JLA is Not Looking So Good

Hey, at least that Superman can fill out a suit...

It appears WB's ineptitude with it's superheroes knows no bounds, as recent reports in both Variety and the Hollywood Reporter are now suggesting that the much ballyhooed film has been put on hold until at least the end of the WGA strike or it possibly could even be joining Singerman II in the scrap heap. It looks like the project encountered a myriad of issues from casting, to the inability to do rewrites, to a lack of necessary tax incentives from the Australian government.

But my friends, that is just the tip of the iceberg! Wait until you hear who they were going to cast in this film. It appears that the "WORST CAST LIST EVER!" that was posted on Superhero Hype! a few months back was pretty spot on. The Hollywood Reporter details the carnage:

The decision to put the project on hold now frees up the actors who had been cast in the roles of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash. D.J. Cotrona, Adam Brody, Anton Yelchin, Common, Teresa Palmer and Megan Gale had been cast in the movie in November, with their holding deals extended at least once as the studio tackled the script problems. The extensions expired Tuesday, after which a pay-or-play situation would have taken effect.

"Justice's" delay is considered good news for Christopher Nolan's camp. Nolan is in post on "The Dark Knight," the sequel to "Batman Begins," and is said to have been unhappy with the "Justice League" movie because its version of Batman (to have been played by Armie Hammier) clashed with his (Christian Bale).

Holy shit on a stick does that list suck! Sure the delay is good news for Nolan's camp.. and anyone who hasn't ever wiped their ass with a JLA comic. What the hell is WB thinking? They were going to make a gazillion dollar film and have a nickel and dime cast? The only name on that list that doesn't make me cringe is Common, but he's a decent supporting actor, he's not good enough to carry a cast of soap opera rejects. Please tell me the man who gave us Mad Max is not responsible for this and that some suits foisted them upon him? Otherwise I've lost a ton of respect for George Miller. D.J. Effing Cotrona was going to be their Superman??? He's 5'9" for Christ's sake! The Baking Soda kid who was to play Batman is 6'5", Cotrona would've looked like his god damn side kick and together they've got the acting resume of Paris Hilton. The "casting issues" the article speaks about have to have something to do with someone in the studio with at least a modicum of common sense looking at this cast list and saying "WTF? Are you serious?"

Regardless, for anyone who thought that WB was starting to come around and get any kind of handle on their superhero properties, if Singerman wasn't enough then this should convince you that Batman Begins was a complete fluke occurrence.

Now on to something I feel I need to address: the whole "Uncle Bingo" fiasco. As I've always said to you, be careful to ever believe ANYTHING you read on internet messagboards. Someone ALWAYS has some kind of agenda. And once again I was proven correct as Uncle Bingo's was either to mess with people or spread false hope. It's clear now that he, and those who were singing a similar tune, were DEAD wrong. I was really surprised by some emails I'd gotten showing me just how far it had spread too.

The thing that does piss me off about it is not so much that he came on here and did that, its because since his comments were posted in the comments section here, some people (a few even with their own websites) have attributed them to this blog. Why? Hell if I know. Another chance to badmouth the blogosphere and make themselves feel superior perhaps?

Singerman II Going "Nowhere"

In today's Variety, Anne Thompson followed up her previous blog scoop with an interesting article that discusses the fate of any potential sequel to Singerman. While its not really anything we didnt already know, it does at least bring the point home for those who were whining about how" if she REALLY knew this why not put it in the magazine?" Well here you go. While she seems to be attributing a lot of things to the WGA strike, she brings up some interesting points in giving a run down of what we've been following for the past 6 months:

After "Superman Returns" delivered a disappointing box office take of $386 million worldwide, Warner Bros. and Singer debated how to proceed with the next "Superman" pic. The studio even considered rebooting the franchise with someone else.

But eventually WB execs Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov agreed to proceed with Singer at the helm of a $170 million "Man of Steel" packed with more action, a super-powered villain and less romantic melodrama.

We've heard this before, and it still makes absolutely no sense. How do you expect "more action and a super-powered villain" with $35+ million less in budget? From Singer of all people? If anyone still doubted his sense of fiscal responsibility, you need to look no further than his current project.

Before Singer started production on UA's "Valkyrie," WB and co-financier Legendary Pictures closed a deal for him to produce and direct "Superman: Man of Steel."

What she's talking about here is the development deal we heard about over the summer.

According to a spokesman for the director’s reps at William Morris, “ ‘Superman’ is moving forward with Bryan Singer attached.” But inside the studio, “Superman” is not on any fast track, and word is that Singer may wind up not directing it.
Nothing is happening. The WB supervising exec on the project, Dan Lin, has moved over to a studio production deal; exec Lynn Harris is taking over.

