Superman Returns

[SI]

SUPERMAN

http://www.cinescape.com/

We've been tipped by a scooper that Warner Bros. has selected ESC Entertainment to produce the visual effects for its upcoming SUPERMAN film. ESC is the San Francisco-based special effects firm that was created after the dissolution of Manex Visual Effects (the firm that created most of the effects for the first MATRIX film); many of the ex-employees of Manex went on to found and work at ESC. The company created the bulk of the major visual effects sequences for the two MATRIX sequels and went on to deliver effects for the remake of THE LADYKILLERS. They are currently working on two more Warner Bros. movie projects, namely CATWOMAN and CONSTANTINE.

According to the scooper, ESC is currently contracted to produce all of the visual effects for the new SUPERMAN, which would turn out to be a major task. No further details were given by our scooper. At the present time the website for ESC Entertainment does not list SUPERMAN among its list of projects. Given ESC's close ties to Warner Bros., it's more than feasible the studio chose to award the job to a company that has proven themselves more than capable in the past.


http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=17526

Ahoy, squirts. Quint here with a very interesting report from one of our many spies deep inside the Warner Bros studios. This person brings up some frightening stuff... is it just me or does the description of Tyzor's suit bring up memories of "Nuclear Man" from Superman 4? Let's just hope Tyzor doesn't have a perm and a Freddy Krueger complex!

Before you dig into the below, just remember that the names he mentions are nowhere near signed. He seems to have stumbled onto the producer's dream casting possibilities... TIME is reporting that Jude Law, Brendan Fraser and Ashton Kutcher are still strong contenders for the role of Superman... Hopefully they're wrong and the below spy isn't. I'd much rather an unknown become Superman than watch Kelso trying to be Superman, you know? The only below bit that worries me is Lex Luthor's possible casting... All are comedic actors. Are they going for goofy Luthor, then? Hrmm... Anyway, enjoy the below!!

First of all let me say I'm a big fan of the site, check it everyday. This is my first time writing you, so I wouldn't do it unless I thought it was something of semi importance. Well, I have some news about the Superman movie and I don't think too many people will like it.

I work for Warner Brothers as [BLEEEP]. I was working on Saturday and I [BLEEP-BL-BLEEEEP] the new production offices on the main lot. On most of the production offices the title of the movie they are working on is right there on the door. This office was no exception.

I saw that the movie was titled "Flyby". I knew the Superman movie was once going under that title for secrecy reasons or something. Well, it cant be that big of a secret because right under the title "Flyby" is the Superman chest emblem, plus a giant Superman statue in the back room where anybody walking around the back of the building can see it from the window.

It ws my lucky day because it was around lunch time and no one was around and the door was left unlocked, so I had myself a look around the place. There were storyboards and models everywhere.

It appears that they are going with the scripts JJ Abrams wrote. I got a chance to read it a few months back and I know what a pile of crap that was. I heard that they were going to change a few things around in it but from what I saw it looks like they went with the original draft. I didn't see anything about Lex Luthor so I don't know if he is still an alien in this version.

The movie will still be about Superman fighting his cousin Tyzor and the battle on Krypton. There is a model of the Kent farm which looks like any other farm in Kansas. There is a model of the launch chamber where Jor-el will send Kal-el to earth. It didn't have any color to it yet so the entire model was white. The ship looks a little like the one in the Smallville show. except it has the "S" emblem on it.

There was a model of the fight scene between Superman and a kryptonian tank in the middle of Metropolis. The tank looks like a giant version of ED 209 from Robocop mixed with one of the rolling robots from the new Star Wars movies.

There were storyboards of Clark finding his Superman costume in that little Kryptonian canister in his mothers closet. He tries it on and flies around the Kent farm as Superboy right at the camera. Then the scene will change and he will be all grown up still flying at the camera.

There was also a storyboard of Superman's fight with Tyzor. Tyzors costume will be green with yellow shoulder pads and a yellow stomach plate. Tyzor will throw Superman down and he will land about five feet deep into the street. Superman then jumps out of the hole and uses his heat vision full blast on Tyzor. There was also a scene where Superman and Tyzor knock over a crane with a wrecking ball on it, and Tyzor rips the wrecking ball off of the crane by the wire and starts to beat Superman into the street with it.

