Jon Peters is a Class Act

Hey true believers, SSS here in between the Christmas and New Year's drinking binges. We know we haven't posted anything in quite a bit but Superman movie news related to either Singerman or JLA has been about as rare as a comicbook on Singer's bookshelf so its been a bit tough to come up with much. We did however find this recent news story about Singerman producer Jon Peters latest escapade and couldnt resist commenting on it.

After the last time good ole Jon made the news, it really made us wonder what exactly goes on over at WB Features and why there seems to be an overall lack of accountability for ANYTHING over there. But this latest incident of Peters' really takes the cake, as he's now being sued by THREE former employees, one for sexual harassment, and the other, a couple, who claims Peters wanted the pregnant wife to have an abortion or he'd fire the husband!

Blanca Hernandez alleged in her suit that Peters "systematically sexually harassed" her on nearly a daily basis. The incidents included unwanted touching, hugging and attempting to push Hernandez into bed while Peters was naked. The suit also claimed that Peters attempted to kiss her breasts, referring to them as "pillows."

The suit also alleged that an official at Peters Entertainment warned her that if she complained about Peters, "her and her daughter would be murdered." Hernandez was fired July 25, 2006, after approximately a year on the job, according to court papers.

Nice guy. At least this time, the person he's harassing is of legal age. Although the murder threat is a new one even for him. It gets better:

Adriana and Andrew Silveira contended in their lawsuit that after she learned she was pregnant in June 2006, her husband was told by Peters that if he wanted to keep his job, she should have an abortion. The lawsuit did not make clear why Peters allegedly made the demand. When the couple refused, Peters sent Andrew Silveira an e-mail informing him that he was being fired, the suit stated.

That should remove any kind of lingering doubt in anyone's mind as to whether Peters really is a grade A douchebag. How he continues to remain employed by WB is anyone's guess at this point. How long can the credit he gets for Batman in 1989 really last? We wonder how Superman could be taken so far out of character by Singer and Co. but the answer would seem to lie at the top of the food chain starting with it's producer and trickling on down. Let's hope this clown gets thrown out as well.

Alright, So Who the Hell is Going to be Superman?

S.S.S. here, checking in from an undisclosed location as I prepare to stuff myself until I pass out tomorrow. Anyway, not much going on recently except a continuous stream of bullshit casting rumors about who's going to be donning the "S" in George Miller's Justice League, and each media outlet seems to be winding up with more egg on their faces than the last. In the wake of the "Tom Welling fiasco" that IESB caused you'd have thought they would've learned.

Let's recap, shall we?

First on 11/16, Scott Porter from Friday Night Lights was TOTALLY going to be Superman. Only one problem, he apparently wasn't aware of that. In fact, he tells us two days later while at Wizard World that he never even tested for that part. That next day, 11/19, Superhero Hype! gets a hold of what looks like the WORST CAST LIST EVER and it says that 5 foot 9 inch D.J. Cotrona "might" be playing Superman! WTF? Who????

Then all of a sudden on the same day JLA apparently doesn't even have a shooting script and NONE of the actors are even signed according to The Hollywood Reporter. The following day, Clint from Moviehole calls "bullshit" on that and reveals that the film is "still definitely on track" regardless and that "The cast is a lock as of today''. They then go on to say that the "cast is expected to be announced tomorrow" which was actually today, 11/21, but as of 10 PM EST there still hasn't been any kind of announcement. Shocking I know.

Here's a tip in case you haven't learned this yet. NO ONE KNOWS A FRIGGEN THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE. Outside of the fact that George Miller is directing it and that the plot is "loosely" based on the "OMAC" and "Tower of Babel" storylines, nobody knows anything about how the strike might impact this film or who is going to be playing the roles. The trades don't seem to know, Moviehole doesnt know, super secret "insiders" from random messageboards don't know, and IESB sure as hell doesn't know. It's best just to sit back and wait for the word from the proverbial horse's mouth to come down from on high and then deal with it then.

For the record, both Porter and Cotrona SUCK as choices for Superman. Although Porter would've been a much better choice for Flash than Adam friggen Brody. And that SHH! cast list is BEYOND HORRIFIC with the exception of one or two people. It reads like the list of dead body extras for an episode of CSI. George Miller can't possibly be that stupid. I hope.

Writers Out, Singer to Follow?

Women and children first.

Well news comes today via Variety that Bryan Singer's hand-picked cronies and partners in crime, Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris, won't be returning to write any alleged Singerman sequel. As a result, WB is now "allegedly" taking pitches from anyone who might possibly be able to save this disaster.

Of course the article claims that the two are leaving to "pursue more directing gigs." But in reality its more like they were "asked" to leave because A) the crew to Singer's film is slowly being let go as WB pushes forward with JLA, or B) they just weren't able to bring the goods when they pitched a sequel.

How can I make such a claim? Well, if you go back to those glamorous Saturn Awards in May, both of these guys went on record about their plans for the sequel and how they were working on it "right now." Then in August, some guy from BlueTights ran into Dougherty in Washington D.C. at which point he told him that the sequel was actually being written and also that there would be even 2 villains, so obviously these guys did some form of mapping or scripting a sequel film, and Singer was intent on using them for it. Put this together with the fact that WB is accepting sequel pitches, and there you have your answer that either the sequel pitches thing is bullcrap to avoid making a complete cancellation announcement or that what these guys planned on doing was completely rejected by the studio to the point where they told them that they wanted to head in a new direction (like a reboot, hopefully).

Why do we think Singer might soon follow? Other than the rumored Harvey Milk film and the fact that the more JLA news we get the less likely a sequel is looking anyway? Well, although some would like to chalk this up to wishful thinking on our part, this is a legitimate inference from Harris and Dougherty leaving. These guys are good friends with Singer and were brought over from the X-Men franchise specifically for this project because they're in his inner circle. These are "his guys." WB getting rid of them, sorry them "leaving," takes Singer out of his comfort zone, and likely forces him to work with a writing team that the studio is going to appoint, if you believe the news about the open solicitations for scripts. Does anyone think that's something Singer and his ego are going to acquiesce to? Despite what some company mouthpieces are telling some of the shill sites, this is a legitimate possibility and somehow I don't see this captain going down with his ship.

Should be interesting from here on out to hear who starts moving on to other projects.

Miller's Justice League Sucks?...Or Not?

Wonder Twin powers ACTIVATE! Form of... a giant piece of shit!

Yeah ummm, I'm just at a loss for words here. Apparently Clint over at Moviehole got a hold of a sizeable portion of the JLA script that was set aside for the effects guys and let me tell ya, it ain't good. Well, at least it won't be for those of us who are out of the 6th grade. For those of us who were expecting something along the lines of Bruce Timm's animated series or something out of the many epic JLA comics, we're going to be SORELY disappointed. Clint reads through the carnage:

"So what are they working with? Well, not a lot. Not to say the film reads terrible, it doesn’t, it’s just that it reads more like a Saturday Morning ‘Superfriends’ cartoon than anything else – like, say, something that’ll appeal to the over twenties crowd - and basically, WETA need only look at the old cartoons to seek inspiration for their whizbang dressings. Having said that, maybe that’s exactly what they’re going for – a family-friendly toon-esque romp; like say “The Rocketeer” or “Sky High”.

