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.

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."

Future of the Singerman Sequel Beginning to Look a Bit "Milky."

Today's Daily Variety is reporting that your friend and mine, Bryan Singer is trying to be first in production with a film about Harvey Milk, the San Francisco supervisor and first openly gay elected official in the U.S., who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by Supervisor Daniel White. The article goes on to say that:

After 15 years in development, "The Mayor of Castro Street," the movie based on the book by Randy Shilts, is moving toward the starting gate. Warner Independent Prods., which brought in Singer two years ago, is near a deal with Participant Prods. to co-finance and with Chris McQuarrie to write the final draft.

Craig Zadan, who is producing "The Mayor of Castro Street" with Neil
Meron, liked their chances to get into production quickly. This despite Singer's commitment to the Cruise movie, "Valkyrie," which has a July 8 start date, and a "Superman Returns" sequel which Warner Bros. hopes to have ready for release in 2009.

"We're seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel," he said. "Warner Independent is pushing us to get the film made right away. Some of it might have to do with the enormous success of 'Brokeback Mountain,' and some of it is passion for the right tone and the story we are telling. Chris has nailed the take, and the goal is to have the script ready so that we can make the movie as soon as Bryan finishes his UA film. We've had tremendous response from
actors."

A lot of us doubted Singer's ability to make 1 film before the production of a potential Singerman II film began but thought maybe there was a chance it was possible. Now do you really think he's going to be able make 2?? All before next March when Singerman Ii was allegedley supposed to begin production? Also could this have been the film that Singer was seen talking to Orlando Bloom about with WB producer Jon Peters? And if you're WB wouldnt you want to make some kind of announcement about the future of the Singerman franchise? Round and round we go..

Singerman 2 to be Shelved in Favor of the JLA Movie?

Take this one with a BIG grain of salt, but Moviehole has an article up today quoting "inside sources" close to W.B. Studios saying that they may be shelving any plans for Singerman 2 to move ahead with the Justice League of America movie featuring Superman as a lead character.

"I heard from a pretty reliable source this weekend – who, has some top contacts himself – who essentially confirmed that the WB are thinking of putting the next “Superman” movie into turnaround, and instead will just use the character in the new “Justice League” movie. (Funnily enough, Batman would not be involved in the new film – he’s too big to waste on a film like this, apparently).

Having now heard the same from about half-a-dozen reliable insiders, I checked in with a couple of sources near the Water Tower itself, who wouldn’t confirm nor deny the reports, but definitely haven’t dismissed that it’s a possibility. One of them would only say that there “could be something in [that]”

If true, that's quite interesting. The evidence would also seemingly be starting to mount against Singer getting the chance to have another go at the rotting corpse of Superman he left us or at the very least delaying it.

It seems they'd be taking Superman for the JLA film as a way to help try to drum up support for the Superman character after the lackluster box office from the first Singerman film. If the JLA film was a monster hit, the article muses, they might then go ahead with a Singerman 2. But does that make much sense? If someone is able to make the JLA a monster hit using Superman (hopefully, correctly this time) why would W.B. then want to turn around and hand him back to the guy who screwed it up the 1st time? Unless of course they mean, they'll go ahead with another Superman film perhaps not with Singer attached to direct again, but that's not really clear.

The article also states that they think Brandon Routh would most likely be donning the tights again in the JLA film, but I'm not too sure about that. If you believe some of the rumored script ideas for the JLA movie Routh's Superman wouldn't exactly be in continuity with it, although let's face it his Superman wasn't in continuity with ANYTHING. Another thing to consider is that he might have the stigma of being part of Singerman attached to him, and if WB's unhappy enough with the Singerman franchise to bale on it, or at the very least delay it for a while, why would they want to risk the public associating the two films by having the same star in the same role?

UPDATE: IGN has admitted hearing the same rumor over the weekend.

Singerman's Next Flight Could Be Delayed.

Just one day after Brandon Routh did an interview to remind the general public that he had not been sucked into a black hole and was still in fact here on the planet Earth, comes a report in today's Variety that the next installment of the Singerman travesty errr trilogy could be delayed due to Singer agreeing to make another film with United Artists and one of the few people with an ego bigger than himself, Tom Cruise. Some interesting bits from the article:

"United Artists toppers Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner have
greenlit their second film, an original thriller that Bryan Singer will direct
as his next feature...

The film will delay Warner Bros.' hope of mounting a
sequel to "Superman Returns" in the near future."

Hmmm... this is quite interesting on two fronts. First and most obivous, if Singer is directing this World War II film as his next project and they haven't even gotten to the pre-production phase yet, there's no way in hell it's completed in time that they start doing a Singerman sequel early next year for a 2009 release as has been speculated. As Variety says, it has to delay any kind of Singerman sequel, unless of course now that W.B. has cleaned it's "superhero house" with the exception of the Batman franchise, perhaps plans have changed?

Which leads me into the second front. Could this be the first sign that Singer is possibly on the way out of the Superman franchise? While it may be just wishful thinking on our part, seeing him taking on a film like this at this point in time does raise some eyebrows. Are Singer's "principles" somehow compromised by WB's mandate for a more action-oriented film with a scaled down budget? Or could the studio, who had a rough go of it in 2006, be looking for a new creative direction with a director who can do more with less? Too bad Zach Snyder is already signed on to do The Watchman next year. Now there's a guy who can do a comicbook justice. At one time, Singer was supposed to do a film in between Singerman and a potential sequel, but that was supposed to be part of his deal with WB and the project would be a WB project. This film has nothing to do with WB.

Some Superman "fan" sites have claimed this report is false, but offer no clue as to how they would know this? Given this report is from a credible industry source like Variety, I'm inclined to believe it for now. WB has made no official statement as of yet.