Thompson on Hollywood

First Look: Henry Cavill as Superman

Check out Henry Cavill as Superman. Chris Nolan and Zack Snyder's Man of Steel won't arrive until June 2013, but that doesn't mean we can't get excited about a ridiculously good looking Brit in tights.

By Sophia Savage
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August 4, 2011 5:07 AM
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Casting Watch: Witherspoon Goes Fluffy, Fishburne is Superman's Perry White, Foster Plays Gotti Jr.

Reese Witherspoon's next project is a Disney fluff piece called Wish List, about a girl whose wishes do not come true because the coin she throws into the well never reaches its bottom. Twenty-five years later, Witherspoon enters as that girl's older self, a careerist who has lost the imagination of her childhood. The coin finally drops, and she is left to deal with the fallout from ten 25-year old wishes being fulfilled en masse.

By Jacob Combs
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August 3, 2011 4:54 AM
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Comic-Con: Cavill Talks Superman and Immortals, Tarsem-Vision and 3-D, Pinto, Evans, Lutz

Features

Saturday in Hall H at Comic-Con, Immortals director Tarsem Singh said the film is actually darker and "more hard core" than the trailers suggest. This Relativity panel shared some 3-D footage as well as a 2-D fight scene (you can see the trailer here). The crowd ate up the 3-D -- which producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton call "Tarsem-Vision." Nunnari and Canton also produced Zack Snyder's 300, and this also shares CGI environments and ample muscles. Male viewers kept saying, "this is awesome," during the clips.

By Sophia Savage
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July 23, 2011 11:44 AM
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Brando vs. Crowe as Superman Franchise's Jor-El

I find disturbing the idea of Russell Crowe playing the role originated by Marlon Brando at age 54 in 1978's Superman. Crowe, 47, is in talks to play opposite Superman Henry Cavill as his beloved father Jor-El in Man of Steel, reports Variety. Of course this will give Crowe a handsome payday. Maybe it's the similarities between the troubled Brando and Crowe that worry me. Both are fine actors with inflated egos and a weight problem who have walked dangerously close to identifying with their leading roles. Keeping track of who you are as a human being and who you are as a movie star is half the battle in maintaining career longevity.

By Anne Thompson
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June 15, 2011 9:18 AM
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Superman Faceoff: Bryan Singer vs. Brandon Routh

As the latest Superman reboot gets underway, two folks who have no say in the Chris Nolan/Zack Snyder version, Superman Returns director Byran Singer and star Brandon Routh, face off against each other, Jeanne Wolf reports: When Bryan Singer makes a public statement that sounds like he was sorry he picked Brandon Routh to be Superman in the 2006 Superman Returns, you’d think that the former superhero’s feelings would be wounded.

By Jeanne Wolf
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April 22, 2011 8:07 AM
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Shannon Joins Superman: Man of Steel as Supervillain Zod

Superman: Man of Steel has found its villain in character actor Michael Shannon, who will play General Zod in Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Warner Bros. franchise. Shannon joins Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, Amy Adams as reporter Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as the Krypton native's adoptive parents.

By Anne Thompson
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April 10, 2011 11:30 AM
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In The Works: Nolan Helps Snyder with Superman; Working Title's Trash; Flight of Conchords's Hobbit

- Zack Snyder is under pressure. Empire talks with the Sucker Punch and Superman: Man Of Steel director, who is confronting skepticism following Punch's critical beating. Producer Christopher Nolan, thankfully, is offering plenty of help for the Superman reboot. No surprise, with people asking questions like, "Does Sucker Punch Spell Doom For Superman: Man of Steel?" Says Snyder, "Chris has been amazingly generous with me [with the Superman storyline]…He's making [The Dark Knight Rises] but he takes time if we're knocking around ideas for the script." And why wouldn't he? "Honestly," adds Snyder, "he wants us to make the best movie we can and he's just interested in helping with that without messing up the process. I think it's amazingly generous of him."

By Sophia Savage
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April 5, 2011 5:09 AM
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Superman News: Amy Adams Lands Lois Lane Opposite Henry Cavill's Man of Steel

Zack Snyder, whose Sucker Punch disappointed at the weekend box office, called Amy Adams Sunday from Paris with the news that she has landed the role of Metropolis newspaper reporter Lois Lane in the latest reboot of Superman, reports the LAT's Hero Complex. While Adams, 36, earned her third Oscar nomination for The Fighter (TOH interview here), this marks her first major studio franchise. She will star opposite Henry Cavill as fellow reporter Clark Kent and love interest the Man of Steel; Diane Lane and Kevin Costner will play the Krypton superhero's adoptive parents. Snyder told the LAT:“There was a big, giant search for Lois,” Snyder said. “For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it.”

By Anne Thompson
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March 27, 2011 6:54 AM
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Hollywood Produces More of Same as Box Office Dwindles

"It's content," says Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman of the continuing downward trend at the box office in 2011. What that means is that the movies being churned out by the studios during the first quarter are not connecting with audiences. Fellman denies that the young male demo has departed the multiplex: just wait until Hangover 2, he says, along with all the commercial films coming this summer. Warners will present a show reel of their upcoming product to exhibitors at the new NATO-controlled CinemaCon next week, where Paramount is expected to screen 22 minutes of J.J. Abrams' Super 8, among other reels.

By Anne Thompson
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March 25, 2011 9:46 AM
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Chasing Fan Boys, from Sucker Punch and Wanted to Superman and The Dark Knight Rises

With the annual box office at $1.93 billion, down 21% from last year, the film industry is holding out for a hero. Many were looking for succor from this weekend's Sucker Punch, the latest offering by director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), a visually gifted fanboy who knows what guys want. Anthony D'Alessandro examines the film's assets and liabilities and reports on why Hollywood likes to target the fanboy demo, from Wanted to Superman and The Dark Knight Rises. Inspired by Japanese Anime and the adult cartoon Heavy Metal, Sucker Punch, co-written by Snyder and his college buddy Steve Shibuya, follows a band of female mental patients who retreat into their own hyper-violent fantasy world as they plot to break out of a 60s insane asylum. Going into the weekend, Sucker Punch's tracking drew well ahead of Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, a family sequel that should score in the high teens over three days. But with current estimates pegging the film at a low $20-million bow, Sucker Punch is looking to be a gamble stateside for distributor/co-financier Warner Bros. Here’s what Sucker Punch faces at the box office: