Though superhero serials and TV reveals had been round for many years prior, Richard Donner’s 1978 model of Superman marked the primary main, studio-funded DC characteristic movie in Hollywood. The movie’s business and significant success led to Richard Lester’s acclaimed follow-up, Superman II, solidifying the late nice Christopher Reeve as a cinematic image of reality, justice, and hope. Over 25 years later, the occasions of the ridiculous follow-ups, Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, had been bypassed by Bryan Singer to accommodate Superman Returns, arguably rating among the many best cinematic showcases for Clark Kent to show his protecting may. Certain, the film isn’t as fun-filled or satisfying as a kids’s superhero outing needs to be, however, so far as restoring the luster into Superman’s cape and proving the comedian e book hero’s field workplace viability, Superman Returns did its job. Not less than, that’s how most critics and normal moviegoers felt.
But, regardless of turning into the ninth highest-grossing film of 2006 and probably the most profitable Superman film as much as that time, Warner Bros. deemed Superman Returns a failure after incomes over $390 million worldwide. Plans for a sequel had been immediately scrapped, proving that Kryptonite isn’t the one inexperienced substance Superman is susceptible to. Now that it’s James Gunn’s flip to return Superman to the plenty in 2025, it’s value reflecting and attending to the underside of What Occurred to Superman Returns!
Following the success of X-Males in 2000, Bryan Singer was impressed to inform a big-screen Superman story whereas filming the sequel X2. Singer’s conception concerned Superman returning to Earth after a five-year hiatus. Singer relayed the thought to X2 producer Lauren Shuler Donner, the spouse of authentic Superman director Richard Donner. Hollywood is a small, tight-knit neighborhood the place the most important commodity isn’t what , however who , and from the soar, the celebs appeared aligned for Superman Returns. Richard Donner loved Singer’s idea sufficient to offer it his blessing and the undertaking moved ahead.
In 2004, Warner Bros. was busy prepping a special film referred to as Superman: Flyby, slated for a 2006 launch date. Superman: Flyby was written by J.J. Abrams and had director McG hooked up, however he deserted the undertaking in June 2004. To not get too far into the weeds, however Abrams’ idea concerned Kal-El being despatched to Earth as a princely Kryptonian toddler to keep away from a civil struggle between his father Jor-El, and Jor-El’s brother, Kata-Zor. Clark Kent is raised on a midwestern farm as a typical American teenager who falls in love with Lois Lane, his highschool sweetheart. When Kata-Zor invaded Earth with the assistance of Lex Luthor posing as a CIA agent, Superman is humanity’s solely hope. The concept was deemed too far-fetched from the supply materials and was dismissed by Warner Bros.
The studio rapidly reached out to Singer that very same month to pitch his Superman Returns thought to Warner Bros., which he agreed to regardless of being on trip in Hawaii together with his X2 writers, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty. Singer, Harris, and Dougherty outlined the script, with six drafts penned by 2005. Though early story concepts made references to the assaults on 9/11, they had been eliminated within the last draft. In the meantime, Singer left his directorial duties on X-Males: The Final Stand to make Superman Returns, just about defecting from Marvel to DC, a significant taboo amongst most comedian e book circles.
As soon as Warner Bros. green-lit the movie, the studio break up the manufacturing prices with Legendary Entertainment. The funds would balloon to $270 million, with roughly one other $100 invested within the advertising marketing campaign. With the script polished, casting Clark Kent turned the most important problem for Singer and the studio.
Following the huge success of The Ardour of the Christ, star Jim Caviezel expressed curiosity in portraying Clark Kent and Superman. Though Caviezel was hardly a family identify, Singer felt he was too well-known for the position. Afterward, a global seek for the correct actor was carried out within the U.S., U.Ok., Canada, and Australia.
After a whole bunch of actors auditioned, Brandon Routh was chosen to play Superman. Routh had auditioned to play Clark Kent within the TV collection Smallville however misplaced out to Tom Welling, and had additionally met with McG to play the half when Flyby was in growth. Christopher Reeve’s spouse, Dana Reeve, supported Routh’s casting after being struck by his bodily likeness to her husband. Past their bodily resemblance, Reeve and Routh had been each 26 years outdated when their first Superman movie was launched. Singer needed Christopher Reeve to make a cameo look, however he died earlier than filming commenced. As an alternative, The movie is devoted to Reeve’s honor.
Earlier than Routh received the half, Daniel Cudmore, Sam Heughan, Chris Pratt, and Henry Cavill auditioned. In fact, Cavill would don the cape in Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Metal. Throughout their preliminary assembly, Routh was positive he wouldn’t get the half after he spilled espresso over-the-counter in entrance of Singer. Quite the opposite, Singer discovered Routh’s clumsiness good to play the nervous Clark Kent.
