Zack Snyder to direct Superman reboot

Read this on Supermanhomepage.com. Who knows if it's on the right track or not.

"New York Magazine's "Vulture" column claims that the up-coming Superman movie, written by David Goyer, is based around the premise that "Clark Kent is a journalist traveling the world trying to decide if he should, in fact, even become Superman." SlashFilm.com reacts to this news stating that this pitch isn't too far off the Mark Waid "Superman: Birthright" 12-issue miniseries published by DC Comics in 2003/2004.


  • Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu, the story attempted to retell the Superman origin story for the 21st century. In the story. Clark Kent is a freelance reporter in his early twenties, traveling the world to cover news stories
    . While covering an ethnic conflict between the fictional Ghuri and Turaaba clans in West Africa, he is forced to use his super powers to attain a fleeing assassin. This results in Kent returning to Smallville to learn more about his alien heritage and make the decision to become Superman.
Vulture also claims the reason Warner Bros. picked Zack Snyder to direct this new Superman movie is because David Goyer's script is "a bit of a mess as it was rushed".

  • Snyder is looked at [as] a man who can get the movie completed for 2012. You see, the studio doesn't have time to go through extensive rewrites as they need to get a new Superman movie in production by 2011 or they'll lose the rights to make said film.
Time will tell whether there's any truth to the script details and status as described above."
 
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You have encouraged me and crushed my hopes in one post. Really decent sounding story and then the fact that they are trying to rush it out.
 
I agree that Birthright was a very good Supes story and reimagining, but the outright statment of the script being a rushjob/mess and pushing the film out ASAP is not a good sign. :cry

But why must they choose a storyline that's another origin story? I really am starting to hate the term "reboot" :thumbsdown
 
I like the part about Superman returning to Smallville...if only they could hire a local who knows the locations from the first film (and Superman III). ;)
 
Ick. When I started reading comics again, I picked up Superman: Birthright. I read it, being a fan of Superman (particularly the Byrne reboot era) I had high hopes. I didn't like Birthright for many reasons... mostly it being a retconned mess without even trying to be a reboot.

Frankly, there's Byrne's Man of Steel. It's dated, it's corny in places - but, I think there's A LOT to work from, if you update it and mold it properly. You add some of what Smallville did that worked (Luthor from Smallville) and you've got the basic starting point for a killer Superman universe.

Of course, you don't need to do an origin... you can do some recapping in the opening credits or whatever. Let the peices fall into place without spelling it out for us.

Again, with Nolan involved, I'm afraid this is going to be a dark mess rather than a bright, bold adventure that I think Superman should be. But, I'm a nobody and Nolan directed Batman Begins and Dark Knight (which admittedly I am not a fan of - for the most part).
 
Darius Alucard said:
I'd like to know your opinion on who could do the job to bring this franchise back.
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Honestly, I have no idea

Someone not currently on the radar screen (a la Peter Jackson prior to LOTR).

I mean, given his track record, James Cameron could hit it out of the park. Too bad he's no longer a gun-for-hire like he was back in the Aliens days.

I thought Jon Favreau did a swell job with the first Iron Man picture, managing to strike a nice balance between character and action. The sequel was, alas, far less successful in that regard -- and in any case, Favreau's directorial dance card is filled.

Brad Bird is a genius IMO, and could probably deliver a Superman movie worthy of the character. Problem is he's never directed live action (although it'll be interesting to see how his first live action effort, M:I 4, shapes up).

Tony Scott could pull it off if you handed him a really tight screenplay, but it doesn't sound like that's the case in this instance. Armed with a script like Man on Fire or Crimson Tide Scott can deliver the goods, but give him a mess like Days of Thunder or Domino and he's helpless.

And that's kinda my take on Snyder. Lots of visual flair, but nobody's idea of a great writer.

This far out, I generally try to give a filmmaker the benefit of the doubt... but for the reasons mentioned it's really hard to get too excited about a Zack Snyder Superman reboot.
 
I just don't know, if I want to comment those rumors on the supermanhomepage.com - I didn't like Birthright as well, and as I stating again Chris was out of Byrne's Supes and I don't have any emotional connection to George Reeves' version, it was Chris that was for me Superman and always will - on and off-screen.

I have terrible feeling that Supes will be crashing flat on the ground, just that the ground is made of Krytonite :unsure - and I don't want Synder for Supes. Sounds like another nail in the coffin like Baird did for Nemesis....
 
