Strike Coming to an End, Singerman Sequel still Dead

Just checking in for the first time in a little while. Finally there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel with this whole Writer's Guild strike business. According to The Hollywood Reporter and various other sources, the WGA leadership in an impromptu press conference today revealed that they are encouraged by a proposed agreement from the AMPTP and that if all goes as planned, the picket signs could be put away as early as sometime on Monday. In our opinion, its about damn time, as the thought of endless months of reality television were starting to make my skin crawl. I have a feeling the AMPTP will really be the one to have "won out" this time around.

But that's not all the good news we have for you today. Well it's not really "news" since we've been saying it for a good long while, but its always nice to see it in print nonetheless. According to yesterday's Hollywood Reporter, the strike's impending resolution has heartened studios, specialty divisions and mini-majors that a host of development projects could suddenly be jump-started. They then go on to give a few blurbs about some of the upcoming WB projects:

The consensus from industryites seemed to be that Warner Bros. had the most immediate need on both the development and spec script sides. The studio's offerings for 2009 are light, with "Watchmen," based on the graphic novel; the children's fantasy "Where the Wild Things Are"; and "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins."

There are at least nine more projects that are not dated but could be slated for 2009, according to one source. But one studio tentpole, the sequel to "Superman Returns," is not so lucky. There apparently are no current plans to add the project to the slate, according to a studio source.

Yup, still as dead as ever. Sorry, Restart there will be no Singerman 2 in 2009, and god willing, never, ever again. Oh yeah and they do also mention the JLA film:

Meanwhile, productions with known script issues such as Warner Bros. tentpole "Justice League" are expected to get fast-tracked once writers return to the scene.

Let's all pray to whatever deity you choose that by "get fast-tracked" they mean "gets tweaked, rethought, and recast. " As bad as that last update got we sounded, WB is still more confident in it than going forward with another Singerman film. This should hopefully put to bed those silly rumors that another Singer film was only being delayed due to the strike.

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.