Superman vs. Prada

• email this story
• read comments (36)
• post a comment
• 
  
  

Superman Returns was in 2005 theatres last weekend, or about 225 more theatres than The Devil Wears Prada was playing in, or about 1778. And yet Prada made more money, earning $4,774,000 with a $2600 average. Superman Returns made $3,570,000 with a $1700 average.

comment #1

guy steele says ...

I am not surprised. Supe redux was nothing more than a suped up
remake. THe only thing missing was a bumbling Otis. The only thing really new was the inclusion of Supe's kid.
Now did the film look good? Yes
Was Mr. Routh a decent Supe? Yes
Was Spacey a good Lex? Kinda
Was Kate a good Lois? Nope
Were the effects good? Yeppers
Was the Plot good? Um... same plot as Supe #1 except instead of destroying the west coast Lex set's his sites on doing in America from the east coast inward. Um... here is a thought... If Lex's plan is to destroy land so he can make money on the 'new' land he owns... um... wouldn't destroying the land ruin the economy making money kinda useless?
As I said in earlier posts: Superman is the hardest major comicbook hero to translate to the screen.
Should Supes Return again? Yes but with a much better script and adventure.

comment #2

says ...

More box office news about how 'bad' Superman Returns is doing... You hated it, Jeff, and wanted it to fail...we get it. Move on.

comment #3

Lisa says ...

I felt that there was something lacking in the Clark and Lois relationship. She was never that pleased to see him. If she didn't care about Clark, the why should I care about her and Superman?
As for Lex, I think creating the new land had the added benefit of being superman - proof tho.

Superman is a little bit bland. Batman had to work to become a superhero, whereas Superman had his powers handed to him on a plate. So he's lonely cos he has a secret identity. What makes him different from Batman, Spiderman, etc? You maybe were able to say that he stood for the american dream but you can't say that anymore. Yeah they definitely need a script with more adventure and less of who's the daddy. What I wanted to know was - did Lois remember that she slept with Superman? Cos at the end of Superman 2, he made her forget. She slept with Superman when he had no powers, so how doesthe kid have any?

comment #4

Chuck says ...

To Nameless Poster-

Jeff was VERY supportive of the new Superman movie, too supportive actually, the film was a bland remake of an overrated movie to begin with, no more, no less.

comment #5

lesterg says ...

Blank Poster: "More box office news about how 'bad' Superman Returns is doing... You hated it, Jeff, and wanted it to fail...we get it. Move on."

1) Jeff liked Superman Returns and has been lamenting its fate at the box-office since opening weekend. I do not think he's taking pleasure in it.

2) Even Bryan Singer has now stated that the film was a disappointment domestically (which it is).

comment #6

Mike Gebert says ...

I came out of Superman Returns liking it pretty well... and yet a day later it had pretty much disappeared from my mind. It turned out to have a bit of what Miami Vice has even worse-- because the parts are familiar to audiences already, good actors are hired to simply show up and wear the nametags without really being given anything to do. Frank Langella totally stole Good Night and Good Luck as William S. Paley, scary and completely convincing as an imperial media mogul, but who can remember a thing he did in SR? Brandon Routh impersonated Christopher Reeve very well, maybe now he'll make a movie where we can see who he is. Even Spacey seemed to be coloring inside the lines drawn by Gene Hackman. How you spend $250 million and make a strangely insubstantial movie is a mystery....

comment #7

Rich S. says ...

The core conceit sunk SR. How are you supposed to root for Superman and Lois to get back together when Supes left her without warning and pregnant and then she is taken in by a good-looking, stable guy who is heroic in his own right? And now were supposed to be happy to see absentee father Superman return when his kid has been raised by a guy who is a better man than he?

The superhero stuff was pretty good, as were Routh, Spacey and Posey. But they tried to turn it into Titanic and then get you to root for the character who more resembled Billy Zane. If you want to tamper with the myth, that's okay (see Batman Begins), but you had better do it right.

comment #8

Chuck says ...

Mike- "strangely insubstantial" is a good way to put it, and, I think, perfectly sums up this summer in general. I really liked Miami Vice, but maybe I was so relieved to see a mainstream movie that actually played to adults that I overrated it, who knows? I also have to say I thought Monster House was one of the sleepers of the summer. It had an atomsphere, a story (simple but it did at least feel like more than a necklace to string set pieces on) and charm, all sorely lacking from most summer releases this year.

comment #9

Dixon Steele says ...

