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Which promising movies fell shortest of expectations?
When we first heard the news that J.J. Abrams had been hired by Disney to continue the adventures of Luke Skywalker and company as the director of Star Wars: Episode VII, we were almost beside ourselves with enthusiasm. After all, as the director of Star Trek (2009), Abrams proved that he could revitalize a classic sci-fi franchise while remaining true to its core concepts and respectful of its legacy. Added to that the fact that Abrams will be shooting from a script written by Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and Episode VII is bound to be the greatest Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, right? We'll see. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but gearing down from "enthusiastic" to "hopefully optimistic."
Studios don't set out to make bad movies, yet they churn them out each and every year. Sure, most bad movies are doomed from the get-go, be they saddled with a bad script, a director who lacks vision, a cast made up of eye candy instead of actors, or some combination thereof, but even movies that seem to have everything going for them can still turn out to be dreadful. A movie about cowboys fighting aliens starring Indiana Jones and James Bond directed by the man who brought us Iron Man? Sounds awesome! Too bad Cowboys and Aliens turned out to be just another one of those movies that should have been great, but ultimately left us feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.
You've griped about them to your friends, now tell us which movies you found to be the biggest disappointments, the ones that simply failed to live up to expectations.
Rate the Top 10 Most Disappointing Movies >>
Posted 01.25.13 by BrentJS -
Director Bryan Singer has enjoyed plenty of success with comic book movie adaptations like X-Men and X2: X-Men United, but the prevailing perception of his last comic book directorial effort, Superman Returns, is that he failed, despite receiving decent reviews and earning more than $391 million in worldwide box office (on a $270 million budget).
In the intervening years, Singer has come to terms with his feelings about the movie. Now, with director Zack Snyder busy rebooting the franchise (Man of Steel) for Warner Bros., Singer told Comic Book Movie (via THR) what he thought might have lead to the movie's poor audience reaction.
a Superman for Devil Wears Prada fans? >> Posted 04.18.11 by Ryan -
Despite his success in bringing the comic book exploits of Marvel's merrry mutants, the X-Men, to the big screen in X-Men and X2: X-Men United, director Bryan Singer dropped the ball when it came to his adaptation of DC Comics' Superman in Superman Returns. Despite the movie receiving decent reviews and earning more than $120 million, Superman Returns was a disappointment to Warner Bros. (WB), who were expecting Batman Begins' numbers, and it was generally reviled by die-hard fans for the "Super-stalker" scenes and the inclusion of a Superman-Lois love child that never existed in the comic books. As a result, when WB decided to make another Superman movie, they abandoned Singer and his storyline in favor of rebooting the franchise with Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) at the helm of Superman: The Man of Steel. In a recent interview, Singer said that it "makes sense" to reboot the franchise and applauded WB's selection of Snyder as director.
read what singer had to say >> Posted 11.09.10 by BrentJS -
Most critics and fans would agree that their issues with 2006's Superman Returns had little or nothing to do with Brandon Routh's performance, which may be why the actor is still holding out hope that he can continue with the role in the next incarnation that Christopher Nolan is producing. Routh told CinemaBlend that while he has heard nothing about the upcoming Superman movie, tentatively titled Superman: The Man of Steel, he is interested in returning to the role.
Can Routh convince the brothers Nolan? >> Posted 07.29.10 by Ryan -
"What Could Have been", Part One, explored what might have happened if Bryan Singer had stayed on to direct X-Men: The Last Stand instead of leaving for Superman Returns. Singer's Superman was supposed to bring the beloved franchise back to the former glory it had achieved with Richard Donner's Superman and Superman II (the "Director's Cut," of course). Superman 5 is the subject of Part Two of "What Could Have Been," an unproduced sequel that would have brought Christopher Reeve back for one last turn as the Man of Steel.
What happened to Superman 5? >> Posted 06.30.10 by Ryan -
Christopher Nolan can't get away from comic books. The Batman Begins and The Dark Knight director's new thriller Inception hits theaters on July 16, but that doesn't stop questions about Batman 3 and his involvement in shepherding a new Superman movie for Warner Bros. with David S. Goyer writing the script. While speculation is rising over who Nolan will cast as the Man of Steel, Nolan told MTV that the movie is far from the casting stages.
read more of the Nolan interview >> Posted 06.30.10 by Ryan -
Director Christopher Nolan attended the LA Times' Hero Complex Film Festival over the weekend and sat down to be interviewed about his upcoming projects. Nolan's next directorial effort, the thriller Inception, is a movie that Nolan has previously admitted he conceived of when he was 16, but at the Festival, Nolan revealed that it took him 10 years to finish the script.
More From Nolan on Inception, Superman, and Batman 3 Posted 06.18.10 by Ryan -
Before Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer were announced as the men who would be guiding the reinvention of the Superman franchise, comic book writer Mark Millar's name kept popping up as the one who might be writing the next chapter of the big-screen adventures of "The Man of Steel." Millar, the creator of the comic books that inspired the Wanted and Kick-Ass movie adaptations, spoke frequently about his passion for the character and his discussions with Warner Bros. about an epic trilogy of Superman movies with Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn at the helm.
Just prior to the official Nolan-Goyer announcement, when their involvement was rumored but not confirmed, LatinoReview published an article dismissing Millar's supposed discussions with Warner Bros. as "bullsh*t" and saying that he was "never even discussed to write" the reboot.Millar immediately countered the LatinoReview article, saying that "WB had direct and serious talks with Vaughn and Vaughn was only doing it if we did it together." In a recent interview with MTV, Vaughn finally weighs in on the controversy, clarifying his involvement with the reboot.
