Friday, July 21, 2006
No More "Spidey" But We Get Another "Superman?" Bummer.
Hours after the people behind "Spiderman" tried to claim their massively successful franchise was going to call it a day after #3 next summer, director Bryan Singer tries to tell Comic Con fans he'd be glad to do another "Superman" movie and get all "Wrath of Khan" on the franchise, if Warner Bros. gives him the chance. It's gonna take some serious overseas box office to make that happen -- or at least a 50% cut in the massive budget.
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4 comments:
I think you’re being entirely too rough on Superman Returns. As for box office, the film has already made $250 million worldwide, should at the very least hit $300 million total, and with video you can add at least another $100 million. That’s a hit. Is it a hit like Pirates? No, but which is the better film? By a long shot that’s Superman Returns. Is it as good a movie as the Spider-Man films? No, but that’s a lot to live up to. Is it better than any of the X-Men films; again, by a long shot. By the way, Superman Returns has already out grossed the first X-Men film domestically and should match its foreign box office, and no one questioned the idea of making a second film. I think Bryan Singer did an admirable job, and I would definitely pay to see another Superman film.
Jimmy, I tend to take the stance that you do -- pointing out overseas and DVD sales to counter people who call a film a flop. But I have to agree with the general tenor of comments on Superman that it is a "disappointment." (As nebulous a standard as is possible.) The budget estimates START at $150 mil, with $200 mil frequently mentioned. Unless a movie does exceptionally overseas, it needs to at least match its budget domestically and Superman is falling short there (just barely). Unlike the first X-Men movie, it did not get strong reviews -- they were mixed to poor. Those poor reviews are even poorer overseas. Audiences clearly rejected the movie -- it got a large sampling and then dropped off quite definitively. Because of the World Cup, it's unclear quite yet how the film will do overseas. "Superman" is at $77 mil overseas and is proving soft virtually everywhere. So unlike The Da Vinci Code and other movies that do huge overseas business, this one won't be rescued by box office outside the US. I thought Superman Returns was not bad (and certainly not the disaster I had expected) and personally I wasn't a fan of the X-Men series. Sure I'd rather see a fourth Spidey, since that's proven one of the best comic book franchises ever and Tobey Maguire just works for me. But I shouldn't be churlish -- I'd be happy to see a Superman sequel since I thought the casting was basically solid and Singer would hopefully ante up the action a la Khan. Just as long as they don't make it a Superboy storyline! What did you like most about the film?
Jimmy's new in town. Jimmy's kinda shy. Jimmy could use a friend to show him around town (Superman, perhaps?). Jimmy really likes Lois Lane (or Elaine, whichever).
You mean Jimmy Olsen? He definitely has a thing for Clark Kent. And who can blame him?
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