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Warner Bros. Suffers Bad Summer

Here's the inevitable LAT story about Warner Bros.' bad summer. Poseidon, Superman Returns, Lady in the Water—it's all here. Poseidon was all about giving Wolfgang Petersen lots of money to sink an ocean liner. (It had been done better with Titanic. The Poseidon script made James Cameron's dialogue look like Shakespeare.)

Movie biz outsider Michael Bamberger's book The Man Who Heard Voices relates the Lady in the Water story in excruciating, gullible, sycophantic detail. He reveals that Warner production chief Jeff Robinov let his boss Alan Horn take the lead on M. Night Shyamalan's film. Smart move. Lady in the Water looked commercially iffy from in front. But again, it was about getting into business with Shyamalan, a gifted writer-director with a great track record who will no doubt get himself to a shrink and deliver one for the side next time around.

And Superman Returns involved stealing a tentpole director, Bryan Singer, away from Fox. Warners had already written off $60 million in development losses on reviving the Superman franchise, so Singer's Superman Returns can thus be considered a $209 million movie after all, which will make some money—not as much as it should have. But the ongoing franchise will pay off, as I write in today's Risky Business column.

ADD: The column's getting some strong reaction. I find these fan message boards fascinating. On the one hand there's the assumption of spin (when there often isn't any) and also such powerful investment in the characters they love. Finally, Warners and Singer now have a lot more information to work with for the second installment of this Superman series.

Summer's Almost Gone

David Poland does a smart early assessment of the 2006 summer boxoffice. I agree that two of the movies he discusses, Superman Returns and Miami Vice, might have been bonafide hits if they had just COST LESS! And with Poseidon, giving Wolfgang Petersen some money to play with was a good idea; cheaping out on the cast and script was not.

On the other hand, I disagree that the Aussie western The Proposition could have been turned into a serious hit by marketing dollars, much as I liked it: too bleakly violent, too period. District B-13 might have had a better shot, but indie distribs are notoriously gun-shy of anything in a foreign language these days.

[updated] Finally, I don't agree that Borat should have been released in summer. That's a tough call, especially when the other male-oriented comedies were eating each other alive. Breaking the film in Cannes and showing footage at Comic-Con are the marketing strategies of a studio that feels the need to slowly build interest in a movie starring an English TV comedian (Sacha Baron Cohen) whom few people have heard of outside of HBO. Cohen's Ali G character spawned the 2002 feature Ali G In Da House, but it went straight to video in the U.S. Cohen also did a voice (Julien) for DreamWorks in Madagascar. But apparently neither was enough for the audience at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, who were so clueless about what Cohen was doing as a presenter that they booed him. Does that sound like the makings of a huge summer hit?

The Scoop on Reporters on Film

Hollywood rarely gets it right. But I've always loved His Girl Friday, Ace in the Hole and All the President's Men.

Singer and Donner Talk Superman

Superman Returns director Bryan Singer felt the love at Comic-Con—he got a standing ovation from some 6500 fans in Hall H. Some naysayers were critical, though, of the Man of Steel's siring of an illegitimate child. The director brought along his mentor Dick Donner, helmer of the original 1978 "classic" Superman that influenced his 2006 movie about the 70-year-old comic superhero. Donner was flogging a new DVD with found footage that Warners will be releasing soon.

For his part, Singer made multiple references to cut footage that will show up on his DVD Superman Returns. Clearly Superman Returns did well enough to convince both Singer and the studio to proceed to negotiate a sequel. Singer has ideas about what will be in it, too. He made the center of the first movie a love story, he said, and plans to offer more hazardous —and alien—sci-fi action adventure in the next. He blamed Pirates, Prada, marketing (some people did their jobs and some didn't, he suggested) and the poor $15 million North American showing of the fourth Superman movie on Returns' less-than-explosive boxoffice. He also promised fans of the Superman comic books, many of whom felt that his Superman did not reflect the contemporary comic Superman, that he would update the character going forward.

Singer Superman Sequel in 2009

SAN DIEGO — Bryan Singer just announced here at Comic-Con that he has discussed with Warner Bros. Pictures directing a Superman sequel for 2009.

"I plan to get all 'Wrath of Khan' on it," Singer said. "We haven't concluded a deal. That's always iffy. The intention is to do it for 2009."

Photo: Superman directors Richard Donner and Bryan Singer.

[posted by Sheigh]

Deepak Chopra Meets Superman

Comic-Con got touchy-feely as famed spiritualist Deepak Chopra (How to Know God and founder of Virgin Comics) and comics writer Grant Morrison (All Star Superman) mused on the Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes.

Chopra started off by asking the packed Ballroom 20 to imagine ways to heal the rift in our collective souls: "Through mystical beings we aspire to do the impossible. And superheroes aspire to do the impossible. The impossible is constantly transforming itself into the possible. What we call miracles today are tomorrow's science and they all begin in the imagination. Archetypal energies express the deepest longings of the collective soul: imagination, intuition and inspiration are attributes of our soul. When we express our deepest longings we express not only our own aspirations but the aspiration of the collective being. At this crossroads can we reach into the deepest recesses of our soul and create a new story? By creating superheroes we're serving our deepest desire to escape the world of the mundane and ordinary and do magical and mysterious things and realize the potential existing in all of us. Superheroes are mystical beings."