The film introduces the main characters very quickly – as if they’re a 42-minute TV show and have to get it done quickly. You don’t get to know much about any of our central heroes before they all unite."

Sounds great doesn't it? Clint then goes on to briefly explain the introduction of the main characters which seem so utterly cheesy, I expect them all to be winking into the camera. He then finishes up the awful news with:

"Look, the film seems pretty underwhelming, sure, but what I think might’ve been their motivation here is to distance themselves from any of the “Superman” or “Batman” films already in existence – which is something the fans will be thankful for – and as this is merely light and fluffy cartoon adventure-stuff, without any of the dark undertones of those other films (largely “Batman”), they’ve definitely succeeded in that. This will definitely appeal to a much younger crowd than those that say, loved “Batman Begins” – it’ll be one the twelve-years-olds go ga-ga for.

Great! Sounds like a 2 hour toy commercial that will sell many a happy meal and action figure.

"So all-in-all, “Justice League” won’t be our film – and when I say ‘our’ I mean, commonly anyone considered of adult age – but it will probably be right up the kids’ alley. It’s essentially a live-action version of “Superfriends” – in terms of pace, story and set-up."

Well, there you have it. Part of me thinks it funny that this type of schlock is whats going to be replacing Singer's franchise at WB. Another part of me wants to once again run up to Singer and punch him in the nuts for screwing the pooch so badly that he scared the studio so shitless that they've gone completely off the other end of the spectrum in terms of the balance between action and story.

Christian Bale, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh should be thanking their lucky stars that they won't be involved with this thing. (We think.)

But dont push the panic button, just yet. Like most other things with this movie we could find out tomorrow that this is all really bullshit, but Clint at Moviehole is pretty good with this stuff so this is more than likely the case.

Looks like we may have our next crusade on our hands. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 10/18: Well it appears, as I mentioned a few paragraphs up, that yesterday's "news" from Moviehole was yet another in a long line of the total clusterfuck of rumors that surround this project. Apparently Clint was sent a bogus script, according to Dirty Sanchez over at IESB, although given his recent track record who the hell knows if he's right? The Moviehole article has since disappeared and we're seemingly back to no one knowing much of anything. How fun!

UPDATE 10/19: So it looks like this rumor may be true again now? Someone stop this AWFUL ride. I want off.

Even Dean Cain Thinks Singerman Sucks

Well you know you've reached a different plateau of "suckitude" when the worst Superman of all time, i.e. Dean Cain, thinks you suck. In an appearance on the KTLA morning show ( you can watch the video HERE if you can stand the vapid, tedious morning show banter), Cain was on talking about his guest appearance on an upcoming episode of Smallville as well as his time in the tights, when the subject of Singerman was breached by one of the douchebag morning news anchors (who himself even called the film "not very good"). He kind of puts Cain on the spot about his impressions of the film. Cain's response: 'Um it didnt do very well at the box office...but it was umm "visually stunning," I'll tell you that."

Really Dean? That's all you could come up with? You couldn't even put out a "it wasn't too bad" or something even a bit more positive? That's like going out on a first date and when a friend asks you how it went, you respond by telling him that she had nice shoes. You could tell Deano was struggling to find something, ANYTHING to come up with on the spot, and that's all he (a Princeton University grad BTW) could come up with? Hilarious, to say the least.

Superman vs. The Shitstorm of Casting Rumors

SSS here, just checking in since I've been away for a bit as real life sometime dictates. When last I left you, the confirmation that JLA was a go, and that Singerman 2 was going into carbonite had just come through. And boy does it look like some fun has ensued! Especially with regards to casting the new Superman in the JLA movie.

It looks like IESB has been at again with the Tom Welling will, oh wait no he won't thing. And now from the emails we've been getting today it looks like they're back on the, "oh maybe he will" kick again. Guys, make up your freaking minds already, either Tom Welling is one of the most indecisive actors in Hollywood, or your sources need to learn how to read contract negotiations better. As cool as it would be to see Welling finally get the hell out of Smallville and don the tights, I really think it's wrong that they're leading people on like this without more concrete info.

In the process of debunking Welling (before they um "rebunked" him?), it looks like IESB also managed to kick up another mess of rumors involving the transition of Brandon Routh to the JLA Supes role, simply because someone reported that he had a meeting on the WB lot one day. I can say without a doubt this is one of the more ridiculous rumors we've heard. The team at WB behind JLA led by V.P. of Production, Dan Lin, may even rival the great "ApologistPuncher" in terms of their dislike for Singerman. Those guys are the ones who convinced Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov to proceed with a JLA film and let Singer go off to do films about Hitler and gay mayors. To think they'd then turn around and use the frontman of Singer's failure as one of the leads in their movie is preposterous. I'm sure those guys would rather piss on an electric fence then use Routh in their movie. As I've said before, he seems like a decent enough guy but he added nothing significant to the part the first go around, and now he's saddled with Singer's baggage. Why the hell would they tie themselves to that?

The other option for casting would of course be anyone who isn't Routh or Welling. And a lot of people seem to knock that idea because they "don't want 3 Supermen (Supermans?) running around." To which I say "nonsense!" JLA is due out in Summer 2009. Even if they were to drag Smallville out for 8 seasons it's over by May 2009 so Welling's tenure, assuming he's not in JLA, would be over. And honestly, if JLA is a big huge hit and a new guy nails it as Superman, do you really think they're going to resume the Singerman franchise with Routh? And if JLA is a terrible financial failure, do you really think WB is going to touch another big budget superhero film not named Batman for another decade? I don't, so either way you don't have Routh "running around" anymore either, and it will be over 3 years since Singerman stunk up theaters so its not like he'll be fresh in too many people's minds in the general movie-going audience anyway. The new guy would be the only current Superman or no one would be.

Other recent rumors are suggesting that casting may already be finished for the most part and that an announcement is imminent. Hold on to your hats folks, its sure to be a wild ride, and in the words of Jigsaw "oh yes! there will be blood!"

JLA Confirmed, Singerman Taking a "Back Seat"

Well it looks like today the official word finally came down via Variety that George Miller will indeed be helming the JLA movie, and our old friend Singerman is being put on indefinite hiatus. Of course anyone who's read this blog over the last few weeks already knew that was the case anyway so this really isn't much of a surprise. Ok maybe to everybody except "Restart Mel" that is.

According to the article:

Warner Bros. is moving aggressively ahead with the bigscreen adaptation of DC Comics’ “Justice League of America,” with George Miller on board to direct.

