best superman movie never made

[thecolorsblend]

More's the pity, that sounds like a great trilogy. I especially like the concepts of the evolving costume and the expansive universe incorporating the JSA and Legion of Superheroes. That would make excellent groundwork for a shared cinematic universe.

That was the idea.

Even if this is the genuine plot they were going with, it's not perfect. I particularly don't like the bit about Superman having to kill Jason. But I expect Singer would have learned from his mistakes and that this would have been a significant improvement over the first film. If nothing else, it would have resolved the storyline about Superman's son and would have featured lots of action. And if it did turn out to be rubbish, then fine, they could still have gone ahead with the Man of Steel reboot. But I would have liked to have seen this film released back in 2009/2010.

I kind of understand but my question was and is how Singer could deliver the goods a second time around for a purportedly smaller budget when he couldn't do it the first time around when he had a financial and creative blank check from WB? I think the only error WB made was not rebooting back in 2006. But at least we're on the right track now.

[Paul (ral)]

Didn't the reported budget of Superman Returns also contain the costs from the previous attempts to get a movie off the ground?

[thecolorsblend]

Didn't the reported budget of Superman Returns also contain the costs from the previous attempts to get a movie off the ground?

Yep. $270'ish mill altogether.

[phantom stranger]

From this list, I would've liked to have seen the Burton film. Weirdness and all.

Yea, I'm tired of people bashing the cancelled project. The reality is that it would have been awesome and would've made a ton of money.

As for Cage, keep in mind that he was still a respected actor in the 90's. He didn't become a punchline until around 2006. I think within the confines of the Burton film he would've worked as the Man of Steel.

I always liked this fan-made trailer:

[thecolorsblend]

^ Some dude crowd-sourced a documentary about the Burton film. If he reached a certain level in donations, he would attempt to recreate a scene or two in the film. And he's apparently got the chops to do it.

I'm with you though. I'm kind of done with bashing on the movie. (1) It was never made so trashing it seems unfair (especially when the people doing the trashing all but fellate Donner's horrible "unfinished" cut of Superman II) and (2) all signs indicate that the final movie would've been a lot closer to a traditional Superman film than the haters would have you believe. Most of the concept art that was released prior to 2010 or 2011 was for rejected designs. BURTON HIMSELF NEVER APPROVED THAT STUFF.

Anyway, sorry to go on a tear here but this has really become a sore point for me.

[riddler]

I think if the Burton film were made it would have become the first ongoing comic film war (essentially the Nolan vs Burton battle years earlier);
Donner wanted an unrecognizable actor to play superman so that he could pull off both roles. Cage was of course a known actor.
Donners films were extra light; he made Metropolis like the anti-gotham city. Burton would have given an extremely darker film.It would have been a polar opposite.


I'd be interested in the Kevin Smith version; he's the most qualified to write/direct a comic book film. But maybe it was for the best as he was heavily handcuffed by WB; superman couldn't fly and had to fight a giant spider. He was forced to write in ideas which failed in wild wild west.

[BatmanFanatic93]

For me the tim burton superman & superman returns sequel....shame nether of them got made cause i heard rumors & even seen concept arts for each movies & i liked them espcially the bizarro ones.

[The Joker]

Superman Lives, with the Kevin Smith script, would have been interesting to see fully realized, but I would probably have to go with the Flyby version scripted by J.J. Abrams.

Not sure how serious WB was on Brendan Fraser as Supes though back in 2002/2003.
Jim Caviezel would have assuredly been my pick.

[Paul (ral)]

Not sure how serious WB was on Brendan Fraser as Supes though back in 2002/2003.

He did have a costume fitting - I would like to see that costume.

[riddler]

Didn't the reported budget of Superman Returns also contain the costs from the previous attempts to get a movie off the ground?

Yep. $270'ish mill altogether.

Burton took home 10 mil himself in a pay or play fee.

The music for the trailer was neat but I'm sure he would have used Danny Elfman for the score which could have been epic.


I can't think of any cinematic character other than maybe James Bond (whom I don't follow closely) which had as many projects nixed in development as superman; superman V, Flyby, Superman Lives, and superman returns 2. This is also ignoring previous attempts to start the series before Donner did.


Sorry to say but I'm starting to get annoyed with the Donner fans. I re watched all the superman films prior to man of steel and must say that superman III is heavily underrated. While that kind of comedy didnt work for Batman, it does for superman and I don't mind it when they clearly establish they are attempting comedy (which they imply with Richard Pryor). It also had elements of darkness with the black kryptonite and I liked the Lana Lang/Smallville factor. I liked the idea of Clark being a father figure better than being a father and it was refreshing to have a villain other than Lex Luthor.