Movie Morsels 28 - Fall Preview, Superman

TWoP has a photo gallery of fall's blockbuster movies. It's actually a pretty small cross-section of films - I guess they're strictly sticking to "blockbusters" and not necessarily "award winners" and the like - so if you're overwhelmed by the shear number of movies coming out over the next few months (and this doesn't even count winter!) then it's a good way to see just a snippet of what will be available. (If you want to see the collection of fall movies TWoP has deemed "award bait," click here.)

_____________________________

Poor Brandon Routh. I've been reading little bits here and there about how, thanks to the mega-success of The Dark Knight, Warner Brother's wants to reboot their Superman franchise. But nothing seemed super concrete so I haven't really given it much thought. Then, this week, lots of my sites popped up with new info, straight from WB, that makes this turn of events seem very likely. Which means ol' Brandon is out of a job. And, seriously, is this guy going to get any other gigs? He was made to be Superman and that's it! Mew.

I have never been a huge Superman gal - I'm more of a Batman/Spiderman fan, I guess - and have never seen a Superman movie in its entirety save Superman Returns. Still, I didn't think it was so horrible it doomed an entire franchise! Jeez! I mean, it definitely wasn't great; it's taken me multiple viewings on HBO when I'm busy washing dishes to get to a point where I find it entertaining. But, again, it wasn't a franchise-killer like Batman & Robin... his suit had no nipples! ;o)

Warner Bros., however, is convinced that they need to make the character darker for people to respond positively to any more movies. Is Superman even a "dark" character? Really? He seems pretty happy and confident in his role as America's defender, no? Hmm... Many fans on message boards seem to feel me here.

Ew.com actually had a blurb on this new development on Tuesday and they cited a David Mamet essay detailing Superman's potential psychological damage. Interesting. (Though I couldn't find it anywhere on the Web. Dang.) LatinoReview.com has a much more in-depth piece - with a link to the full WB statement in the Wall Street Journal. Here's the meatiest quote:

Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes -- known as "Batman vs. Superman" -- after the $215 million "Superman Returns," which had disappointing box-office returns, didn't please executives. "'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says Mr. Robinov. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned." "Had 'Superman' worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009," he adds. "But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."

Sooo... I guess it's safe to say that neither Bryan Singer nor Brandon Routh will be working with Warner Bros. anytime soon, eh? If you feel bad for Brandon - or you want to read even more about his potential replacement - you can visit this site and sign an online petition or get the address to snail mail Warner Bros. directly and demand the Routh! These people are passionate!! They made their own logo!!!