Project, which is the initial phases of casting, is a pre-strike priority for the studio, which needs a superhero tentpole in 2009.

Still, making all the pieces fit has been complicated by overlapping superhero projects in the pipeline, since “Justice League” features a pantheon of superheroes, including Superman and Batman.

Batman and Superman are active properties for the studio, though the next installment in the Superman franchise has taken a backseat to “Justice League” in part because Warners is so keen on the “Justice League” script by Kieran and Michele Mulroney.

“Justice League” will likely feature the characters of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Aquaman.

Warners is in the preliminary phases of casting for “Justice League.” Several sources close to the project said that Christian Bale, star of the revived Batman film franchise, and Brandon Routh, star of Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns,” would probably not appear in the movie.

Again, obviously all things we've heard before, but still nice to hear it from one of the industry trades as opposed to websites who's credibility everyone is always calling into question. Exactly, what "taking a back seat" means for Singerman I can't say for sure, but I would think that if JLA is a big success and the guy who plays Superman nails it, I'd have a hard time believing WB would have any interest whatsoever in returning to Singer's mess.

Oh and for all of you guys who've been emailing me asking this, I'd be fine with Tom Welling taking up the mantle in this film. He seems to have all the prerequisites for the part in addition to 7 some odd years of training for it, literally. The key thing above any actor though will always be the script and the director's vision. If those two are in line with the Supes we know and love, then everything will be alright. If we get another Singerman situation where the characters are marginalized and the source material is ignored, then it doesn't matter who we've got in the title role.

Finally, although we may have been ragging on the guy for a while we are men of honor here and we will give credit where credit is do, "Dirty" Sanchez from IESB called this one almost a month ago.

UPDATE 9/21 - Well just when you give IESB some credit for getting a scoop right it seems they've served up a big "shit sandwich" on their "big scoop" from last month about Tom Welling being the JLA's Man of Steel. Nice job, go on TV to declare to the masses that this is going to happen and then a few weeks later back away from it with the infamous "I have no idea what happened." Like I said if they were wrong on this they're going to get fried regardless of the Miller thing. They've likely now succeeded in pissing off a seemingly overwhelming amount of fans of Welling/Smallville who because of this may now have some vitriol against the JLA film when before they probably would've cared very little. Add this to the half dozen girls left on BrandonRouth.com that still care about him and feel as if he's getting replaced, and it's going to be UGLY when the new guy is announced. Way to go IESB!

I'm Sorry Mr. Singer, You're Not on the List.

Just a quick update before I head out for the weekend. The fine folks over at Filmjerk have gotten a hold of a list that started circulating around the Hollywood talent agencies two weeks ago, listing the 300 projects in active development which have become pre-strike priorities for the major studios and a number of top production companies. Comingsoon.net has now also verified the authenticity of the list.

Curiously the Warner Brothers looks like so:

WARNER BROTHERS
1906 - Dir: Brad Bird
ALTERED CARBON - Dir: James McTeigue
ARRANGED - Dir: Gary Winick
CARPE DEMON - Dir: None attached
CLASH OF THE TITANS - Dir: None attached
THE DIRTY DOZEN - Dir: Guy Ritchie
FARRAGUT NORTH - Dir: None attached
GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE - Dir: None attached
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE - Dir: David Yates
HEART SHAPED BOX - Dir: Neil Jordan
HIMELFARB - Dir: Miguel Arteta
THE INCREDIBLE MR LIMPET - Dir: Chris Columbus
JUSTICE LEAGUE - Dir: None attached, but looking to George Miller
LOSERS - Dir:
MEN - Dir: Todd Phillips
MORTDECAI - Dir: None attached
NIGHTCRAWLERS - Dir: McG
PENETRATION - Dir: Ridley Scott
SHANTARAM - Dir: Mira Nair
SHERLOCK HOLMES - Dir: None attached
SPOOKS APPRENTICE - Dir: Tim Burton
THE TOWN - Dir: Adrian Lyne
YES MAN - Dir: Peyton Reed

Notice anyone missing from that list? Notice someone else who IS there? Didn't we hear things from certain places about a Singerman sequel film still being in development and a script was being "feverishly worked on" by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum? Well those people dont seem so sure any more, and seem to have switched to the "it will be delayed" defense when they used to be SO sure it was coming in 2009. (You can run, but you can't hide!!)

Obviously not all of those films on that list will develop before the strike as things can and do change in Hollywood, but those are what is in the potential pipeline at the development stage and you'd have thought from everything we'd been hearing Singerman 2 would've shown up on that list. And yes, sequels do show up on this list as evidenced by the Harry Potter listing.

Sorry Restart, it doesn't look like Singerman will fly again in 2009, and God willing, if JLA is done well and is a big hit, we won't ever have to see him again.

The Way Singerman SHOULD have Ended

Alright, emotions are obviously running high across Al Gore's internet as the wheels of "justice" seem to be in motion for the proposed JLA film, while Singerman II seems to be in limbo. Anyone who's perused our comments section can tell you that. (and they can probably tell you a few new "words" too...) Of course, people in suits at Warner Bros. are probably all laughing at us as they light their cigars with $100 bills in their ivory tower.

Since news on the fate of these projects is likely to become more frequent in the coming weeks and tensions will inevitable run even higher, we thought we'd take a moment to lighten the mood by showing this fan made video of how Singerman should've ended that was sent to us a few weeks back but we never posted because the JLA shitstorm broke out. Kudos to "PresidentLuthor" who seems to have a knack for these alternate endings.



Now wouldnt that have made the movie better? OK, it still would've sucked but the ending would've been more satisfying than watching Singerman sneaking into Super Kid's bedroom. Enjoy!

Tom Welling in Talks to be the JLA Superman

Take this with a BIG grain of salt but "Dirty" Sanchez just reported on G4's "Attack of the Show" and also over on IESB that Warner Brothers is in talks with Tom Welling and the Smallville producers to get him as the Superman for the JLA movie, which is a live-action film BTW with CGI motion capture in it. (Kudos to the fine gentlemen at CHUD for calling that one a few days ago.) Again, it's IESB so take it with a grain of salt since they've spit the bit on more than one occasion recently. He also said he thinks it will have no bearing on whether Singerman II gets made or not. How that works? I dont know.

UPDATE: Here's a clip of the interview:


UPDATE: Apparently SMHP called "BS" on IESB after, for some unknown reason, asking Al Gough and expecting him to give them an honest response (Hey Younis, ever hear of an NDA??). Then IESB just called BS right back on SMHP. It's like a battle to see who can be the least credible. Grab your popcorn folks.

UPDATE: 8/25 - IESB is STILL pretty sure of themselves. Boy, are they going to get burned if this doesn't pan out.

