The fanosphere is aghast with the news from the Wall Street Journal today that Warner Bros. is considering a reboot of the Superman franchise, possibly one that sort of ignores “Superman Returns.” And I’m OK with that, since I also sort of ignore “Superman Returns.”
But the kryptonite in the woodpile is this quote from Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov:
Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.
Oh, for…
This is so obvious I am amazed it needs to be said. “The Dark Knight” did not succeed because it was dark. It succeeded because of several things, all of which can be boiled down to “make a movie that is true to the character.” And Batman, done properly, is dark. Superman is not.
The superhero movies that work are the ones that speak to the fans’ love of what makes the character great. The massively successful Spider-Man movies were true to his character. Except, of course, for the third one, when he went… um, dark. The massively successful Iron Man movie did not try to make him gritty, it made him Iron Man.
WB, pay attention to someone who knows (i.e. the moviegoer). Get a director who loves the character and will fight to protect the core of him or her. Make sure that director has no driving urge to “say something” with the character unless that something makes sense (Singer’s outcast neuroses worked great with X-Men, not so well wth Supes). Then back that director to the hilt.
Or just hire Jon Peters to do it and write off superhero movies entirely. Maybe something with a giant spider.