Morrison, who has a thick Scottish brogue, praised the creators of Superman in 1938, two immigrants who "created a hero who will not kill, takes down bullies, a social reformer. In the 40s he fought wars, in the 50s he was a big daddy, in the 60s a mockery, the 70s tried to bring him back, in the 80s he was psychoanalyzed out of existence. We all thought the superhero was dead, but ten years on there's a resurgence: Spiderman, Superman, Teen Titans are arising everywhere. Batman was battered down by Frank Miller, a superhero in pain and struggle. Now we have the superhero as celebrity. Now there's hope for us all, as Superman shows us the way with his x-ray vision. These mythological figures don't die. They try to knock Superman down, but he's still a good guy, still standing. We refresh this eternal myth. Superman outlived his creators, and he'll still be there when I'm dead."

Morrison started off with three laws of Superheroes: "Superheroes embody courage, selflessness and compassion," he said.

Chopra went through seven chakras:
1. Stability, like a martial artist, who has perfect dynamism, timing and centered awareness.
2. Transformation: the being, spirit and soul are always in transformation, our essence always changes. The superhero has a willingness to step into the unknown. All identities are transient, have infinite flexibility.
3. Power. Not in the sense of muscle, but in the power of intention or orchestrates its fulfillment.
4. Heart. Love, compassion, understanding, communion integrated with power, transformation and dynamism.
5. Creative solution to conflict.
6. Intuition, high guidance.
7. Transcendence. "We could play with that," said Chopra. "Use these as a basis for superheroes."

Comic-Con: Animating Super Heroes

[posted by Sheigh]

The panelists on this afternoon's Animating Comics Characters session came well prepared with a huge range of video samples and some interesting 'working with the director' anecdotes.

There were lots of aspiring animators in the crowd, so, I tried to steer the conversation toward whether or not to try to specialize in facial animation versus action and building your reel when you're just getting started in the animation industry.

Comic-Con audiences are famous for turning the tables on panelists and becoming downright surly. So, I have to say, it was pretty nerve-wracking going in. But Dovi Anderson's list of tips from Guillermo during "Hellboy" were a real highlight, i.e., Make it look [cool — expletive deleted]. Chris Williams works with lots of young animators through Animation Mentor, so he had some very encouraging words for the plebes. And Spencer Cook is a powerful, powerful animator — think of the razorbat sequence in Spider-Man — that's all Spencer. Meanwhile, Andy Jones, who brought along his wife and baby, showed a few stunning sequences from Superman. I actually want to see the movie again so I can look more closely at the cape animation.

It's funny, or maybe this is a panel truism. But, the most nervous guy going into the panel ended up being the one we couldn't get off the stage. I'd say it's something of a cultural progression to see the hardcore Siggraph crowd make a good show of it at the Con.

(from left: Andy Jones (Superman Returns), Dovi Anderson (Hellboy), Chris Williams (Open Season) and Spencer Cook (Spider-Man). The floating head at the bottom is mine.)

VFX Frontiers, Big Budgets and Boxoffice

I'm glum about how Superman Returns is faring at the summer boxoffice. I know that part of the problem is that studios are indulgent parents. They have gobs and gobs of cash to spend, and especially when they're investing in a huge potential franchise, there's no incentive NOT to let their smart, talented, imaginative directors throw more money—and length— into their movies. So Bryan Singer gets to spend $2.3 million on that bullet in the eye sequence. (Which I'm glad is in the movie.) Or he decides that he just doesn't like the way that mini-continent looks when Superman hoists it into outer space. (Here's my report on Singer and VFX supervisor Mark Stetson's fab FX.) Superman Returns reminds me of King Kong. Because Peter Jackson was coming off the amazing Lord of the Rings trilogy, Universal let him do whatever he wanted—and got a three hour movie that barely scraped into profitability, and should have been trimmed.

So too, at two and a half hours, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 has plenty of sumptuous effects. And as a devoted FX student, I will eventually see it. It's just that too many people have told me what a long slog the movie is. I know it's my duty to report how well this movie is opening, breaking the Spider-Man record, etc etc. But it depresses me. The more the studios get positive reinforcement from making pricey but less than well-executed movies like Da Vinci Code and X-Men 3, the more they'll keep feeling justified in doing more of same. Sigh.

Besides Bob Zemeckis's Beowulf, the next FX extravaganza that I am super-excited by is James Cameron's 3-D Avatar, aka Project 880. Sheigh nabbed an interview with Cameron. I can't wait. Word is, ILM's Dennis Muren will be the lead effects supervisor, with Weta FX Master Joe Letteri handling Avatar's character animation. Finally, technology has caught up with the movie that Cameron has long wanted to make.