UPDATE: 8/30 - The KryptonFan Podcast interviewed both Dirty Sanchez from IESB and Steve Younis from SMHP about their "nerd off" last Friday. Sanchez still seems pretty darn sure of himself, and seems to able to at least speak "somewhat" intelligently about the situation. He also mentions a certain "blog" that dislikes Bryan Singer, although I don't think we've EVER said we had anything against the X-Men movies?
Steve Younis on the other hand, adds virtually nothing other than reiterating how he ran to Gough and Gough told him "no." Not once does he even breach the possibility of Gough not being able to talk to him.

UPDATE: 9/2 - Looks like you can score an early one for "Dirty" Sanchez as they appear to have announced casting directors for New York, Toronto, and, strangely enough, Vancouver, where incidentally, a certain actor films a Superman TV show. They've also posted script sides for some lesser roles in the film.

More on this as it becomes available.

JLA Movie Confirmed? Routh is One and Done?

Wow! Talk about a film coming together fast. I'm not sure if I should be excited or scared about this? Apparently while we were all busy arguing about just how BAD Singerman was, it appears WB was busy with their big Plan B. Just into us tonight, Moviehole reports that the proposed Justice League film is in fact confirmed to be just as "full speed ahead" as we've been hearing recently and it should be up and running by next year. And that's not all, they've got a few other goodies regarding casting. They go on to say:

A casting director for the movie will be onboard next week and it's then that they'll be going after their tighted strongmen.

Director George Miller ("Mad Max") has some ideas who he'd like to cast as Batman and Superman but naturally, they mightn't be the same faces the WB want. Either way, doesn't sound like Christian Bale or Brandon Routh will be involved in the film. I assume that's a financial thing.

(Update : We have been informed by another source at Warner Bros that it will be an all-new cast and that Bale and Routh will NOT be back.)

So within the next month we should start seeing a few announcements about the movie.

I'm not surprised really, I told you in the earlier post that Bale's Batman just didn't fit into the world of the JLA, and that most likely they wouldn't want Routh anywhere near it since he could only hurt the film by dragging over Singerman's problems with him.

Not surprisingly, IESB does a follow up to this report (completely ignoring their prior "Singerman II is coming come hell to high water!" stance BTW) and add this bit (take it for what it's worth):

"Let me clear some confusion, Batman and Superman are the central characters of the Justice League film that will now be played by different actors.

WB is looking for a complete new cast for the multi-hero team up and that casting will begin as early as next week.

The IESB has been told that early meetings have already taken place for certain key roles and to expect announcements very soon. Just in case there was any doubt, George Miller is 100% locked in as the director.

Once again, the confirmed heroes are Superman, Batman, the Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern.

We are working on a couple of leads that are indicating what actors may be up for a couple key roles.

They also have a really brief interview with Bale from today's 3:10 to Yuma press junket where they surprisingly didn't swear at him. Then again , he probably would've kicked their asses if they did.

Is this the death knell for Singerman? Or is it just delaying it? In our opinion here, the whole reason this film is being fast-tracked for Summer 2009 is to fill Singerman's slot because WB doesn't have the confidence in it. We'll stick around until we hear the official announcement and see Singerman's bloated corpse. Stay tuned.

Now Where Have We Heard This Before???

Remember back a couple months ago when we told you that Warner Bros. was fast-tracking a Justice League of America film that would either take the place of or delay a possible Singerman sequel? And certain "Pro-Singer websites" then ran around screaming "All is well!"? Well it appears one of those sites, IESB, is starting to see the light, now that the train is right on top of them. Better late than never I guess.

Take it for what it's worth, well because it's IESB, but their "sources" who don't have the best track record on these things are now finally acknowledging that the proposed Justice League of America film is now more of a reality than they first thought. The self-serving carnage is below.

"When the news broke that JLA (Justice League of America) was moving forward with a script written by Kiernan and Michele Mulroney, speculations began that the follow-up to Superman Returns, The Man of Steel, would be delayed or even completely scrapped.

WB studio sources quickly said that was just mere speculation and The Man of Steel was still planned for a first quarter 2008 start date. Even recently, Brandon Routh told us the same thing during a quick red carpet interview at the premiere for Transformers."

I think Routh would've said anything at that point to get a way from you. He didn't exactly look comfortable with you dropping the "F bomb" in front of him repeatedly.

"At the same time, we are hearing some execs over WB were not happy with the way Superman Returns performed regardless of the $390 million plus worldwide box office take and that’s why Justice League is being pushed through the studio at a record pace."

At the same time? We've been hearing that for almost a year. Where have you guys been?

"The JLA script has been received with open arms by Warners and the goal is for the film to be the launching point for The Flash, Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern and Aquaman as well as rejuvenate Superman.

When do the powers-that-be want to start production on Justice League? Apparently, as soon as the first quarter of 2008, that’s right, WB sources have informed the IESB that execs behind the Justice League of America want it to be in production as early as February/March 2008 to be ready for a summer of 2009 release."

Now would these be the same sources who just a month ago said any talk of a delay in a Singerman sequel was "horse shit?"

"Some questions arise. What will happen to The Man of Steel film that Bryan Singer has already signed on to do?"

I'll give you 3 guesses.

"Would Warner Brothers be willing to lose the money they would have to pay to Singer regardless if he directs the film or not? Will Christian Bale and Brandon Routh reprise their roles as Batman and Superman?

Some rumors indicate that studio execs have considered recasting Superman and a few names have popped up. But the honest truth is that the studio just does not know at this time whether Routh will return or not. We’ll just have to wait and see."

It wouldn't be the first time WB has lost money on a pay or play deal with a director on a Superman movie. Something tells me based on their past experiences with Tim Burton, Bret Ratner, Michael Bay, and McG that WB covered themselves a bit more when they negotiated with Singer.

As for Routh returning: sorry Brandon, you seem like a nice guy, but you bare the mark of the beast, the scarlet letter "S" of Singerman, and with you comes all the continuity and issues of Singer's film. Even if you completely ignore the events of Singerman, the general public will identify you with it, and that could condemn this movie. Your performance, while not a huge issue in the film, was nothing that a hundred other actors off the streets of L.A. couldn't have done.

"I want to be very clear about this, I want to see a JLA film very badly and I am pretty certain that George Miller will direct. The problem that I have is I can’t foresee the Nolan camp, including producer Charles Roven, to lose the third stand-alone Batman film by allowing Bale to JLA instead. Maybe Warners should bring a few of the Batman/TDK producers on board the JLA production to keep that camp happy."

The concept of something like the JLA is pretty much absurd in the gritty, realistic world that Nolan and Co. have created in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. That was the whole reason they took on the project in the first place. I can't see them wanting to have anything to do with a JLA film. Honestly, if I can only have Bale as Batman 3 times, I'd rather see a Batman film trilogy.

"I have to wonder if they are willing to pay the huge amount of money to Bale to keep him for possible future JLA and Batman films. I definitely think he’s worth it but it’s not my checkbook.

Routh’s price tag is no where near Bale’s and I’d bet he’d be willing to do possible future JLA and Superman films."