Based mostly on their working relationship on The Common Suspects, Singer provided Kevin Spacey the position of Lex Luthor with out auditioning. Likewise, Spacey steered Kate Bosworth play Lois Lane primarily based on their time working collectively on Past the Sea. Singer agreed and Bosworth was forged with out auditioning. Earlier than Bosworth was given the position, Keri Russell, Elisha Cuthbert, and Claire Danes had been thought-about. Extra trivial, Amy Adams auditioned to play Lois Lane in 2005 when Brett Ratner was hooked up to direct Flyby. Like Cavill, Adams would land the position in Man of Metal a decade later. As soon as Singer broke his three-picture contract with twentieth Century Fox by leaving the X-Males franchise for Superman Returns, his deliberate remake of Logan’s Run was shelved, and X-Males: The Final Stand was directed by Rattner in a basic recreation of Hollywood musical chairs.
Jeez…Ratner, Singer, Spacey…it’s beginning to sound like Tremendous Predator Returns round right here. However hey that’s for an additional day. Let’s focus much less on the salacious sensationalism and extra on the making of the film.
Earlier than Frank Langella was forged as Day by day Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, Hugh Laurie was forged within the position however needed to bow out because of his obligations on the TV present Home. The inimitable Parker Posey was the one option to play Kitty Kowalski. In the meantime, Singer solely needed Jude Legislation to play Common Zod, however after Legislation repeatedly declined the half, Singer nixed the character from the story altogether.
As for Kal Penn, who performs Luthor’s minion Stanford, his position was drastically decreased from its authentic kind. In line with Penn, Stanford was a former Day by day Planet science reporter hell-bent on getting revenge for his sullied status. The unique script revealed that Lex Luthor bribed Stanford to plant phony proof of Krypton’s potential survival, prompting Superman to flee Earth and examine his ruinous dwelling planet. This revelation was a part of a 30-minute minimize from the movie to scale back an already prolonged runtime.
It was additionally revealed within the Superman Returns online game that Lex Luthor devised a scheme to interrupt out of jail by distracting Superman away from Earth to find Krypton, considerably tying into the deleted movie footage.
As for the script, Routh, Spacey, and Bosworth all signed on to the film with out studying the screenplay. Spacey’s capturing schedule was accommodated to work round his six-week duties as Director of London’s Outdated Vic Theatre.
Underneath the phony working title Pink Solar and armed with a $204 million funds that might develop as manufacturing superior, units for Superman Returns started development in January 2005. Many of the movie was shot in Australia, with preliminary plans to movie totally at Warner Roadshow Studios within the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The concept was to tie the filming location into the close by Warner Bros. Film World theme park however the plans had been too expensive to pursue.
Superman Returns commenced principal images on March 16, 2005, and lasted till November. The eight-month shoot required 60 set items, most of which had been filmed on 9 sound phases at Fox Studios Australia. Eighty p.c of the movie was estimated to have been filmed at Fox Studios Australia, with the remaining twenty p.c filmed in New South Wales and surrounding areas. Employees employed within the space helped generate over $100 million for New South Wales’ economic system. In the meantime, the city of Breeza stood in for Smallville, and the Metropolis Museum of Pure Historical past was filmed within the Australian Museum.
To realize the spectacular particular results seen within the completed product, Singer opted to movie Superman Returns with Panavision’s Genesis digital digital camera, the primary of its form on any movement image. Earlier than the Genesis digital camera was chosen, director of images Newton Thomas Sigel thought-about capturing on 65mm movie. The concept was scrapped as a result of most film theaters don’t undertaking 65mm reels. The Panavision Genesis was created in response to Michael Mann following his work with DP Paul Cameron whereas capturing the film Collateral. Genesis improves the earlier Panavision HDR-950 mannequin by supporting customary 35mm spherical lenses, full-color bandwidth, and improved ergonomics.
Sony Footage ImageWorks designer Mark Stetson supervised the method, using 1400 VFX pictures all through the film. A second-unit VFX crew was answerable for capturing massive crowd scenes, corresponding to when Superman safely lands a Boeing 777 onto the sphere at Dodgers’ Stadium.
One of many coolest elements of Superman Returns is the way it incorporates footage from the 1978 authentic. In line with Singer through Larry King Dwell, had he not had entry to John Williams’ iconic authentic rating for the 1978 model of Superman, he would have by no means directed Superman Returns. Past Williams’ rating, Marlon Brando’s footage as Superman’s father, Jor-El, from the unique was blended with CG creations of the deceased actor by Rhythm & Hues to convey the character again to the display screen.
The inside and exterior of The Day by day Planet newspaper constructing had been patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters in Wisconsin. The Kent household farm was erected on a soundstage, torn down, moved to Tamworth, reassembled, and redressed for filming. To construct the farm, 4.35 miles of street had been constructed, and over 37 acres of corn had been planted in actual life, fairly a feat contemplating Australia was within the midst of a seven-year drought.
Portraying Superman, Brandon Routh gained 20 kilos of muscle and sported child blue contact lenses because of his pure brown eye colour. The blue contacts had been prescription and needed to be painted white across the edges to maintain him from blinking. One in all Routh’s greatest challenges was altering costumes numerous instances between takes. Superman’s go well with was product of Milliskin Spandex, a bit of material that’s practically unimaginable to maneuver when model new and degrades so shortly that sporting a used costume turns into extremely uncomfortable. To accommodate this, 80 Superman fits had been created with 100 capes, 90 belts, and 30 boots.
