Myself and Laremy seem to be among the few that thought Superman Returns was boooooooring. I have a feeling I disliked it even more than Laremy did, as a matter of fact I know I did, but a story out of TMZ now tells us that “Warner Bros. executives are said to be circumspect as to whether the Man of Steel will fly again.”
Really? Could it be possible that a movie rumored to have a production budget close to $300 million, a year’s worth of opening credits and two hours of virtually no action could be in trouble of not getting a sequel? I must admit though, those scenes at the Daily Planet were riveting.
TMZ is reporting the following:
Talent agency insiders with ties to the film tell TMZ that Warner Bros. Pictures president and COO Alan Horn has informed agents that a sequel hinges on whether grosses of “Superman Returns” can crest the $200 million mark domestically. What’s more, the studio plans to shave millions – many millions – off any “Superman” sequel’s budget.
In all reality I don’t see how a Superman sequel is not possible, but with the film currently sitting at $144.2 million as of writing this article I am not sure if it will reach $200 million. Considering the film fell a sizable 58% in its second week at the box it may have already run out of steam especially with Pirates of the Caribbean poised to dominate the box-office for a longtime after already breaking the opening weekend record and then breaking another record yesterday as it grossed $18.1 million, shattering the previous nonholiday Monday benchmark of $14.4 million set by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith last year according to reports out of Variety.
My assumption, which agrees with the report out of TMZ, is that the Superman sequel will simply be given less cash. As of right now the production budget on the first film was about $260 million according to Box Office Mojo, TMZ is reporting the second film would be more likely to get about $150 million. For those folks thinking that will drastically cut into the quality of the film you should know that Batman Begins‘ budget was just that.
Personally, even though I didn’t like Superman Returns, I would like to see another one. I think Bryan Singer is a fantastic director. After all, I didn’t really like the first X-Men movie, but I think Singer’s X2 is one of the best superhero movies of all-time. So go figure.