Those were the only storyboards they had out at the time. There was plenty of art work of the battle on Krypton complete with green laser blasts. There was also a picture of the Kryptonian soldiers ready for battle. Remember the Ninja Turtle toys? Remember when the toys started to get out of control and they started to make Ninja Turtles dressed as football and baseball players? I think there was even one of Casey Jones dressed as a transvestite hooker. Well, remember there was one of the turtles dressed as Samurai swordsmen? This is what the Kryptonian soldiers look like except their armor is light blue.

Now this part is regarding the casting process. I stepped into a room with around 20 audition tapes and head shots scattered around the floor. Every picture fit the Superman type. All of them were unknown actors. Then I saw a bunch of pictures hanging on the back wall. All the pictures were in categories by character and all pictures were of actors and actresses cut straight out of magazines.

Under the SUPERMAN character was a lot of pictures of Abercrombie type guys and the only face I recognized was Jake Gyllenhaal.

Under LOIS LANE was Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Elisha Cuthbert.

Under JIMMY OLSEN was some unknown actors along with Adam Brody, and Topher Grace.

The only face under KATAZOR was Sean Penn.

TYZOR was all unknown actors.

The only face I recognized under JONATHAN KENT was Dennis Quaid.

LEX LUTHOR had pictures of Jim Carrey, Jonny Depp, Will Ferrell, and Robert Downey Jr.

The only face I knew under JOR-EL was Ben Kingsley.

It also looks like McG is attached to the project. His parking spot is right in front of the building with his name on it.

That's all the info I could gather on such a short notice since I am not allowed to be wandering the offices, but in this case I couldn't resist. I think this movie is going to really suck. They have a shitty script as well as a shitty director to go along with it. This movie is going to make Superman 4 look like Citizen Kane.

This is a little piece of info I thought the Fan boys would like. I got a chance to drop off some mail to Joel Shumacher's office and right above is secretary's desk is a picture someone drew and painted for him of Batman and Robin butt naked, still wearing their capes and masks, kissing hardcore and Batman is grabbing a handful of Robin's ass. This is the guy they gave the batman franchise to? I think Warner Brothers goes out of its way to ruin good franchises.

If you post this can you call me "PLAN B"

http://www.superherohype.com

Reliable Superhero Hype! scooper 'Enigma' tells us that Warner Bros. has brought special makeup effects guru Stan Winston on board to create the new Superman costume for the studio and director McG!

Winston and his team of artists have worked on such films as the "The Terminator" series, "Aliens," "Predator" series, and "Jurassic Park" series. They also created the Penguin effects for Batman Returns and worked on the upcoming Warner Bros. "Hellblazer" adaptation, Constantine.

We're told that the costume, at this moment, is sculpted with muscles, etc. The cape is said to look like latex, much like the new Batman Begins cape


SUPERMAN UPDATE

Variety has confirmed our scoop from last week that ESC Entertainment will create the digital special effects for the new SUPERMAN film. The trade also confirmed Coming Soon's scoop that makeup mastro Stan Winston is indeed crafting the look of the new costume for the Man of Steel.

Variety says SUPERMAN is being eyed for a summer 2006 release. McG (CHARLIE'S ANGELS) is still attached as the director. The script is by J.J. Abrams (ALIAS).

[Silence]

I have massive concerns over that McG fuck.

You're not the only one. I consider this asshole the worst director right now.
I absolutely hate ALL his stupid films.

Sorry but the pure fact that this motherfucker is working on a new flim creeps me out! Stupid son of a bitch!

[SI]

Should have used Smith's script and got Fincher to direct it.

Sat Jun 19, 2004 12:02 am

CHUD reports that, with the hiring of producer Neal Moritz ("The Fast and the Furious," "XXX"), Warner Bros. might be looking at Vin Diesel...

Warner Bros. has obviously decided they want to make their megabudget Supes movie cool for "the kids", and with Moritz's involvement comes the desire to place Vin Diesel in the role of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor (a role previously linked to everyone from Kevin Spacey to Johnny Depp). With the Chronicles of Riddick franchise turning out to not actually be one (hey, I liked it), getting into another high-profile gig with a built-in recognition factor may not be such a bad idea for the Vin-man.