It really says something when my favorite studio film of the summer was...THE BREAK-UP!

Everything else was either just OK (Miami Vice, Superman Returns, Prada, Click) or awful (Poseidon, Nacho Libre, Little Man)

Didn't see everything (Pirates, Lake House, Tokyo Drift, etc.) but still...

comment #10

Mike Gebert says ...

"The core conceit sunk SR."

You probably wouldn't like Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, either...

comment #11

alfred says ...

As I said in earlier posts: Superman is the hardest major comicbook hero to translate to the screen.

how so?

When I first read Jeff's review, the title of the article said sometihng like "supes got the blues" and I was overjoyed! Now upon reading it, I was given the impression that they finally made Supes what he really was. A lonely spiderman type..someone who can't really get involved with anyone b/c his nemisis might find out and hurt them and how he has to sacrifice himself daily to protect earth. However, uponm seeing it, I was horribly dissapointed.

He wasn't this lonely person or whatever.
He was a beer guzzling red superman.
I mean, wtf?!
Clark doesn't drink. He would NEVER drink.
Kate Bosworth was horrific. She was like a cloud and Lois is supposed to be like granite.
Spacey was alright I guess...but nowhere near the subtle evil that he is as in the tv show.

They say The Superman Universe is the hardest to bring to the silver screen.
I really doubt that.

The creators of Smallville who had no previous knowledge whatsoever of the Superman Universe when they created the show, did a better job of casting and the actors playing the characters had the same level of knowledge and they still gave better portrayals of the characters than the big screen versions.

There is a great article on quickstopent entertainments' ComicsinContext that can fully explain it better.

here is the link:
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/?p=750

comment #12

NYCBusybody says ...

I thought the "blank poster" was being tongue-in-cheek and funny/ironic as to how these boards have been very much about how Jeff wants this movie to fail because he doesn't like it, David Poland wants this one to succeed because he likes it, etc and so on.

Unless of course I'm wrong. I tend to assume irony and sarcasm where sometimes it wasn't intended.

comment #13

Rich S. says ...

"You probably wouldn't like Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, either..."

Not if Carousel was designed to be a summer tentpole that needed to make $300 mil. to recoup its negative costs.

I actually have no problems with the plot of SR. I just don't think the general public warmed to it as the plot of a Superman movie.

comment #14

lesterg says ...

NYC, I took it seriously due to the number of delusional Superman fans out there.

For whatever reason, they refuse to accept that the film has underperformed and attack any individuals who suggest it has...it is borderline comical.

comment #15

Nicol D says ...

I enjoyed Superman Returns but there is one positive to the situation.

It makes it more likely that they might follow The Hulk's lead and just wait five years and make a do-over with new actors, concepts etc. Scrap the kid plotline.

Again, I loved seeing Supes fly again...but it could have been better. The is was not the definitive Superman and Singer dropped the ball in the concept stage.

Many people want to see Superman...just not this version.

comment #16

Bill says ...

Yes SR could be considered a disappointment, but despite all it will cross the 197m mark (better than Ice Age 2) and the 400m mark world wide. IMO you can't blame the movie, but the WB's marketing. SR's showing decent legs for a summer blockbuster (better than X3 and The Da Vinci Code).
Compare SR with DWP doesn't have any sense,...they did the same thing last year comparing WOTW and StarWars to "The March of the Penguins" legs. So everyone could write "The penguins beat Spielberg". It's a sort of fetish perversion typical of the journalism.

The real problem was the opening week-end, and the fact that it didn't cross the 100m mark in 4 days.
Last year Batman Begins was saved by its incredible "legs". You can't expect to repeat the miracle every year, expecially with a stronger competition.

comment #17

lesterg says ...

Bill, what do you mean you "can't blame the movie"? While I'm the first one to blast WB's marketing department, the film did not click with audiences that way it needed to.

In terms of POTC, the market has proven that it can support more than one blockbuster at a time. If Superman's word of mouth had been positive/excellent, it would have crossed 200 million quite some time ago. General audiences just didn't dig it enough.

comment #18

Jon says ...

