Thompson on Hollywood

WATCH: New 'Man of Steel' Trailer; How Nolan, Goyer and Snyder Reinvented the Big Blue Boy Scout

Video

Who knew, when Brandon Routh took on the alien Kal-El in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns," that fans would split so divisively? The 2006 movie, which paid homage to the Richard Donner "Superman" movies without completely updating the franchise the way Christopher Nolan did with "Batman Begins," grossed $391 million worldwide off strong reviews for a genre sequel. But it cost more than $232 million. Warners felt it could have performed better with more action and a powerful villain--and no Superman kid. So Singer was taken off the franchise.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
|
May 22, 2013 3:43 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

CinemaCon: Warner Bros. Reveals Slate Led by Nolan/Snyder 'Man of Steel,' 'Pacific Rim,' 'Gatsby'

Box Office

Warner Bros. believes in franchises, none more than Superman, which studio chief Jeff Robinov has been struggling to reboot for some time now--after audiences protested Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns." Thus "Man of Steel" was the high point of the 90-year-old studio's CinemaCon presentation this week, hosted by always awkward Robinov--who might as well let his popular distribution czar Dan Fellman do the honors. Robinov boasted about the studio's fourth year marking over $4 billion worldwide in 2012, and being the only studio to pass the $1 billion mark domestically 12 years in a row, as well as current hit "42," which pulled the studio out of a post-"Argo" box office dip.

By Anne Thompson
|
April 19, 2013 4:29 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Henry Cavill's Superman Ready for Takeoff on EW Cover

News

Henry Cavill's Superman appears to be poised and ready to strike in a new image from "Man of Steel," revealing another take on Superman's signature red and blue getup on the new Entertainment Weekly cover. Cavill takes on the square-jawed alien superhero in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" alongside a strong ensemble including Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Christopher Meloni, Diane Lane, and Laurence Fishburne (trailer below).

By Maggie Lange
|
April 11, 2013 6:34 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Trailer Watch: Superman Returns in Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel'

Video

At Comic-Con last week, Zack "The Watchmen" Snyder's "Man of Steel" teaser introduced a new cast led by Brit hunk Henry Cavill as Superman as alien outsider, plus Russell Crowe (also sounding Brit) as Jor-El, Kevin Costner as his human father, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as Krypton villain General Zod.

By Anne Thompson
|
July 22, 2012 4:29 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Studios Go Gigantor at Comic-Con: 'Pacific Rim,' 'Godzilla,' 'Man of Steel,' 'The Hobbit'

Festivals

The studios have boxed themselves into a corner. Because you can't just keep piling money into VFX to lure audiences to theaters, as their current (failing) tentpole strategy attests. And digital 3-D isn't exactly an event anymore--both "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Ice Age 4" saw lackluster 3-D performance.

By Anne Thompson
|
July 17, 2012 4:29 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

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
|
August 4, 2011 5:07 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

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
|
August 3, 2011 4:54 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

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
|
July 23, 2011 11:44 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

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
|
June 15, 2011 9:18 AM
|
4 Comments

More:

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.