Routh would most likely wash your car at this point if you were going to give him $10 to do it. The "next big star" burned out before he ever had a chance to shine.

"Finally, what about Singer’s The Man of Steel? At this stage in the game, yes, it appears that the Man of Steel will be pushed back to accommodate Justice League.

Does that mean that Singer is out and the sequel to Superman Returns scrapped? Not likely.

As I mentioned earlier, Bryan Singer has already signed on to do The Man of Steel and his team is reportedly already working on the film. I find it hard to believe that the studio would be willing to lose the money that will have to be paid to Singer if they decide to drop the project. I just can’t see that happening."

Yes, you keep saying these things but yet the evidence keeps mounting against it. You said a lot of things were "reportedly happening" that weren't. And what's riskier for WB? Coughing up a couple million max to pay off Singer for good? Or missing the mark by $100 million again on another Singerman film?

"It would be a mistake on Warner Bros. part to recast Superman, Brandon did a fine job and under Miller’s direction he could do great, besides I hear that Warner Bros. really dug Bryan Singer’s take for the sequel and Michael Dougherty is already working on the new script."

I knew I could count on you guys to get that one little last barb of unabashed fanboyism in there so you dont have to completely eat crow. Of course, you heard WB "really dug" Singer's take on a sequel and that they're working on a script. I wouldn't have expected any less.

Fun with the "Motivator"

Well, news has been slow lately so we're going to have a little fun. I'm sure you've all seen those cheesy motivational pictures hanging on the wall in some tool's office. You know the ones, with the inspirational term or attribute in big capital letters and then a sentence below it that bestows the values of said term? They even have some spoof ones out that are pretty damn funny.

Well BigHugeLabs.com has a neat little web application up that lets you create your own. And of course, us being us, we had a little fun with the application at Singerman's expense and of course we figured that we'd share the results with you. Click the image to enlarge. Enjoy.


We'd love to see the ones you guys in the Comments come up with.


And hey, don't forget: BOOT SINGER, REBOOT SUPERMAN!!

The Man in the Mask Does NOT like Singerman

Here's another amusing string of videos that were just put up on YouTube by 'The Hideout" where the hosts take Singerman to task. (better late than never I guess) I'm not really sure why the guy on the left is wearing a wrestling mask? Maybe he was a crew member?



Aside from the fact that they keep saying that Superman: The Movie came out in 1979 (as opposed to 1978) everything else seems to be pretty much on point. There's 3 more parts to the Singerman series if you're interested.

Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4


And hey, don't forget: BOOT SINGER, REBOOT SUPERMAN!!

The Sound of Silence

S.S.S. just checking in folks, back from the sun and fun in the great state of California. (It's great when you have a job that let's you schedule business trips around major geek events.) I had the privilege of catching the weekend happenings at the San Diego Comic Con International. Between this and the Superman Festival in the span of a few weeks, I've had enough of awkward people in funny costumes to last me a good LONG time.

Anyway, as I expected, there was nary a mention of anything related to Singerman at the convention, which should seem odd to those who believe a Singerman sequel could hit theaters in Summer 2009. When you consider that The Dark Knight which is due out next summer, had just a few big announcements at last year's Con including the title and the casting of the new villain, you'd think that there might be something, ANYTHING, about a proposed sequel to Singerman to keep your core audience and media in the loop especially given the seeming back and forth stories we've been getting between the studio and those who suckle at Singer's teet.

I realize according to Alan Horn a few weeks back, they were still in the stage of waiting to see the next pile of crap that Singer would be turning in, but if they had any faith in the franchise or desire to keep it in the spotlight at all, this weekend would've been the chance to do something. They could've at least propped Routh up in a booth or something to give his usual schpiel about "all being well" as far as he knows. Lord knows, he's not doing anything else.

Apropos of nothing, they did have KICK ASS panels for Heroes and Smallville at the Con.

Oh and don't forget: BOOT SINGER, REBOOT SUPERMAN!!

Grab Your Pens and Paper!

Over the past few weeks, as rumors of Singerman's demise or a potential sequel have been going back and forth like some ritalin-induced game of Pong, we've spoken to a number of concerned individuals who have been looking for a way to make their voices heard by the guys who hold the purse strings up at Warner Brothers regarding their views on the Singerman franchise and how they should proceed handling the actual Superman.

In the past we've supported that notion although we've deferred this type of thing to other websites who were solely focused on doing just that, but I'm not sure how far things ever actually got there? As a decision about Singer's future on this franchise seems to be looming in the next few months, there seems to be a renewed interest in voicing our collective disdain with said franchise's direction. Since this site has been the "flag-bearer for the cause" (your words, not ours) over the past 13 months, we thought we'd get the info out to the people once again, and focus some of our efforts on making sure you know who and where to direct your fervor. After conferring with some of our "moles" on the "inside" about what gets read and what gets deleted by people at the Studios, we've decided that the best way to go about this is a two-pronged attack.

First and most important, real letters need to be sent. A stack of letters on someone's desk has much more of a visual impact than a full email inbox. A physical letter also says that you really care, and took the time to write it, print it, and mail it. They're tangible and an executive can literally hold your disappointment in his hands, as opposed to it floating out in cyberspace. While sending an email can't hurt, I'd say do that as a follow-up to writing your real letter. Below I've put together a bit of an FAQ about the letter writing campaign. If you still have other questions, list them in the comments section.

1. What do I write?
You've got to voice your displeasure but you've got to say it in terms that relate to the Studio execs. The Studio head most likely doesn't care that we think giving Superman a bastard kid was a horrible creative decision that goes against the spirit of the character. What he does care about is how some of Singer's decisions may have alienated various parts of the potential audience and how it adversely affected the box office results, or how poor word of mouth led to the film being the slowest ever to reach the $200 million mark, while similar recent big budget films are doing that kind of business in 1 week. Let them know why you care about the character but don't go overboard in that regard either. Focus more on how Singer is wrong for the franchise, and how a better-suited director could make the franchise more successful.

Just as important as what you write is the tone of how you say it. If you bring up good points but come across like you're yelling at the execs, they'll tune you out and chalk you up to being some crazed fanboy. Your letters should have a reasonable and even tone to them. You should sound sympathetic to the studio's financial goals, and be constructive in your criticisms about why Singer blew it. Brevity is also a bonus. Say what you have to say on 1 or 2 pages and then be done with it. These people read enough scripts as it is, dont send them something of a similar size.

If you've already written a letter and think others could use it as a template for their own, send it into us here, and we'll post it up. We're putting together a few generic ones of our own that we'll post up shortly that people can change as they see fit.


2. Who do I send them to?
These letters should be targeted at the guys who write the checks and have final say on any films. Warner Bros. Entertainment President and C.O.O., Alan Horn and Warner Bros. Pictures President of Production Jeff Robinov.

