The History Of Superman Returns?

[chrono]

I found this online: the stange and evil tale of the production of Superman V. It spans decades, $50,000,000 is spent before they even have even settled on a writer or director. It's so horrible. It's out of date as it stops in the middle of 2004, but it's so horrible, you have to read it.

The whole thing started in 1987. The Israeli producing team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus (who were cousins, by the way) had bought the film rights to Superman from Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the obnoxious father-son duo who made the first three films. WB gave Golan and Globus’ production company Cannon Films $40 million bucks to make Superman IV, and Golan-Globus took the money and spent it all on their other pictures. They only spent $17 million on Superman IV, chopping out key plot sequences (a grand total of 45 minutes’ worth of critical story material was excised) and gutting the FX in order to keep the costs down. Anyway, Superman IV bombed because of the hack job Golan-Globus did on it. But since they still had the rights to Superman, they decided to make a fifth film for release in 1989, with Captain America (the one with Matt Salinger and Ronny Cox) director Albert Pyun at the helm. They also planned to reuse all the edited material from Superman IV and to recast Superman with another actor (their antics on IV left Reeve outraged with them). However, Cannon fell on hard times and Golan left to make his own company, 21st Century Films (which went under in the early ‘90s—he’s since re-founded Cannon), and the rights to Superman reverted back to the Salkinds. This was when Superboy was in full swing on TV, and the Salkinds decided to restart the Superman film series using Superboy as the prequel. Hence, Superman comic scribe Cary Bates and his Superboy writing partner Mark Jones were drafted to write a script pitting Superman against Brainiac in a story set in the bottled city of Kandor. Under the working title Superman: The New Movie, this film was to have been released in 1994, with Superboy star Gerard Christopher taking over for Reeve as Superman. (To this day, the deleted footage from Superman IV remains unaccounted for.)

Read the rest here(long read though):

http://www.agonybooth.com/forum/topic2730.htm

I seriously do NOT know if this is true, but frankly it's so outrageous that it makes you wonder if it's NOT true!

[Hikuro]

There's already a Superman thread I believe......should be posting in there.

[Agent ONE]

Too much reading...

Give me the executive summary.

[sabretooth]

ummm...superman 5 would have sucked beyond any and all level suck ever known before, ever.

[EXO]

Too much reading...

Give me the executive summary.

348246[/snapback]

Peter Gruber is on top of a mountain of dumbasses that run Hollywood.

[chrono]

Too much reading...

Give me the executive summary.

348246[/snapback]

Hmmm... ok

People in control of the Superman project hate the orginal Superman, with a vengence.

Write revisionary Superman.

Script rewritten over a dozen times.

Real fans repeatingly write scripts, repeatingly tossed.

Fans revolt after hearing the revised Superman.

Fans become stupid and swallow the bait "Change is good!" that the studio sells them.

Fans become studio slaves and zerg loyalist fans.

Directors, Producers, Writers, Actors, and Studio Heads are changed as fast as underwear at a P0rN shoot.

"Clark Kent, CIA."

A gay Jimmy Oslen.

A black Lois Lane.

Matrix-style/Venom-style/Capeless supersuit with Keanu in it.

Short enough?

But frankly there is just SOOOOOOO much fuglyness in it that it starts to make you think about what crap might have gotten though to be on film!

[Agent ONE]

Too much reading...

Give me the executive summary.

348246[/snapback]

Hmmm... ok

People in control of the Superman project hate the orginal Superman, with a vengence.

Write revisionary Superman.

Script rewritten over a dozen times.

Real fans repeatingly write scripts, repeatingly tossed.

Fans revolt after hearing the revised Superman.

Fans become stupid and swallow the bait "Change is good!" that the studio sells them.

Fans become studio slaves and zerg loyalist fans.

Directors, Producers, Writers, Actors, and Studio Heads are changed as fast as underwear at a P0rN shoot.

"Clark Kent, CIA."

A gay Jimmy Oslen.

A black Lois Lane.

Matrix-style/Venom-style/Capeless supersuit with Keanu in it.

Short enough?

But frankly there is just SOOOOOOO much fuglyness in it that it starts to make you think about what crap might have gotten though to be on film!

348264[/snapback]

Thanks for that... So that was the plot for Superman5? What bearing does this have on Superman Returns?

[azrael]

Most of it is true. I do remember most of that stuff, although I didn't really read it since it would have bored me. I can't account for the stuff that happened behind the scenes though.

Now that I look back on it, Tim Burton may have brought some great imagery to Batman, but he royally f*cked the story. I don't think I want to imagine what he would have done for Supes....

[azrael]

Thanks for that... So that was the plot for Superman5?  What bearing does this have on Superman Returns?

348337[/snapback]

That's what Superman Returns might have been...had the wrong people been attached to produce it.

[chrono]

Thanks for that... So that was the plot for Superman5?  What bearing does this have on Superman Returns?

Not really, there was about 4-5 different plots during the re-writes.

One was that Clark never knew about his powers until after he shacked up(not married) with Lois on the olde family and she found out about them via the spacship just after she got knocked up. Another one was that Jor-El was actually a Kryptonian Warlord(Krypton is still intact) who knew a form of Kung Fu and his son was foretold killing him, but Lor-El found out and sent him to Earth but later got tortured to death. An even funnier one was that Luthor and Brainiac got merged and that Brainiac was built by Jor-El but got jealous because of Clarks birth and destroyed Krypton and was out to kill Clark on earth.