SUPERMAN: A New Hope

Source: http://www.cinescape.com

Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:44 pm

McG has been the target of scorn and speculation, as well as some adulation, during his post-Brett Ratner reign as director of the new SUPERMAN movie over at Warner Brothers. But now several websites are reporting that McG is out, the creator of the BATMAN: DEAD END fan flick might be in, and that J.J. Abrams scripts (the latter drafts introducing a new Kryptonian suit) were tossed in the McTrash.

Superman-V.com says that McG was "Ratnered" after he failed to show for an Australian location scout, which compounded on his recent indecisiveness and apparent indifference. Dark Horizons and Project Voice say that the J.J. Abrams drafts of the script may be scrapped in favor of a new writer, and mention that J.J. intro'd a new black Kryptonian suit in later drafts.


And in the "If it's not a planted rumor then I'll eat Kandor" department, take a grain of Kryptonian salt when you read that Warners is trying to set up a meeting with Sandy Collura (creator of fan flick BATMAN: DEAD END) to talk about his "possible involvement." Now, if you were making decisions on a major, potentially billion-dollar franchise, would you put it in the hands of a newbie? (Watch DEAD END again before you answer that.)




http://www.darkhorizons.com

Jun 30, 2004 3:59 pm


"I heard tonight from a WB friend at the screening, that McG is out of SUPERMAN and Warner's wants to make it a mandate to get Michael Bay. Apparently he's looking for something big, as he's having trouble getting the budget he wants for his "Island" project at DreamWorks.

Apparently part of the reason Moritz came on-board Supes was that Bay was attached to direct "I Am Legend" for him and former partner, "Harry Potter" franchise and WB-based producer David Heyman. With Adelstein gone from Original, and Sony having inked a deal with DeLuca (which pissed Neal off), he and Heyman are mulling re-teaming up. It doesn't hurt that Neal has close ties to potential Lex Luthor Vin Diesel and was shooting "Stealth" in Australia, where WB wants to do "Superman".


I know for a fact Neal loves Australia, and he's been trying to convince studios to shoot a lot of his productions there. Heyman, like every other producer on the WB lot, has been trying to get on Supes. Aside from the Potter films, what's going to put him where Joel Silver can't get, is his relationship with Neal and they're combined relationship with Bay". See AICN for more details.

Meanwhile, Superman-V.com is reporting that the reason McG may have left the film is that he failed to go on a location scout in Australia. The site hears that Sandy Collora [“Batman: Dead End”] may be in talks to join the flick in some capacity.

[Hade]

Fincher is great. I'd love to see him direct a Mission Impossible or even FF. But Smith's script is not very good SI, I don't know if you've read it.

Here's the link: Superman Lives

They need a whole new premise, script, and I think they should wait until Smallville is done.

[SI]

LOL - yeah I've read it, it def needs a re-write, but it has some promise IMO.

[Hade]

Strange.

One of the tabloids is already reporting that Jake has won the role of Superman.

STAR SUPER-EXCLUSIVE: JAKE GYLLENHAAL'S THE NEW SUPERMAN


Recent News:
Source: Superherohype.com"

Variety has published a new update on Warner Bros.' Superman movie, which the trade says is moving toward a late 2004 production start. The studio is negotiating with Neal Moritz ("The Fast and the Furious," "XXX," "S.W.A.T.," "Stealth") and Gilbert Adler ("Ghost Ship," "Starsky & Hutch," "Constantine") to produce the film.

The picture has not been greenlit, adds the trade, nor is McG set to direct, although he did indeed test six actors last week for the role. It has not been decided which actor will be fitted for spandex and sent to Australia, where location scouting is about to begin. Among candidates said to have tested are Jason Behr ("Roswell"), Henry Cavill ("The Count of Monte Cristo"), Jared Padalecki ("New York Minute") and Michael Cassidy.

Jon Peters, a co-producer of the original Batman film series who has been shepherding the Superman revival going back to the Burton-Cage incarnation of 1998, officially will remain involved as a producer but is not likely to be a fixture.