3. Where do I send them?
Send all letters and emails to either:

Mr. Alan Horn
President and C.O.O. Warner Brothers Entertainment
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, Ca. 91522
alan.horn@warnerbros.com

Mr. Jeff Robinov
President of Production Warner Brothers
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, Ca. 91522
jeff.robinov@warnerbros.com


The other prong of the attack involves getting the word out and getting as many people as possible to send letters. This site gets a sizeable amount of hits a day but thats not going to be enough, its still going to be up to you to spread the good word. Print out letters for your friends and family to sign. Link to this post on the various internet message boards you frequent, link it to your website or blog, make a Youtube video, etc. Do whatever you can regardless of what the small minority of vocal aplogist sheep think. Granted the studios pay people to scour the internet to gauge the public's opinions on things, but a proactive campaign like this does get noticed. Just ask the fans of the TV show Jericho

Horn Doesn't Sound So Sure of a Singerman Sequel

Say that title 5 times fast....

An interesting report from today's Hollywood Reporter was just brought to our attention. In the piece they talk about how the movie studios are in search of the next big property to turn into a successful film franchise. In it they also give updates on the more recent big time franchises like Spider-man, Shrek, Ice Age, etc. and their plans for the future. At one point in the article they get to talking about Warner Bros.' properties. and Singerman comes up with a quote from studio head Alan Horn:

"The future of the studio's recent comic book adaptation, 2006's "Superman Returns," is somewhat more dubious. That film cost $209 million (even after various tax rebates) and marketing costs sent expenses upward of $300 million, but director Bryan Singer's Man of Steel picture made only $201 million domestically. While insiders say the movie was profitable, the studio mandated major cost cuts before proceeding with a sequel."IF we do a sequel to 'Superman,' we want it to be less expensive," Horn acknowledges. "I have to see a screenplay before I say yes to anything. But the studio would be willing to spend as much as $175 million if the screenplay and other factors warranted it."Still, Singer has announced that he plans to direct a second "Superman" project."

Interesting. Not exactly a vote of confidence for the continuation of the franchise when the studio head is using terms like "IF we do one" or "we'd need to see a screenplay before we say yes." You'd think he'd have a little more confidence in a director in an already established franchise if it was doing as well as some would have you believe. Obviously a script must be turned in before any film is greenlit, but you would think he'd be talking in a lot less uncertain terms about one their alleged big movie franchises

Even if it does get approved that's gonna be a REAL tight budget for a director like Singer who allegedley wants to up the action in a sequel. It also seems that Singer and his cronies (and his worshippers over at IESB) may have gotten a little ahead of themselves with talk of doing a sequel because the "money man" doesn't seem so sure right now.

Speaking of money, Michael Bay did quite a nice job updating an iconic character franchise from the 1980's, no? And for the cost of only $150 million (and that's with heavy CGI). Now there's a guy who gets the most bang for his buck. Just pair him a decent writing team and script supervisor to keep him in check and you're good to go apparently.

Happy Birthday to umm...us!

Just thought we'd take a moment to commemorate the fact that the blog has been up and running for one year now. The first posting may have been done on June 30, 2006 after coming home from the theater in shock at what we had just witnessed, however we didn't publish the blog until about a week later. Since then it's all been a blur.

Though some would argue, and probably rightfully so, that the blog has had a longer and more interesting run the movie it was setup to pick apart, it has for the most part been a truly interesting experience. None of us on here had ever done this before, and we really didnt anticipate the fan response that we got, nor did we know the blog would be seen by some of the people who have seen it. A big thanks goes out to ClarkKent-Is-Superman, Metropolis_Native, and everyone else who helps us with news, emails, photoshop, etc. We'd also like to thank all of the great commentors who have made their voices heard and kept the debates raging on. Even the ones who keep insisting they've "PWNED" us even though we cant understand half of what they've typed.

That being said, we dont want to waste an entire post on a sappy thank you, so we've dug up an interesting piece of news for you. Recently many of you have been wondering what the heck Brandon Routh has been up to lately and why he hasn't become this "big star" that we were all told he would be last year. Well you can put those rumors of him squeegeeing car windows or busing tables to rest, because WE'VE FOUND BRANDON'S LATEST PROJECT and boy is he multi-talented! Enjoy!

Another Superman Film is "Way Off"

For those of you who've been wondering what the status was of the Superman franchise, after Singer got done screwing it's corpse, the outlook doesn't look too rosey. It appears that if they do choose to do another Singerman film for some ungodly reason, it won't be for a good long while.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Singer's producers, Neil Meron and Craid Zadan, are moving forward with Singer directing their pet project, a biopic of slain gay right activist Harvey Milk called The Mayor of Castro Street, as soon as Singer finishes with his current film -- the WWII story Valkyrie.

The next Superman, that's a ways off," claimed Meron, with Zadan adding. "Don't worry about it. Trust me. We may even start preproduction on Harvey Milk while he's on post production on the Tom Cruise movie."These boys are determined to make their movie, comic books be damned. "We've been working on that for 15 years," said Meron. "It started off with Oliver Stone and Robin Williams. Now it's Bryan Singer directing, Chris McQuarrie writing the script."

Now in addition to this is appears that Valkyrie is having a lot of issues on their own, as Germany didn't want batshit crazy Tom Cruise to make a movie there because he's a scientologist. Although now it seems they've backtracked on that, although they're still denying the production crew access to some key sites they planned on using which is still going to cause delays.

Could this be the opening for the potential JLA movie that just had a script turned in? Or could WB plow ahead with this franchise without Singer at the helm? (They did after all, boot him off of the Logan's Run remake he wanted to do so badly.) Either one would be an improvement. We also predicted this might happen back in April.

Perhaps someone should relay this news to Brandon Routh? (and all of the suck-ups over at IESB. ). He seems pretty confused about a lot of things. The fine folks over at C.H.U.D. have an amusing take on that "interview."

JLA Film on the Fast-track?

While fans await news on the uncertain future of Singerman, Warner Bros. appears to have moved another property to the front burner.

On February 22, 2007, Variety reported that Kiernan and Michele Mulroney [pictured] were hired to write a preliminary script for a future Justice League film.

Now it seems less than four months later, a first draft has been submitted, and even Variety is speculating that the "superteam" might eclipse Singerman.

Here is the latest article on the film, as posted in Variety this past Friday, June 15th:

One of the more ambitious projects around town - the bigscreen adaptation of DC Comics' "Justice League" - cleared a major hurdle last week.

Husband-wife writing duo Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney turned in a first draft that had Warner Bros. suits actually smiling - no small feat, considering "Justice" follows a half-dozen of the best-known superheroes working together, including Batman and Superman.

But the accomplishment raises a tricky question for Warners: Should it release "Justice" before its "Superman Returns" sequel?

Christopher Nolan's next Batman pic "The Dark Knight" bows in July 2008. Bryan Singer's "Superman" follow-up had been expected to play in 2009. But there's no script yet for that pic, while Singer is busy getting ready to shot Tom Cruise starrer "Valkyrie" for UA.