As for what bearing it has on the Superman: Returns movie... your guess is as good as mine. But after reading all of that background and knowing that the plot is being held highly secretive it makes me feel abit leary of the movie. Especially in the light that they planned for a darker murderous Superman, who is now wearing a darker shaded suit, and Lois having a kid, which is a rumor right now but sounds to much like some of the rewritten scripts.

But I'll wait and see like everyone else is.

[areaseven]

There's already a Superman thread I believe......should be posting in there.

348236[/snapback]

I agree. Please use the Search function next time.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=16906

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=11473

[chrono]

And yes lets all post and merge every anime posting into one thread while were at it. Silly.

[Agent ONE]

And yes lets all post and merge every anime posting into one thread while were at it. Silly.

348431[/snapback]

I think this thread has its own merrit. The other superman threads are about the new movie, not the 'what might have been' stuff.

[Ladic]

interesting stuff.

and would the mods wannabe stfu for once?

[JB0]

*twitches*

Talk about not knowing what to do with a franchise.

[yellowlightman]

If nothing else, it's nice to know what a completely overrated hack Tim Burton is.

[EXO]

If nothing else, it's nice to know what a completely overrated hack Tim Burton is.

348483[/snapback]

hahaha, take THAT nightmareB4Macross!

[Agent ONE]

interesting stuff.

and would the mods wannabe stfu for once?

348465[/snapback]

Everybody is allowed to have an opinion about how the board is run. We all spend time here... Do you have an opinion about the governing body of the country you live in?

[mikeszekely]

I think this thread has its own merrit. The other superman threads are about the new movie, not the 'what might have been' stuff.

Seconded. Frankly, I'm sick of having to sift through 90 pages of some "super-thread" to read up on things that were only marginally related to the original topic.

And getting back on topic, that is some freaky stuff made all the freakier because that's exactly the kind of crap Hollyweird seems hellbent of force-feeding us.

[Graham]

IIRC, wasn't there at one point talk of the Nic Cage Superman having a see-through costume.............the mind boggles!

Grahan

[doodler7]

so is the new Superman movie coming out titled, Superman Returns?

and is this new movie basically compressing Superman I & II for the first 25 minutes?

this is a whole new take on Superman?

the title is confusing, as if Superman went somewhere and came back.

if the producers/directors/writers etc. were to stick to this title ... they should just base the story from the Kingdom Come graphic novel ... now that would be a great movie.

[Renato]

IIRC, wasn't there at one point talk of the Nic Cage Superman having a see-through costume.............the mind boggles!

Grahan

348513[/snapback]

Yeah, apparently all his internal organs would be constantly visible. Seriously.

That later changed to a Venom-style suit where the Superman suit would come onto his body by itself when he needs it. Sigh..

I especially like the bit about Justin Timberlake being offered the role. AND he even turned it down, saying "whatever you guys are smoking, I won't no part in it". It really makes you think when even people like him begin questioning artistic integrity in a project.

[azrael]

Any direction Burton or Peters would have taken Supes would have been the wrong one. Burton should just stick to his weird movies and never ever be mentioned for a comic-to-movie script. I can't really see Nick Cage in blue tights and a red cape but at least he was thinking the right direction with what he wanted to do with Supes.

so is the new Superman movie coming out titled, Superman Returns?

Yep.

and is this new movie basically compressing Superman I & II for the first 25 minutes?

No, not really. It's a continuation of the Superman from Superman I & II. Leaves out Supes III and IV as if they never happened....

this is a whole new take on Superman?

Kind of.

the title is confusing, as if Superman went somewhere and came back.

Yes, Superman did go somewhere. The story is about Superman returning (Hence "Superman Returns") to Earth after a self-imposed exile. This is also his return to the big-screen. As I said in the other thread, this movie seems to deal with the changes in Supes' life since he's been away and how he reacts to them. We also revisit his youth (pre-Smallville) as we see him go through a somewhat abnormal puberty period...again it's a change in his life.

[Mr March]

Talk of the buried Superman productions always reminds me of the Kevin Smith tale. He was approached at one point to do a Superman film. However there were conditions attached to the project by this one studio rep that lead to a hilarious story. Kevin Smith vividly recalls the big theme this studio representative had for Superman:

"I don't want to see the costume, I don't want to see him fly, and in the third act, I want him to fight a giant spider"

Obviously, Smith never directed a Superman film, but he does recall that summer, a film was released in which the hero fights a giant spider in the third act. It was called Wild Wild West.

Great story

[EXO]

It sounds like what John Peters really wanted to see was Appleseed. The only reason for these people to want to make this movie is to cash in on the built in audience. What we need is a superhero that gets rif of lawyers and businessmen from the Hollywood offices. There was a time when the people that ran these places were actually fan of movies.

[Ladic]

I like more the fact that the guy went from hairdresser to movie producer, lol.

[Sundown]

I like more the fact that the guy went from hairdresser to movie producer, lol.

348700[/snapback]

There's also a funny anecdote that Smith gives about Peters when he tells Smith, "See, you and I know how it's like. We're from the streets."

Smith responds, "Uh, no we aren't. You were a hairdresser once, and I grew up in the suburbs."

[azrael]

There's also a funny anecdote that Smith gives about Peters when he tells Smith, "See, you and I know how it's like.  We're from the streets."

Smith responds, "Uh, no we aren't.  You were a hairdresser once, and I grew up in the suburbs."

348720[/snapback]