The current J.J. Abrams-scripted version of Superman has been somewhat streamlined to a budget that hovers around $200 million. The film still revolves around Superman's battle with Lex Luthor and a mysterious killer from Krypton who has come to hunt down the Man of Steel.

Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman-CEO Alan Horn and production president Jeff Robinov are expected to decide soon on whether any of McG's candidates will get the starring role.


http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=17972

Warners finally gets it right! SUPERMAN RETURNS! The Confirmed Details Spill To Earth!

Hey folks, Harry here... it is with a great deal of relief, joy and happiness that I can lay out what is happening with the Man of Steel.
As of Today, the deals for Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris have been closed to helm & write from scratch the new SUPERMAN film. This is the X2 team. The team that made, arguably the best of the Marvel Films (arguable only because Raimi nailed the hell out of SPIDER-MAN 2).

The J.J. Abrams script has been completely tossed out. Not of shred of it will remain. That McG ordered SUPERMAN cybersuit (Brilliant Ideas From Mr Hot Wheels, eh?) that Stan Winston's brilliant craftsmen were paid zillions to create is GONE! Today, long time sources like Frosty Skywalker, Sir Etch-A-Sketch and Sir Magnadoodle... those last two have been in the hallways of Warners for the better part of the past decade... and have access to every room. Frosty wrote to tell me that Bryan was signed, and that LOGAN'S RUN and X3 were now dead. While the first part of that is true... LOGAN'S RUN and X3 are not dead. The word from the halls of Warner Bros is that LOGAN'S RUN will be the film that Bryan Singer will make immediately after the Man Of Steel lands in theaters near us all. HOWEVER - if you begin talking to spies at Fox in Tom Rothman's offices and adjoining offices... X3 will be made after SUPERMAN by Singer, or Fox will leave him behind and continue forward with a new director. It'll be interesting to see how the cast will take to that... I know they all love Rothman so. He's a really cute dude, very lovable snugglebunny and obviously the reason that series has been the success that it has been. No, no, really. Ok, maybe that's a fib.

Details on SUPERMAN RETURNS, which is what Team Singer and WB seem to be calling it, are few and far between. But one source, that proved to me today to be quite close to some Warner exec that strikes an amazing resemblence to Lex Luthor himself, hinted to me that this film does not throw the Donner films away and allegedly somehow has something to do with their timeline and history!!! So... from the title, all we're left with is... he must have left, and now he's back. Does that refer to the child of Krypton's absence from theaters, Metropolis, our Planet or what? Will 3 & 4 be canon or merely tragedies? If he's returning, one can assume that he went somewhere, and now feels the need to be back... but why? Where'd he go? Why's he back? I can say though... SUPERMAN RETURNS will not be an Origin Story. We're not going to walk through all that molasses for the umpteenth time, waiting for Kal-El to do something or become Superman again!

[femme01]

Here he is closer up. He looks waxy:



There's a lot more at Getty Images

[BearaceDougie]

He looks like the Chess Club Champ in the Second Pic

Lets Hope He Can Pull This Off Aye?

[bacta]

men in tights:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050422e.php

wtf why isnt it red god damnit

[femme01]

I hate the costume. It's dark red, they should have stayed with bright red.

It doesn't look right.

[bacta]

I hate the costume. It's dark red, they should have stayed with bright red.

It doesn't look right.

she said it better than I did

[Ayatollah Krispies]

Anyway, the whole fucking thing looks really gai.

Joel Schumacher ---> Batman

as

Bryan Singer ---> Superman

[BrotherTheFirst]

with Bryan Singer directing (thank god that worthless shitbag McG is out) i have no doubt it's going to be really well done.

[Ascovel]

Before I knew they went in the Superboy direction I was quite interested in this movie, now it seems pointless. Superman doesn't look like that for me and I have enough watching Superboy after all those episodes of that old TV show.

[Obi-Wan Starkiller]

Yeah, but really 90% of superheroes have big guns in the comics.

