting, Warners has an option on "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh."

Interesting note there. We've said before we didn't think Routh was really a problem in this film, although his exposure seemed to be limited, and he didn't have the greatest PR at times. But is it still possible WB may want to tweak the casting of the franchise? (If they should scrap anyone it should be Bosworth!) However, how happy can they be to see things like this on the website of a magazine they own? And don't get all pissy on us, we wouldn't have liked this movie any better with Welling or Christopher Reeve in the lead role. We just thought that result was a tad shocking since one of them hasn't even thought about the suit yet.

"Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris penned the script for "Superman Returns" based on a story they created with Singer. It's not clear whether Dougherty and Harris will return for the sequel."

One can only hope WB forces Singer out of his "comfort zone" and hires some decent writers that have a decent knowledge of who Superman is. However I'm not sure what difference that's going to make since the issues with the first film are so far engrained into the universe that was created that to ignore them now would be an even bigger joke than the first film.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah it is a bit confusing and possibly contradictory for WB to say the sequel will be much more action packed yet cost a lot less. Lord knows we do not need another cheaply made Superman movie like Superman 4. I know i read the original budget for SR was 184 mil and we know it finished at around 204. I doubt they can make a sequel with great effects and a supervillain for much less than 180 mil. We'll see what happens, although i hated SR i want the sequel to at least be a decent movie and make money, that way Superman does not go away for another 20 years.

Anonymous said...

Well take away the Krypton sequence that was 10 million and they only spent 194 million on SR..It's possible to spend around 185 million and have it be more action packed. A fight scene would be alot like the fight scene in T3. Real people then CG at certain parts..Those parts were usually very quick. SR, had a lot of long CG shots. I'm guessing that the plane sequence cost at least 20 million all by itself.

Anonymous said...

"We'll see what happens, although i hated SR i want the sequel to at least be a decent movie and make money, that way Superman does not go away for another 20 years."

I agree with all the money WB has sunk into this if the next one is not a big hit, we can kiss Superman on the big screen goodbye for a long time. Hell Superman 4 bombed but it cost almost nothing to make and that was it for 20 years.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather they not continue the Adventures of Superman and Son, myself.

Sucks for all those who probably won't live to ever see superman done right but oh well. At least you got batman.

Anonymous said...

"Sucks for all those who probably won't live to ever see superman done right but oh well. At least you got batman."

What about Batman i hated Batman Begins it bored the shit out of me.

Anonymous said...

Yeah there were no dog jokes and Nolan didn't copy Burton.

Anyway I can't wait for the dark night. Screw SR's sequel if Singer's still doing it.

Anonymous said...

I think it's possible to get a decent sequel out Singerman. They could even keep the current cast! Really all you'd need to do is pick it up two years later, have Cyclops drop Lois and give the kid a vacation at summer camp or something. Lois is then free somewhat and that opens up the possibility for, say, Brainiac to have followed Superman back to Earth from his little trip to Krypton. Easy peezy... which, of course, means Singerman 2 will do none of those things and continue with the drivel we've already seen. Such a shame.

Anonymous said...

"I'm not one bit interested in this movie more action or not. The only thing that could make me interested is if they start over and get Welling to do the movie, get a new suit and a better story.
There's already a Superman for 6 years and it's not Brandon Routh."

Yeah why not just cast Dean Cain while you are at it. TW sucks as Clark on a cheesy cable TV show why the fuck would he be good as Superman, in a major hollywood movie.

Anonymous said...

BR was not the reason SR sucked, the script was.

Anonymous said...

I actually like Welling a hell of a lot better than Routh. Atleast he's put his own stamp on the character and contributing something to it. Routh aped Reeve and was about as memorable as yesterday's dinner

Anonymous said...

Welling does not even like the role of Superman. He has said many times that he is afraid of being typecast forever. I think he is very mediocre on Smallville and the General perception is that Routh did a good job in SR.

Anonymous said...

You say Welling is "mediocre", yet Routh had only a handful of lines in the entire movie? I know you can't be comparing someone with HOURS of television time to his credit, to someone who was barely on-screen in ONE film are you?

Anonymous said...

Considering i have never thought much of Welling as an actor on Smallville, yes i am. He could go on doing Smallville for another 10 years and i would think he is not that good. It's just my opinion i thought Routh did well in SR. I didn't love the movie but not because of him.

Anonymous said...

Look at me, I'm superman. My S shield is pasted on.

Anonymous said...

thats not paste, Singer shot hios load across Routh's chest when he pulled out....

Anonymous said...

Look at me, I'm superman. My S shield is pasted on.


How would you suggest he get the shield on his suit? Even CR's was pasted on..It just wasn't raised. If there was a real life Superman I think the suit we got in SR is about as close to reality as you will get...And I hated the suit.

Anonymous said...

Supposedly they have brightened up the suit on the DVD, which was a major problem with the suit, it was too damn dark.

Anonymous said...

The funniest idea is that this is all a big set up for a "World's Finest" type movie.

So they are going to do two bad, possibly money losing movies with BR and Singer, to make one Bats/Supes movie. OK.

One article I read said BR and CB were already talking about what the movie should be about. I know BR does have the time, his career has stalled completely, but Bale is quite busy, I doubt he meets with BR. Besides the acting would not jive, as Bale is so far superior an actor, it would bring further giggles for poor BR

Anonymous said...

I read they met backstage at an MTV awards show last year. That might have been what you are referrng to. BR is just getting started in his career, Bale has been around a while, it is not fair to compare them at this point.

Anonymous said...

Supposedly they have brightened up the suit on the DVD, which was a major problem with the suit, it was too damn dark.


Really? HMMMMM...That was my main complaint about the suit..I don't care that the symbol is raised or how big it is, or the fact that the symbol is on the belt and not the cape..But the color was hard to ignore, especially when you would see pics of his lit up and the red would come out...

Anonymous said...

will they be digitally enlarging those manties he was wearing too?

Anonymous said...

No, probably the opposite. We'll most likely see him rockin' a thong...