A couple days back, IESB spoke of a strong rumor that Bryan Singer (above with his cast) was back working on a sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS and that TRANSFORMERS’ Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman would be writing the script. And now, thanks to Empire Online, we have an actual confirmation from Singer himself! In an exclusive chat, the X-MEN & USUAL SUSPECTS helmer verified that he has indeed begun work on the re-return of the red-caped one! (No word yet on whether Orci and Kurtzman are the actual new writers.)
At one point, sequel plans for Supes seemed to be stuck in the phantom zone because some felt that RETURNS didn’t make enough monetary returns. To that thought, Singer exclaims, “That movie made $400 million! I don’t know what constitutes under-performing these days… Look, I can understand, I suppose, what some people mean. Perhaps some people went in with the expectation of it being like an X-Men film, and Superman is a tougher character than that. Especially bringing him back. It really goes back to the fact that you can only please some of the people some of the time. But, yes, I’m just getting back with writers after the strike. We’re just in the development phase. I’m starting to develop a sequel… with the intention of directing it.”
That sounds like super news to me! I, for one, feel that Singer is a visionary. Regarding the good vs. bad with SUPERMAN RETURNS, I loved how the tone matched the original, although it was a little long and drawn out at parts. Too much time was taken re-establishing the character (plus no one thought it was a little TOO coincidental that both Superman and Clark Kent went away for 5 years and then came back?). I thought Spacey and Routh were great. Bosworth was just… eh. The action and effects were amazing (we just needed A LOT MORE of ’em!). My point is, all the negatives can be easily fixed in the sequel. I believe Singer knows this too (but he doesn’t need me giving him advice). Here are his comments regarding the subject:
“The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film,” he says. “I’ll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset. And now that the characters are established, there’s really an opportunity to up the threat levels… Clearly there’ll be a body count [laughs]. From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror! All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon? Well, I’m going to wake them up!”
If he’s serious, then I’m f*cking there! Hell, I’m even there if he’s only half serious.
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