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August 22, 2008


Turns out those rumors that Warner Bros. wants to reboot their Superman franchise rather than make a sequel to Superman Returns are true.

In a move reminiscent of how Marvel Studios ignored Ang Lee's Hulk when making this summer's The Incredible Hulk, that notorious fanboy rag The Wall Street Journal reports that Warners plans to "reintroduce" the Man of Steel to audiences by 2011.

The studio "is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters."

Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov told WSJ that the Bryan Singer-directed Superman Returns "didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to. ... It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned."

The exec added, "Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. ... But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."

Given the astounding commercial success of the grim and gritty Dark Knight, Robinov says Warners's upcoming DC movie slate is "going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," and the next Superman movie will be no exception.

The WSJ article also confirms that the live-action Justice League of America movie has been indefinitely shelved so that Warners, a la Marvel Studios' plan for an Avengers movie in 2011, can introduce that team's key members -- including Superman, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern -- in their own individual films before producing a team-up movie.