That sort of all got blown out of proportion. I had a very brief chat with them and that's all it was. From a 30-second chat, it's become this huge thing. It hadn't gone [that far], we just had an idea for a story for Superman — that was it.
Vaughn calls Bryan Singer's Superman Returns "a mess" and says that he hopes that Nolan doesn't make the new Superman "too serious" like The Dark Knight. Watch the video below for more.
Posted 03.27.10 by BrentJS -
When Deadline Hollywood first broke the story that the director of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, was chosen by Warner Bros. to "godfather" the reboot of the Superman franchise, comic book movie fans were practically exploding with excitement and anticipation. Countless blogs and fan forum debates erupted with speculation about everything from cast choices and potential villains to whether or not Nolan's involvement would guarantee a crossover with his Batman franchise.
However, just as fan interest in the story began to reach a fever pitch, Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment, the comic book division of Warner Bros., seemingly ended the conversation by telling MTV that Nolan's participation in any future Superman movie was only a rumor. Now, it appears that Deadline Hollywood had its facts straight after all, as Nolan himself has confirmed in a recent interview with the L.A. Times that he is, in fact, developing a new Superman movie with his Batman screenwriter, David S. Goyer.
It's very exciting; we have a fantastic story. And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.
In a roundabout way, Nolan also confirmed that he has been working on Batman 3 by saying that Goyer came up with an idea for how to adapt Superman while at an impasse over how to top The Dark Knight.
[Goyer] basically told me, "I have this thought about how you would approach Superman." I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I've never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma [Thomas, Nolan's wife and producing partner] and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.
We're approaching it in a not dissimilar way in terms of trying to find an incredible story in a way that audiences can engage with it the way they engage with contemporary action films. I think David's approach is a very good way of doing just that.
Nolan wouldn't comment on Internet rumors about Lex Luthor and Brainiac pulling a tag-team of villainy in his Superman reboot, saying simply, "I don't know where this stuff comes from," but he did dispel the talk of Superman and Batman cross-overs.
Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.
Short of saying that he will definitely be directing Batman 3, Nolan did admit that his brother, Jonathan Nolan, was currently working on the Batman 3 script for him.
My brother is writing a script for me and we'll wait to see how it turns out.... He's struggling to put it together into the epic story that you want it to be.
Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third movie a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story.
Nolan went on to say that, assuming he directs Batman 3, fans should expect to see many of their favorite actors and characters from the first two movies return.
We have a great ensemble, that's one of the attractions of doing another film, since we've been having a great time for years.
Posted 03.11.10 by BrentJS -
The news that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan was being brought in by Warner Bros. to "godfather" the development of a revamped Superman was met with great enthusiasm by comic book movie fans when it was first announced. Unfortunately, the news turned out to be nothing more than a rumor, leaving many wondering what, if anything, was being done to bring Superman back to the big screen.
Now, it's being reported that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are moving forward with plans for a new Superman movie, and that it will have a connection, if only tangential, to Nolan after all. LatinoReview has reported that David S. Goyer, co-writer of both of the Batman movies that Nolan directed, has been hired to write the new Superman movie, titled The Man of Steel. Goyer's script is said to be more action-packed than its predecessor, Superman Returns, and will see Superman squaring off against two villains — Lex Luthor and Brainiac.Returns' director, Bryan Singer, and title actor, Brandon Routh, are not expected to return.
The LatinoReview article also claims that Goyer's screenplay is at least partially based on the comic book mini-series of the same name written and illustrated by John Byrne in the mid-'80s. Byrne revamped the Superman mythologies, which had become campy and convoluted over the years, depowering Superman considerably and altering his origin and childhood to make the story more realistic. The article goes on to state that The Man of Steel will not be an origin story, but that Krypton will be more fully developed, which is in keeping with the changes Byrne instituted in his mini-series and the Superman series that followed it.
Subsequent to the LatinoReview article, Harry Knowles of AICN posted an update on the story in which he claims to have spoken with Thomas Tull, the president & CEO of Legendary Pictures, the production company behind both the Batman and Superman movies, who apparently told Knowles that the LatinoReview article had a few holes in it.
Tull has not unilaterally hired Goyer to come in and write the new Superman. He loves Goyer, but frankly — the project isn't at the Script stage yet. Seems Nolan is still hatching some ideas. But he just wanted me to pass on that they have the highest enthusiasm for this project, but the story on Latino just isn't accurate. I'll see what more I can find out, but as of right now, there really isn't anything else to tell.
AICN is known for its consistently good insider movie news, but the fact that Nolan is mentioned in connection with the Superman reboot when Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, said that his involvement was a "rumor" and nothing more, calls into question the validity of the update. And, following the AICN report, IGN posted its own update claiming "reliable sources" had confirmed that Goyer is involved with The Man of Steel, but that "Tull is downplaying" the news.
Whatever the truth may be, time is of the essence for the Superman franchise. After the heirs of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the original creators of Superman, sued DC Comics and Warner Bros. over the rights to the character, a judge ruled that Warner Bros. needed to begin development of another Superman movie by 2011 or risk becoming vulnerable to another lawsuit from the families. Furthermore, all rights to Superman and portions of his supporting cast, origin and powers will revert to the families in 2013 and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to create Superman-based works without a license from them.
Posted 02.25.10 by BrentJS