The question now: Will a souped-up "Justice League" prove to be Kryptonite to Superman?

Superman fans know how much Singerman was 'teh suck.' We can only hope this news about a JLA film means Warner Bros. has finally realized it too.

S.S.S. Live from the Superman Celebration!

Despite rumors to the contrary we havent left the planet unannounced to find our previously destroyed home world. We've been away doing the summertime vacation and work type stuff for the past few weeks, and with nothing that's "on the record" really coming out of the studio other than the proposed Teen Titans film,, news has been a bit slow. Although the rumors still seem to be flying fast and furious.

Since I just happened to be in Illinois this week for work, I had a chance to attend the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL this weekend for the first time ever. It was basically like a huge comic convention that was just dedicated to Superman, but pretty cool nonetheless. If you're a Superman fan I'd recommend getting there at least once in your life. They had Superman themed everything there: costume pageants, car shows, auctions, art shows, dog shows, etc. They also had some celebrity guests there from the various incarnations of Superman in TV, comics, and movies. I actually got to meet the original Lois Lane, Noel Neill and Supergirl, Helen Slater, which was cool. Erica Durance from Smallville was supposed to be there, but was apparently very sick and unable to attend.

The one thing that stood out to me during the time I was there was the lack oi anything really having to do with Singerman there. I thought this odd considering Singerman had come out less than a year ago, and this was the first Superman Celebration since it's release. I think I saw 2 kids out of a few hundred that were there in anything even resembling the Singerman costumes they were selling for kids last Halloween. Most everyone was sporting the traditional look. Also, in all of the auctions there was little, if any, Singerman merchandise. I came across one of the vendors who was selling an authentic Singerman DVD for $6.99 and asked him why it was so cheap? His response was, "I have so many of them, I just want to get rid of the damn things." I was half-tempted to direct him to this blog posting so he could make the best of his bad situation. There were also no guests there from Singerman. Sure Noel Neill was there, but she was there as "TV's First Lois Lane" not "Dying, old bag that signed her fortune over to a pathetic version of Lex Luthor."

Being the inquisitive gent and social butterfly that I am, I figured I'd do some informal questioning of some of the most hard core of the hard core Superman fanbase about some of the hot button topics (and yes, these people were pretty hardcore. If you fly 2500 miles to go to this convention in your own handmade Supes costume, THAT's hardcore!) I did this without revealing who I was, so as not to taint the answers and to protect my secret identity. I talked to a few dozen pretty interesting people during my time there; at the hotel bar, at the merchant tables, at the costume shows and I found one common thread regarding Singerman. When asked what they thought of the film, I got a luke warm response at best. Answers ranged from "It was OK" to "I liked the guy in the suit but the movie was silly" to "Bryan Singer is clueless" (NOT making that one up) to "They crapped all over the character" (that one came from a mother of 3). Granted this wasn't a statistically accurate poll or anything, and I'm not trying to use it as definitive evidence that the film sucked. I just liked hearing the opinions of people who eat, drink, and breath Superman and would go out of their way to support the character in any medium. The highlight of my day had to come when I was talking a woman in her late 40's/early 50's in one of the art galleries and when I asked her if she followed tha character developments on the internet, she listed this blog as one of the places she checks occassionally for news. It's the little things like that, that brighten up your day.

Why Spider-man Soars and Singerman well...Sucks

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week I'm sure you've heard by now about Spider-man 3 's record opening weekend box office take of $151.1 million domestic and $382 million worldwide. (75% and 97% of Singerman's TOTAL box office take respectively) Mind you this is for the third film in a trilogy when these big film franchises usually tend to fall off a bit i.e. Batman Forever, Superman III, The Matrix Revolutions, etc.

Now granted the box office take is not the sole indicator of a film's quality, as the few supporters of Singerman like to point out. (except when it comes to comparing it to Batman Begins, then box office matters for some reason?) However it can be one big indicator of a film's quality since if people enjoy a film or a franchise of films, they'll actually pay to see it... a novel concept I know.

So why does Spider-man, Marvel's flagship character, continue to break box office records and soar in popularity while Singerman, DC's big gun and American pop culture stalwart, festers in cinematic mediocrity and Brandon Routh's photo appears on milk cartons? Well it's a pretty simple formula, parts of which we've discussed on this blog before. The break down is as follows:

1. A director with an appreciation of the source material who isn't afraid to do his own spin on it within the bounds of what's consistent with the characters. - This is the most crucial piece to any of these films. This is why the Sam Raimi's and Christopher Nolan's of the world get such rave reviews from the fan communities and why websites like this exist for Bryan Singer. Raimi is a life-long Spider-man fan. Even so, he admitted to spending hours upon hours with the writers brushing up on the comics to decide where he wanted to go with all 3 of the Spider-man films. He wanted to do his own updated take on the material while remaining true to who the characters are. He knew these characters had withstood the test of time for a reason, and didn't have the ego to try and make them something they weren't. True, he took a lot of shit for the whole "organic webshooters" thing, but in the end it was a relatively minor alteration and he still came through with the same Spider-man character everyone knows just with an updated twist.
Singer on the other hand, admittedly shit-canned the comics, and had his cronies Harris and Dougherty pen an unabashed love letter to Richard Donner's film and took liberties with the Superman character in an attempt to give him some kind of "emotional weight," when if he had just studied the character in the comics over the last two decades since Superman: The Movie he would've found all of the weight he needed.

2. A charismatic cast who plays well off one another. - Chemistry is an important part to casting any film . Not that I'm a fan of Kirsten Dunst by any means, but she and Tobey Maguire have "it" on screen together. You buy them as a couple and you empathize with them. The entire cast plays well off one another and that energy comes across when you watch the films. There's little to no "scenery chewing" in these films either with the exception of Dafoe at times in the first film. Most everything comes off as sincere.
Compare that to Singerman where you have background extras who have more dialogue than Brandon Routh, and he and Kate Bosworth have all the chemistry of old oatmeal and dont allow the audience to build a shred of empathy for them. (and you wonder why people keep bringing up Tom Welling and Erica Durance as a basis for comparison?) Add to that the fact that they completely wasted Kevin Spacey's talents by making him play a long extinct, petty swindler version of Lex Luthor that was far too Gene Hackman-like, and it's no wonder why audiences really had trouble caring about these characters or they alleged "drama" the film was trying to build.