And there it is., right there in the pages of Variety for all who complained about it only being a blog posting.

So while Internet comic sites are rife with rumors about Warners replacing Routh with the new Superman from "The Justice League," the question of who plays Superman will depend on who directs Superman.

As we speculated, Routh's fate is tethered to that of Singer's apparently sinking ship. Don't be surprised if her remark about Singer looking for another project to direct is a subtle hint to a pending agreement with UA, especially since they've now cut a deal with the WGA.

The only thing I find odd about the article is that she seems to at times be attributing this all to the WGA strike. But a potential Singerman II was off the radar WELL before the strike happened. Otherwise they'd be in the position that the JLA film is now trying to make a Summer 2009 release. Obviously there are other factors at play here, and the change of leadership at WB may have more to do with it than you think.

Say Goodbye to Routh Too

When it rains, it pours I guess. These past few days feel like that scene in the movie Goodfellas when all of the mobsters who were in on the Lufthansa heist start turning up dead. Only their crimes weren't as egregious.

Just days after we got news of what potentially could be Bryan Singer's demise as director of Singerman, comes word via the fine folks over at Latino Review that Brandon Routh is OUT as the "Man of Squeal" as well in any solo Superman films, and that the Superman from the Justice League film, when or if he's ever cast, will take over the role in any stand alone flicks that will thankfully have absolutely no relation to Singerman. The article reads:

Kelvin knew about Brandon not being the new Superman for weeksand weeks now, but made a promise to the DC people that he wouldn't break the story. Variety has now confirmed what we've secretly known for a while and Brandon Routh will be replaced in the stand alone sequel by whomever is cast as Superman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie.

If Singer is gone as is expected, then Routh getting the boot is basically just a formality. We pretty much thought that would be the case. Routh is, in effect, the ugly baby getting thrown out with the dirty bathwater. As I've said before, personally I have no issues with Routh. While his acting is a bit stiff, he wasn't the big issue here and might've been serviceable under better direction. He seems like a likeable enough person, but he's just too much a part of what Singer did and that's something that will never come off in the public's eyes. Any future incarnation of Superman with him in it would automatically be linked to Singerman and that's NOT a good thing in WB's eyes at this point. Best of luck in your future endeavors maybe now you can devote more time to campaigning for Barack Obama. Ugh.

Now as for this JLA Superman. The heat has been pumped up a notch. As we suspected, this role will be bigger than just one film or even the JLA series. This person will have to be able to star in the role in solo films as well. God help us all if WB thinks some schmeg like D.J. Cotrona is going to be able to hold up that burden. Your move, WB.

UPDATE 1/5/08: Here we go again, Now AICN is allegedly "debunking" this claiming that they've talked to one of their infamous "moles." I had a feeling something like this was going to pop up from someone else with a source. Honestly, I'm deferring to Latino Review and their previous track record until I hear otherwise. We all know AICN's track record for things Superman has been a bit sketchy at best. Remember Rupert Evans and Scott Porter? Stay tuned.

"Highly Unlikely" That Singer Will Return

Set phasers to DONE!

Well what we've been speculating on for months now seems to be coming to fruition as rumblings in and around Hollywood are that Bryan Singer is on his way out as director of the Superman franchise! Word of our pending independence comes via the blog of Variety Deputy Editor Anne Thompson.

In her most recent posting, Thompson discusses meeting Batman director Chris Nolan as well as the current state of the DC Comics movie franchises:

Speaking of DC Comics pics, it is highly unlikely that Bryan Singer will return to shoot the next Superman movie. (The director is finishing up Tom Cruise's Nazi film Valkyrie, and prepping The Mayor of Castro Street). The next Superman we will see on the big screen will not be Brandon Routh, but a younger Superman among a cast of youthful superheroes in The Justice League. That movie will likely not be shot, however, until after the WGA strike is resolved. Warners is so happy with Dark Knight that their fondest hope is that Nolan will return to do another Batman.

Not to toot our own horn here, but we've been saying that was a strong possibility for a while now. From the unsupportive comments of Alan Horn, to the fast-tracked JLA project into the 2009 slot formerly thought to go to a possible Singerman sequel, to the release of Harris and Dougherty, all things seem to pointing to Singer going 'bye bye." We can only hope this is indeed the case. Hopefully this means that this version of the franchise is dead and that WB doesn't plan on having some other director try to clean up his mess in it's current state. Keep your fingers crossed.

Interesting tidbit there about JLA as well, since previously the thinking was that it would lense before the WGA strike ended.