[dj-anakin]

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=1036

kevin spacey as lex: LEXLUTHOR_ICON181.jpg

parker posie as kitty koslowski: LEXLUTHOR_ICON089.jpg

[pjvader]

great to see "some" of the comic con stuff, and finally hear the superman voice! he pulls it off, not the pretty boy voice i was expecting, shame they didnt show the shot of him above the earth (the animatic of that scene is in one of the earlier blogs) i really hope that they release the donner version of superman II as a teaser for the release of returns cant see it myself but it would be nice (though the extended one i got already rules!)
if u want it disc 1 is currently up at myspleen

[darthpsychotic]

Superman footage posted.

Bryan Singer has some sort of movie blog with occasional footage here and there. A behind the scenes video was posted recently featuring featuring Singer speaking at ComicCon 2005 (with John William's Superman soundtrack in the background). Towards the end there is new footage.

http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/bluetights/blue_l_22.mov

[femme01]

The teaser trailer:

http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/trailers/trailer.asp?film_id=9751

[Guru]

That's a fan trailer made from bits of the online documentary things.

[femme01]

Sorry.

Ah well, it was Empire magazine's fault anyway.

UPDATE: Whoops! Turns out that this wasn't an official teaser at all, but a fan-made trailer cut together from web-doc footage.

What can we say? We, and countless other movie websites, were had. Isn't the internet great? But it goes to show the level of excitement generated by Bryan Singer's Superman revamp - if we get our knickers-over-our-trousers in a twist over something like this, imagine what will happen when the son of Jor-El really does return!

[sithsooner]

http://www.supermanimagery.com/SRmovies ... railer.mov

Superman trailer

[ETandElliott]

I suspected that was fanmade when music from the Krypton scene in the '78 movie started playing. Something about it. Regardless, that's the first I've ever seen of it.

[sithsooner]

Oh yeah, its fanmade. But I didnt make it.

[femme01]

from:
http://www.movieweb.com/movies/film.php?482

There's also on set clips there.

[JohnS]

http://www.supermanreturns.com

The teaser is out. I think it looks fantastic.

[InfiniteDY]

I am uploading a few different versions of the Teaser Trailer re-encoded from the HDTV capture that was posted on Usenet.

480p w/5.1 audio = 32.8 MB

720p w/5.1 audio = 62.6 MB

PM me if you would like the links.

[darthpsychotic]

Why not post the links instead of PMs?

After watching the trailer I'm not impressed about the moviebut yet I don't want this movie to fail. The wideshot of of Superman flying looks awesome and all. However, making this Superman III using John Williams music seems rather pretentious. It would be like making Batman Returns set after the Burton films. The buzz seems to be all nostalgia-based.

Based the costumes, compare Batman Begins to Superman Returns. Batman would anally destroy Superman.

[InfiniteDY]

Why not post the links instead of PMs?

After watching the trailer I'm not impressed about the moviebut yet I don't want this movie to fail. The wideshot of of Superman flying looks awesome and all. However, making this Superman III using John Williams music seems rather pretentious. It would be like making Batman Returns set after the Burton films. The buzz seems to be all nostalgia-based.

Based the costumes, compare Batman Begins to Superman Returns. Batman would anally destroy Superman.

I can do that... as long as people will reupload if they go dead. I kind of like the fact that Singer is respecting the old movies... it would be like if someone came along and remade the OT... there would be outcries that that person raped their childhood, etc.

720p (1280x544) w/5.1 sound
http://s61.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1BGA ... 2U3WGSG7G3

480p (852x364) w/5.1 sound
http://s54.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=311I ... SJVVVU7MLA

[Ternian]

Meh...trailer did nothing for me.

[ETandElliott]

Me neither. If anything, it made me want to watch the 1978 Superman.

Megupload: Teaser 480p :: RapidShare: Teaser 480p
Megupload: Teaser 720p

[InfiniteDY]

T E A S E R


It's not meant to give anything away... it's basically just a glorified advertisement to alert people that it's coming soon.

The Batman Begins teaser did very little for me too.

[femme01]

http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/supermanreturns/teaser/teaser_fullscreen.mov

I still wish they had left his cape bright red instead of the dark red.

[Ayatollah Krispies]

The buzz seems to be all nostalgia-based.

