best superman movie never made

Started by riddler, Wed, 10 Jul 2013, 21:30

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best supes film never made

superman V
0 (0%)
superman lives; the kevin smith version
1 (14.3%)
superman lives: the tim burton version
4 (57.1%)
superman vs batman
0 (0%)
superman returns sequel
2 (28.6%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Quote from: riddler on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 02:54
Quote from: thecolorsblend on Fri, 12 Jul  2013, 02:18
Quote from: Paul (ral) on Fri, 12 Jul  2013, 01:20Didn'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.
Not sure what the significance of that is. It's understood that Burton's pay or play fee is included in that figure.

Quote from: riddler on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 02:54Sorry 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.
Welcome to my world, man! I really dig Superman III. It's got the highest production value of any of the Reeve films, no expense was spared on any aspect of the film and it's arguably the only Reeve film where Superman is properly written in character from beginning to end. Besides, Richard is no bigger an ass in Superman III than Michael Jai White was in TDK and nobody seems to be griping about that one.

I take it none of you are looking forward to the 'Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation' extra feature on the upcoming Dark Knight Ultimate Edition dvd/blu-ray... ;)

Kind of annoys me to be honest.  What were Burton and Schumacher?  Chopped liver?  ::)  That extra is a real slap in the face to the fans of the Burton films.  Seems we don't count...

Back to 'Superman III', I agree that it has an unfair rep.  The first two Superman movies were already played for laughs pretty much from the Metropolis sequence onwards, not that I'm complaining (I prefer the more light-hearted 'comic' comic-book approach to the portentous doom and gloom of 'Superman Returns' and sorry to say, 'MOS'), so I've never understood all the bashing 'Superman III' gets although maybe it helps that I'm a big Richard Pryor fan and I really dug his hapless computer-genius-led-astray character.  The film also allows Christopher Reeve to add yet another string to his bow as far as his repertoire in the role goes since he gets to play a convincingly callous 'Bad Superman'.  The scene where he forgoes going to rescue the truck on the bridge by a few seconds to spend time flirting with Lana Lang is actually a great piece of subtle acting.
Johnny Gobs got ripped and took a walk off a roof, alright? No big loss.

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 03:48
Quote from: riddler on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 02:54
Quote from: thecolorsblend on Fri, 12 Jul  2013, 02:18
Quote from: Paul (ral) on Fri, 12 Jul  2013, 01:20Didn'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.
Not sure what the significance of that is. It's understood that Burton's pay or play fee is included in that figure.

Quote from: riddler on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 02:54Sorry 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.
Welcome to my world, man! I really dig Superman III. It's got the highest production value of any of the Reeve films, no expense was spared on any aspect of the film and it's arguably the only Reeve film where Superman is properly written in character from beginning to end. Besides, Richard is no bigger an ass in Superman III than Michael Jai White was in TDK and nobody seems to be griping about that one.

Oh okay I wasn't sure how well known it was but I did see Kevin Smith talking about it live hence why I brought it up. Smith got some money too but it was less than 7 figures.


I guess I'm not the only one who is getting a guilty pleasure over the Nolan fans going at it with the Donner fans  :P

Quote from: johnnygobbs on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 05:02I take it none of you are looking forward to the 'Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation' extra feature on the upcoming Dark Knight Ultimate Edition dvd/blu-ray... ;)
Couldn't care less, actually. If the set included director's commentary, I might buy it but that doesn't seem to be the case. Besides, I can't quite shake the suspicion that the Nolan/Donner thing will be a quick 10 minute affair where basically the two read off a script and have a mutual admiration society going, blah blah blah, shoot me now.

Am I the only who is grateful that Superman Lives was never made? I honestly think it could have destroyed Burton's career as a director.
QuoteJonathan Nolan: He [Batman] has this one rule, as the Joker says in The Dark Knight. But he does wind up breaking it. Does he break it in the third film?

Christopher Nolan: He breaks it in...

Jonathan Nolan: ...the first two.

Source: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=uwV8rddtKRgC&pg=PR8&dq=But+he+does+wind+up+breaking+it.&hl=en&sa=X&ei

Quote from: The Laughing Fish on Sun, 21 Jul  2013, 01:33Am I the only who is grateful that Superman Lives was never made? I honestly think it could have destroyed Burton's career as a director.
Eh, all signs lately have indicated it would've been a basically traditional Superman movie. Fans have bashed on it site-unseen for years. I don't know about anybody else but I would rather have gotten Superman Lives in 1997 (or whenever) than Singerman in 2006.

It's common to use that black and silver "recovery" outfit concept art (which Burton rejected, btw) as "proof" that Burton didn't know wtf he was doing but I don't think that's fair. If M. Night Shayamasakjaskjdkalnsaisdfuasdf8asdfnsadfnasidurweujr90120asdfkjasdfoiuadsf can survive Lady in the Water, The Happening and The Last Airbender, Burton could've survived Superman Lives if it'd turned out badly.

Funny enough, there was a silver and black costume design in the concept art of Man of Steel, too, yet in the final film, the main costume (while trunkless) was still pretty much the traditional Superman suit, as it would've been in Superman Lives:
http://tjx.moviejabber.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/man-of-steel-henry-cavill-superman-concept-art-black.png
That awkward moment when you remember the only Batman who's never killed is George Clooney...

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 21:36
Quote from: johnnygobbs on Sat, 20 Jul  2013, 05:02I take it none of you are looking forward to the 'Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation' extra feature on the upcoming Dark Knight Ultimate Edition dvd/blu-ray... ;)
Couldn't care less, actually. If the set included director's commentary, I might buy it but that doesn't seem to be the case. Besides, I can't quite shake the suspicion that the Nolan/Donner thing will be a quick 10 minute affair where basically the two read off a script and have a mutual admiration society going, blah blah blah, shoot me now.
That's what I mean.  It sounds like some back-slapping smugathon asserting the Donner and Nolan franchises as the 'true' versions of Superman and Batman and everything else in-between-be-damned which irritates the hell out of me.
Johnny Gobs got ripped and took a walk off a roof, alright? No big loss.

Quote from: The Laughing Fish on Sun, 21 Jul  2013, 01:33
Am I the only who is grateful that Superman Lives was never made? I honestly think it could have destroyed Burton's career as a director.

Is that due to the assumption it would have to be ultra dark and twisted? because that's not always the case such as big fish and planet of the apes. Though as Joel Schumacher proved, delivering a bomb on a big budget can kill a career.

Quote from: riddler on Sun, 21 Jul  2013, 13:45
Quote from: The Laughing Fish on Sun, 21 Jul  2013, 01:33
Am I the only who is grateful that Superman Lives was never made? I honestly think it could have destroyed Burton's career as a director.

Is that due to the assumption it would have to be ultra dark and twisted? because that's not always the case such as big fish and planet of the apes. Though as Joel Schumacher proved, delivering a bomb on a big budget can kill a career.
On an OT note it's a pity that the failure of Batman & Robin destroyed Schumacher's career.  Give or take Tigerland and Phone Booth (both of which I like but neither of which came close to setting the box-office alight) Schumacher hasn't made anything of any note since 1997 and it seems his career is effectively over.  However, before Batman & Robin he was a pretty decent filmmaker with The Lost Boys, Flatliners, Falling Down, The Client, A Time to Kill and a personal, admittedly cheesy, favourite of mine, St. Elmo's Fire, all to his name along with the so-so but commercially huge Batman Forever.  His name doesn't really deserve to be a by-word for cinematic dreck but unfortunately, that seems to be his legacy.
Johnny Gobs got ripped and took a walk off a roof, alright? No big loss.