As for Superman’s iconic wardrobe, substantial effort and time went into deciding how huge a bulge outdated Kal-El needs to be sporting in entrance of his candy-red briefs. In line with Newsweek, costume designer Louise Mingenbach opted for a modest package deal since “ten-year-olds will be seeing this movie.” In line with star Margo Kidder, the identical subject was raised whereas making the 1978 model. In contrast to Mingenbach’s discretion, authentic Superman government producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind inspired the most important bulge attainable to suggest Superman’s virility. I want we had been kidding.
For an overly-serious superhero largely devoid of enjoyable, some of the amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Superman Returns pertains to an on-set theft and the hilarious hijinks that ensued. Whereas making the film, trespassers interloped onto the set, stole manufacturing walkie-talkies, and used the gadgets to idiot the forged and crew whereas filming an elaborate set piece.
Whereas filming a stunt in Sydney’s Martin Place, the pranksters continued shouting, “Action and Cut” with the stolen walkie-talkies, creating extreme chaos. Because of finding out the stage lingo the evening earlier than, the thieves utterly tricked the forged and crew and practically led to a deadly automobile accident when filming a Mustang stair soar with a number of background extras. The directives shouted by the thieves brought about the stunt automobile to cease a number of instances on the steps, practically injuring the extras. The place the hell was Superman, then, huh?
With out moving into all of the references to previous Superman comics, motion pictures, and TV collection, Superman Returns opened on June 28, 2006, turning into the highest-grossing Superman film on file, grossing $391 million worldwide and pushing the Superman franchise over the billion-dollar mark. On the time, Superman Returns was the longest, most costly, and first PG-13 Superman film. With a 72 Metascore and 74% Rotten Tomatoes ranking in comparison with a 6.1 IMDb ranking and 60% Rotten Tomatoes viewers rating, critics loved Superman Returns greater than normal moviegoers. The plot, visible FX, and performances had been praised, whereas the screenplay and prolonged runtime had been poorly acquired.
But, regardless of being the ninth most profitable film of the 12 months, Warner Bros. thought-about the monetary figures a loss for the studio. As soon as Warner Bros. deemed Superman Returns an financial failure, plans for a slated 2009 sequel had been immediately scrapped.
4 months after Superman Returns flew into theaters, Warner Bros. publicly introduced a sequel dated for a mid-2009 launch. Singer was set to return to the director’s chair, with Routh, Spacey, Bosworth, Langella, and different key supporting gamers slated to reprise their roles. Co-writer Michael Dougherty had lofty plans to extend the motion in a sequel doubtlessly pitting Superman towards villains Bizarro and Brainiac. But, regardless of the film’s creative deserves highlighted by critics, Warner Bros. felt Superman Returns underperformed commercially, with President Alan F. Horn stating the movie ought to have made $500 million worldwide.
Singer decried the criticism, publicly declaring “That movie made $400 million! I don’t know what constitutes underperforming these days.”
With images on the Superman Returns sequel scheduled to start in mid-2007, the manufacturing was halted when Singer opted to direct Valkyrie as an alternative. As soon as filming was delayed till March 2008, Dougherty and co-writer Dan Harris left to work on different tasks. The schedule was delayed till 2010 because of the WGA strike in 2007-2008. As soon as Routh’s contract to play Superman expired in 2009, the writing for the Superman Returns sequel was on the wall.
The studio needed to return to the drafting board and reboot the franchise from scratch, resulting in Zack Snyder’s Man of Metal in 2013. Brandon Routh retired as Superman after one characteristic movie, though he reprised the position within the CW’s Arrowverse through the community’s Infinite Disaster crossover in 2019.
After making Valkyrie with Tom Cruise in 2008 and Jack the Big Slayer in 2013, Singer returned to the X-Males franchise earlier than his disgraceful extracurriculars caught up with him from 2014 to 2019. Singer hasn’t directed a characteristic movie since 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
As for Superman, Zack Snyder formed the character within the Justice League motion pictures earlier than James Gunn just lately overtook management of DC Studios. Gunn forged relative newcomer David Corenswet to play Clark Kent/Superman within the upcoming 2025 launch of Superman, which Gunn will write and direct. Gunn’s mission assertion has to make sure higher continuity, with Superman being a reboot and the primary instalment within the newly minted DCU.
That’s the streamlined story of what occurred to Superman Returns. I’m positive extra hours could possibly be spent on the ten-year growth with Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, McG, and numerous others. However the principle takeaway is that, regardless of marking a rousing return to one of many world’s most iconic superheroes, Superman lacked the may to maneuver sufficient mass on the field workplace and warrant a cinematic sequel. In Warner Bros’ estimation, a Superman film filled with coronary heart proved much less priceless than a film filled with money-squeezing muscle, a disturbing Hollywood pattern that continues to flourish in 2024.