I wouldn't say "all" -- this teaser also seemed like it was aimed at the Smallville fans (and apparently they are a growing number). Thing is, anyone who's familiar with both Smallville and the Reeve films knows that they are definitely not the same thing. Warner Bros has two current versions of Superman that appear to be on a collision course (which is probably no more schizophrenic than re-releasing the Burton Batman on DVD the same day as the Nolan Batman, while continuing to release two dfferent cartoon versions to disc).

Maybe Dean Cain will show up on Desperate Housewives to complete the trifecta.

[hypertext]

Maybe Dean Cain will show up on Desperate Housewives to complete the trifecta.

Then the end of the world will officially have started.

[BrotherTheFirst]

hope they plan to keep the classic music for this. anything else would be shite.

spacey as lex is kinda gay too.

[Ternian]

Spacey reminds me of Dr Evil for some reason...

[sultan bey]

you cant have a superman teaser w/out a shot of the super bulge.

they made too much of that super cr*tch and now i fear i'll be distracted when he's in the tights. or bothered by homos necking in the theater.

[darthpsychotic]

source: movieweb

[Ternian]

Dear God...please dont allow rabid sheep to wear any costume that is as tight as Supermans.

[Raveers]

I'm still not digging the new costume maybe it's the big huge ass yellow superman symbol on his belt, I'm not sure....but just something about it seems very fan boyish..

[SnakePlisken]

source: movieweb

I wonder why Lois Lane's eyes are two different colors? Maybe these are 'contact lens tests'?

[Ackbar]

On the score front: John Ottman, best known for X2: X-men United and Fantastic Four (and with very big shoes to fill):


From JWfan.net (Aug 24, 2005): Excerpt from a recent interview with Superman Returns composer John Ottman (via http://www.supermanhomepage.com/):

Q: The question that everybody wants to know John, apart from the main Superman fanfare, will there be any other parts of John Williams' original score used in Superman Returns?

A: I don't think so. We tried out the Lois Lane theme (Can you read my mind), and, don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT theme, but the feel of that theme over this contemporary film, it's gagging, and it's awful. It just seemed stupid. So I'm hoping that we don't have to do that. Just for the moment we're actualy temping with (the score from) 'Solaris'. It works really well, and more of it's kind of modern, so the film can go with it. It's important that the film goes somewhere without trying too hard to pay homage to the past. So to answer your question, besides the fanfare, the score will be original.

And an interview with Ottman from last year



I don't think the official video journal series has talked about the score yet:
Video Journal Series

Though I did find journal 17 interesting; it talked a bit about the storyline
Journal 17




And of course there is tons of merchandise coming out. You can already pre-order the novelization, storybook, and art book from Amazon.com



Official Wallpapers






5/1/06 Update
You can view images of the scoring session for Superman Returns at Soundtrack.net

[Hade]

I wonder why Lois Lane's eyes are two different colors? Maybe these are 'contact lens tests'?

No.

Those are Bosworth's real eyes. She has some sort of condition called iris somethingorother. Singer said he liked them and didn't want her to wear contacts.

However, Brandon Routh has brown eyes and is wearing blue contact lenses for the film.

Routh: Brown to Blue

[TigerClaw]

http://www.bluetights.net posted the trailer for the upcomming Superman Returns The Video Game, Even though the footage looks prerendered and judging from it. I hope the film is as big and epic as the action scenes on this video.

[VizAg]

So, over at AICN, Quint reports seeing the new Superman trailer at ShoWest in Vegas...anyone know when this trailer hits theaters? Possibly with V for Vendetta???

[Zeal]

This movie is going to rock so hard.

[hypertext]

I saw V last night and the superman trailer was the same one as what's been on the web.

[VizAg]

Found this over at BlueTights...Footage of Superman flying through the city, through a building, and then grabbing the wing of a plane in trouble.

http://www.brandonrouth.com/2006/04/new-australian-sr-commercial.html

Pretty cool stuff!

[Obi-Wan Starkiller]

Full Trailer up on Apple in Quicktime. You'll Believe a Man Can Fly!

Pretty awesome. Mostly because of the original score being used. I like Spacey as Lex. Some of the effects of Superman look Neo-like from Matrix Reloaded.