Superman Returns Numbers

When reinventing a franchise like Superman, the temptation for a studio is to throw money at the first movie that has to sell future movies. Superman Returns wouldn't be looking somewhat fragile right now if it hadn't cost so much (a reported $220 million plus $40 million in development costs) and if it wasn't so long, two hours and 40 minutes (that's 40 minutes longer than last year's War of the Worlds). Sure, Universal came out at the end of the day on Peter Jackson's $207-million, three-hour remake of King Kong, but it shouldn't have been such a struggle. Batman Begins' $205-million domestic gross isn't the kind of number Warner Bros. is looking for here. And Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (which is also long, at 2 and a half hours) is looming.

Why didn't Superman Returns soar? One possibility is that when Dick Donner's Superman came out in 1978, it was the first movie Superman. The world has been living with various incarnations of Superman for a while now: the three sequels, the 1993 TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and 2001's Smallville on the WB—essentially, Superboy. On the other hand, Superman Returns played to 58% men in its opening foray. I'm going to bet that more women will catch up to it, now that Prada, which played to 78% women (no surprise) has opened (really well, at $27 million). I find it hard to imagine that Superman Returns is generating bad word. But that 2 hour, 40 minute length is harder to commit to, and less easy to sit through more than once, as Nora and I discovered at our second go round with the Imax 3-D version (20 minutes worth, very cool). Repeat business is crucial to these blockbusters. At 194 minutes, Titanic managed it. But Titanic is not your ordinary blockbuster. And Brandon and Kate are no Kate and Leo.

Superman Returns News

Rotten Tomatoes has collected a batch of newsworthy reports on Superman Returns, from frothy reviews to overheated boxoffice. Claude Brodesser-Akner reports that Superman Returns is posting the most heterosexual opening ever, with an initial 58 % male attendance. Newsweek asked Bryan Singer, point-blank:

"Your sexuality has come up in the press lately. The L.A. Times and Entertainment Weekly have published stories that refer to you as "openly gay," and speculate about Superman's appeal to gay men," to which Singer replied: "I try not to talk about my personal life in the press, but I can confidently tell you that "Superman Returns" is the most heterosexual movie I've ever made."

Here's the WSJ on the boxoffice so far—it's the eighth highest Wednesday opening, better than Batman Begins, worse than Spider-Man 2— plus their Page One story on how Superman Returns got made. WSJ contributor Anthony Kaufman explains why unknowns make the best superheroes:

Brandon Routh, the star of Warner Bros.'s "Superman Returns," isn't the first little-known actor to shoulder the immense weight of a megabudget franchise. Prior to starring in "Superman" in 1978, newcomer Christopher Reeve's only big-screen experience was a bit part in a thriller. More recently, a number of emerging but hardly famous actors have taken on the roles of Batman (Christian Bale) and the Hulk (Eric Bana). Last summer's superhero flick "The Fantastic Four" featured many unfamiliar names, and leading X-Men warrior Hugh Jackman had never appeared on a U.S. marquee. While Hollywood often depends on stars to drive ticket sales, new talents are cast as iconic comic-book heroes so as not to get in the way. The thinking is that celebrities come with baggage that could dilute the superhero mystique. That might be why Sony has tapped Daniel Craig as the next James Bond. And when studios attempt the reverse, casting a star (Halle Berry's "Catwoman"; Jennifer Garner's "Elektra") the box-office results can be disappointing.

And THR's Tatiana Siegel talks to the screenwriters about why they replaced "and the American Way" with "and all that stuff." It's a global world after all.

Spacey Talks Luthor at Guardian

Kevin Spacey lets loose on how he fashioned his take on bald Superman arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. He modeled the character after Enron chief Ken Lay!

Superman Returns Disses Oscar

Tom O'Neill reports that LA audiences are roaring at the Oscar diss in Superman Returns. It's so true.

Singer Says Superman Was a Real Eyeful

EXCLUSIVE!!

[Posted by Borys Kit]

Talk about eye-poppin.’
One of the most talked about sequences from Superman Returns will surely be the scene in which Superman stops a bank robbery in progress. (Spoiler Alert!) The action climaxes with a thief pulling out a gun and shooting Superman...right in the eye! Sure, hindsight is 20-20, but that high stakes moment almost didn’t make it into the movie.
Bryan Singer had to fight hard, super-hero hard, to get that scene into his film. Sources say the studio balked because the scene was expensive and because they found it a little too graphic. Execs also worried that it could raise red flags with the MPAA. After all, Superman gets shot...right in the eye!
At the Hollywood premiere Wednesday night, Singer admitted that the scene wasn’t originally budgeted and getting it in required an impassioned argument: “Look, in one scene we can see him be faster than a speeding bullet and we can truly see how impervious he is. And how every molecule in his body is more than steel. I made a plea in the middle of production and graciously Warner Bros. kicked in some extra cash.”
And just how much extra cash?
“Uh, about $2.3 million. It’s all about that shot.”
Right in the eye!
Singer also said part of the genesis of the scene — which includes the bank robber firing tracer bullets from a giant machine gun on the cops and Superman — came from writer Mike Dougherty’s father.
“Mike’s dad sent us a film of a military demonstration of these amazing tracers and I was like, ‘Wow, we need to see that.’”

Check out this trailer for a tease of the sequence: Link