It's hard for me to get excited about Snyder as well. I just don't like this artificial, amped-up, greenscreen aesthetic... Hopefully Nolan can help him inject some humanity into the film.
 
Carson Dyle said:
Okay, to be fair, Watchmens' $185,258,983 BO take was nothing to sneeze at for an R-rated film based on a graphic novel with no big stars and limited mainstream appeal.
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It was still a bomb and was labeled that by everything from the reporter to variety. And even though Watchmen is not a household name, it was given all the bells and whistles of an Alien or Terminator film with it's release- toys, shirts (available at mainstream stores), games, Hot Topic posters and nik-nacks all that other jazz they tried to sell - Seeing what the graphic novel was to the people who are old enough now to not only see an R rated movie but we are the ones who caused the comic film frenzy going on right now. Zack is an effects director - along the lines of Steve Summers. It should give you a taste of what we can expect when we get Superman - a disposable video. I hope Superman doesn't walk around with his steel hanging out throughout the film. So artistic Zack - so risky. There's your R rating. I liked Watchmen but i can't help wondering what a young Superman/ Lethal Weapon Richard Donner would have done with that material.
 
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Let me put it this way: If Watchmen bombed “about as hard as it could” then we’ll have to come up with a new word to describe the catastrophic, career-ending failure of movies like Speed Racer, Australia, Evan Almighty, and Land of the Lost. I mean, based on the relative numbers, these films must have SUPER-BOMBED, or ULTRA-BOMBED, or UBER-PSYCHO-TOXIC-BOMBED.

I’m not saying Watchmen didn’t under perform. Given the idiotically high expectations that was inevitable. But, you know, let’s keep a little perspective here.
 
Watchmen had a built in achilles' heel. Only a small portion of the movie-going public knew what it was. EVERYONE knows who superman is and his basic backstory.

A plot of him deciding whether or not to become superman as we know him doesn't do anything for me. It's another origin story, just from a different angle. We've basically been dealing with that for 9 years already with Smallville.
 
I'd like the movie to have a dark Metropolis, and dark bad guys. Superman, however, needs to be a bright center. He is the HOPE. Everything else needs to be bleak and horrible and when Superman arrives, he practically shines. I don't mean shines like Marlon Brando in a silver suit, but bright red blue and yellow.

When he's on screen, he shouldn't blend in, he should stand out. He should be alien to his surroundings.
 
cboath said:
Watchmen had a built in achilles' heel. Only a small portion of the movie-going public knew what it was. EVERYONE knows who superman is --
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It does give the product a bump, but Superman Returns was left in the theatre for an over extended period of time just so the studio could make it's money back and keep from calling the thing a full on failure - which it was.

And audiences of today should have been all over Watchmen and would have been if it had just been a good movie. No one knew who Robocop was and it too was rated R and it still kicked all kinds of sales and oversea records.
 
I was able to get a bit of information on the current script. It will center around events that lead up to Clark Kent deciding to become Superman and donning the cape. It will involve Zod and it does take homage to the original Donner film. Yes, it is a reboot of the start of Superman again centering on what defining moments make him choose to do what he does as Superman.

Warner is being pressured to pop this out quickly due to legal issues, so this is going to be a rushed production. Not the best manner in which to have to reboot the franchise.
 
tripoli said:
I was able to get a bit of information on the current script. It will center around events that lead up to Clark Kent deciding to become Superman and donning the cape. It will involve Zod and it does take homage to the original Donner film. Yes, it is a reboot of the start of Superman again centering on what defining moments make him choose to do what he does as Superman.

Warner is being pressured to pop this out quickly due to legal issues, so this is going to be a rushed production. Not the best manner in which to have to reboot the franchise.
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They have that info posted over at AINTITCOOL - I know there are already 4 scripts kicking around Warner that all came after Singer's attempt. I really hope this is NOT what they are doing - We get the first act of Batman Begins stretched into a full Superman movie - and done by a director whose signature is always larger than the picture he paints. Snyder relies on gimmick filmmaking or needle drop hit song videos in place of acting - and now with the news that this movie is being done under the gun -- well, I guess that about seals it. I'd rather see a Smallville movie than this.
 
Ghostbusters was written, shot, and posted in a year.

Not saying this will rock, but the time crunch does not necessarily a crap film make.
 
Honestly, coming from the same studio, I am shocked they don't grab the actors from Smallville and run with the new movie from that as an offshoot. Given the basis for the movie currently and constraints, sounds like they could do just that. Given Smallvill ehas the fan base laready, it would insure they have a following fan base going into the new franchise.
 
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