by Andy Page

Created on: July 28, 2010   Last Updated: July 29, 2010

At this moment in time I personally feel that the Superman franchise should be left a little longer, before the movie studios try and do justice to one of the greatest comic superheroes ever created. After the disappointing 2006 movie Superman Returns which starred Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Parker Posey and Kevin Spacey, it seems the general public may have fallen out of love with the Kryptonian superhero. This was reflected in a modest return of $391million, the film had a budget of $209million. You also have to consider that the studio invested $44million in advertising, so the studio would have expected a greater return. Warner Brothers President Alan F. Horn went on record as saying that he expected takings of $500million. That said the film did have strong competition from the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel the Dead mans chest, as it was due to be released on the same day.

At the moment there is maybe too many comic books been turned into high budget films, there is a Justice league and Thor film due out soon. So in a crowded market having a new Superman film would be a bad move, Superman is a massive film title and needs to have a fresh approach. Part of the problem was the last film was its setting after the events of Superman II, and it does not follow the previous story-lines as much as it could have done. Maybe the studio should have taken a leaf out of the Batman producers book by reinventing the series completely. In my opinion the film Superman Returns killed the franchise and with the introduction of his son, has left the film with no obvious continuation other than doing a Super Boy film which leaves me feeling totally disinterested.

With the continued success and longevity of the Smallville series, I feel a motion picture is not needed at this moment in time. If the producers are that set on producing a new Superman film maybe they should use the existing cast of Smallville as they have taken a much more relevant and modern look at the character. The Smallville television series has brought new fans to the character, although in Smallville Clark Kent has not fully become his Superman alter-ego. Maybe the fact that he is not yet Superman in Smallville, means that a film version has not been planned using Tom Welling as Superman, maybe in the future the big studios will look into exploring this scenario. But for now, I believe if Warner Brothers try to reintroduce the franchise and it bombs, they may have to wait a very long time before they can attempt to profit off a successful character.

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