3. Appeal across all demographics. - Again Spider-man makes a killing at the box office because its got something for everyone. It's true to its roots so the life-long fans enjoy it. Its got a ton of action for the young male crowd. Its got love triangles for the young female crowd. It's got the fast-pacing, super villains, and bright costumed characters to appeal to children of all ages. It also doesn't take on touchy issues like pre-marital sex and illegitimate children that offend the politics of some and turn certain people off.
What demographic exactly was Singerman trying to appeal to? Besides himself that is? Singer copped to the fact that he thought he made a "chick flick." An odd choice considering comicbook movies generally skew towards the young male demographic who prefer the exact opposite of that which is the action blockbuster. (Studio head Alan Horn acknowledged that shortcoming.) It makes sense to add pieces of that drama element to a film, not dominate the movie with it, and even then it fell flat since Bosworth's zombie like performance killed any believability in the romance angle. The only person you really felt bad for in the whole mess was Richard White.
Children weren't really targeted by the film either with it's slow-pacing, lack of an interesting villain (unless you count the island...) and drab, washed out pallette, which was an extremely odd choice for such a light character. The sluggish merchandise sales figures basically confirmed that the movie didn't hit home with kids. Then you get to the alleged "elements of drama" like the illegitimate "super kid" and the creepy stalker angle, and you don't really have a family friendly film either.

4. Storylines that don't unnecessarily paint the film into a corner and lend themselves to further sequels. - At the end of each Spider-man film you know the direction the characters are headed in and they don't make have any unnecessary plot contrivances that they'll have to sweep under the rug in the sequels. They dont saddle Spider-man with children he doesnt know he has for the sake of trying to evoke some emotional response about him being an orphan. Seriously, what the hell do you do with that kid in sequels? (unless you never intended for any...) Forget him? Kill him? Make him a side-kick? If that's the case, why invent him in the first place other than for arbitrary drama?

5. Don't be ashamed of who you are. - These are comicbook characters. Embrace that! You dont need to pretend to be some boring, weighty think piece. There have been compelling drama aspects to comics for years even though the focus has always been on action and the super reality the stories are based in. You dont need to pretend to be The Bridges of Madison County in order to evoke an emotional response from your audience, the emotional aspects are in the books already. Plus going overboard like that's something that is only going to bore them to tears.This is what killed the first Hulk movie and why it's being relaunched as the action/adventure epic it should've been the first time. But at least in the case of that film, most of the cast had the acting chops to pull it off.
The Spider-man films do the comicbook drama aspect very well. The death of Peter's Uncle Ben, Peter explaining how he could've stopped the shooter to his Aunt May, the revelation to Harry Osborne that Peter is Spider-man are all very well done and all straight from the comics. Where was that in Singerman? Even the way you actually empathize to an extent with the Spider-man villains is great and they dont do it in an over-the-top, sappy way. They do what they do for a reason, not for the sake of just doing so. They actually have real motivations not wacky real estate schemes for no apparent reason. That's part of what keeps people coming back and recommending the film to their friends.

This whole "Spider-man formula," however, has been evident since May of 2002 when the first Spider-man film exploded onto the scene, a full 4 years before Singerman was even released, so why did WB miss it? Hell Singer even got parts of it right in the first two X-Men films. The only thing I can think of here is that his ego and ambition to suck up to Donner got the best of him now that he felt he didn't have to prove himself in the genre any longer.

I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC

Just a quick post here, to bring to your attention quite possibly one of the funniest video spoofs we've seen in a long time. It's a series of videos that spoof those popular Mac and PC commercials where they portray the PC as being stiff and nerdy while the Mac is hip and versatile. They're a pretty witty critique of the current state of affairs with the Marvel and DC Comics film franchises, and have some especially amusing criticisms of Singerman. Awesome work by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy.



There's actually 3 other videos in the series, and all are great. Check them out here:

Part 1
Part 3
Part 4

I'll be back with some more news next week.

SSS

Here's a Superman Movie We'd Pay to See!

Thanks to everyone who sent us this link over the past few weeks. We weren't going to post this at first since it was just a fan-made trailer (albeit one of the BEST we've ever seen). But the online response to this thing has been pretty impressive to say the least so we figured we'd give it some more pub here for those of you who havent seen it, and maybe, just maybe, people in "high places" will get some ideas from it.



Big kudos to "WormyT" on this. This must've taken him/her a LONG time to do, as video manipulation like that isn't easy by any means.

This isn't to say we're officially endorsing the casting choices in the video, though we know there's a large portion of the fandom that would be all for it. We just love the story possibilities you could get out of something like this. This trailer looks like Superman's version of Spider-man 3.

Now why does a minute and a half fan trailer elicit such an overwhelmingly positive response among fans when a two and a half hour epic film is met with a lukewarm at best response? Is it the super-villains? a ton of action? a classic-looking Superman? a Lois who can emote better than a doorknob? no super children in sight? Whatever it is, sign us up for Superman Reborn.

Singerman is Making People do BAD Things!

Well as we await any sort of serious news about whether a Singerman sequel is ever going to happen or not or what Singer's next new film project will be that he's going to do before he TOTALLY starts working on the sequel next March, we thought we'd bring these "fun" little news bit to your attention. Apparently Singerman is such a bad film, that it's driving people to commit all kinds of heinous crimes. That's right folks, people across the globe are literally being driven mad from watching the film and taking it out on their fellow man!

Take this first story from Japan for instance, about a bank worker who was paying a Canadian man to give her English lessons and got more than she bargained for:

It's not always the teachers who fall foul of the system, though. A bank worker we'll call Fumi paid a Canadian man to give her private English lessons. He started by suggesting they watch a movie to get used to hearing English. Fumi agreed and they began watching "Superman Returns."
"As soon as we sat down he put one of his arms around my shoulders and thrust the other one between my thighs. When I tried to move his hands away, he grabbed hold of my hand, tried to force it toward his crotch and said to me, 'I'm a Superman too, you know,' "
Fumi tells Shukan Post. "When we got out of the movie theater, he had the hide to tell me that our lesson had gone into overtime and he wanted to be paid more for it. I paid him 5,000 yen for the cost of a single hour's lesson and never contacted him again."

Anyone else find it ironic he was going to teach her English by taking her to a movie with so little dialogue? Also I guess the guy must've picked up on the whole "super rape" thing and thought this was OK? Somewhere Jon Peters is smiling.

But the evil this film is spreading hasnt stopped there folks. Take this next story about a murder alibi from the UK where a man killed another man with a baseball bat:

He was arrested at his mother's home in Spring Rise, Kettering, Northants, but told police: "I'm telling you on my baby's life, I didn't have anything to do with it."When he was interviewed Spouse said: "All I know is he got stabbed by Stelios." Spouse said on the night of the killing he went to a pub for drinks and then watched the film Superman Returns at a friend's house.

So was he watching Singerman at the time of the murder or did Singerman drive him to it?? He'd sure as heck have a motive, and in my book a good defense. I mean who WASN'T infuriated beyond rational thought after seeing it?

Hmmm but the plot thickens. The European Commission recently found high levels of lead and chromium in some of the Singerman toys, so perhaps that's what's driving people to do these things? Whatever it is, Singerman and his insidious plot to make us all into sexually harrassing, bat wielding criminals must be stopped!!!