SR's opening weekend consists of only 28% of its total gross. That's not bad for a big budget movie. So yeah, it actually did have some longevity. X3 on the otherhand, which had 44% of its total gross or The Hulk which had 47%, did not have any.

Seriously, it was marketing. The first weekend is always marketing. Movie doesn't have to be good, just has to look good to get a big opening. Since SR opened much lower than they had hoped for, it was marketing (plus, reviews were generally good, so there was no harm there).

comment #19

says ...

Superman returns was and excellent film best comic book movie I've seen except Batman Begins.

Spiderman 1 becomes unwatchable by the second viewing
spiderman 2 was unwatchable on the first viewing?
X-men 3 what a waste of time
fantastic four lets not even go there
Daredevil please
While x-men and x2 we're amazing popcorn flicks I would say singer out did himself with Superman returns

PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE the jury is not out on superman returns yet. it is possible that the overseas market will yield far more earnings than the domestic boxoffice. This brings me to a point I hate how solopsistic americans are. take american sports baseball, hockey, NFL (I can't call a game football when the primary mode of play is performed with the hands) they play a regional tornament then proclaim themselves the world champions while ignoring a game like FOOTBALL (known as soccer to idiots) that can boast 2 billion viewers. The superbowl WILL NEVER have 2 billion viewers watching it NEVER. yet every year americans proclaim their teams world champions, when no one else in the world gives a fuck.

such is the fate of many films poor domestic returns but superb outside the states yet these movies are failure because americans didn't like it? is the world still flat and if one ventures off the coast of north america they will fall off the edge of the world??

comment #20

guy steele says ...

To Alfred: To answer your question about why Superman is hard to bring to the screen, let me first say I wrote about this back before the movie opened here in HE.

Superman first and formost has no Mask to hide behind. Being Clark Kent is his costume. The conceit that no one know's Supe is Clark Kent is a flaw from day one but an easier one to hide in the comic pages. On screen it is hard to buy especially when Supes is fooling a bunch of top notch reporters!

WB has not really taken on the task of having Supes battle creatures or Aliens as he has in the comics.

Fighting Lex can be fun but to recycle plotlines is pointless.
Superman 2 fared better story wise with Supes fighting against 3 from his planet who inturn had powers like him. That made some sense and Lex figuring out how he could take advantage.

The problem with that picture was I feel, made before it's time.
That story would have benifited from todays CGI.

It's like the classic TV show... All Supes did was get Lois or Jimmy out of a jam and apprehend regular criminals with .38 guns. Who had nothing better on their minds than heists for the most part.

With Batman and Spider-Man it's easier to hide who they are and they already have conflict going on without adding in the pressures of crimefighting. And they fight foes that make more sense in their world.

Heck Bats fights better villians than Supes.

X-Men is a different story... they are not hiding themselves as much. Yes they at times want to keep their powers a secret but it's out of fear of persecution. But pitting them against each other is brilliant. And both sides fear us the Humans.

Supes main gripe: He's not one of us. He has lost everything that was his home and his real Parents. But he didn't know them or his planet. He know's the Kents and Earth. It's like babies who are adopted.
So Supes actually had a wonderful life growing up. Then when he matures he get's a job and goes about saving the world from it's self.

Well I did digress didn't I?

Oh and Hi NYCBusybody!

comment #21

says ...

Blank Poster: "PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE the jury is not out on superman returns yet. it is possible that the overseas market will yield far more earnings than the domestic boxoffice"

Has anyone here claimed that international box-office is irrelevent? You're jumping to conclusions based on our statements that the domestic box-office has been poor/disappointing.

Second off, there are only three major territories that Superman has not yet opened in. The international story isn't over...but it's 75% of the way there.

The verdict on international so far: not bad, but not exceptional either.

comment #22

says ...

"SR's opening weekend consists of only 28% of its total gross. That's not bad for a big budget movie."

Opening weekend is only a fair measure of frontloading if the film opened on a Friday, which SR did not.

comment #23

Shyamalan's Narf says ...

SUPERMAN RETURNS has been mocked in certain circles as SUPERMAN IN LOVE, but my problem was not the love story but the plot of the film and the lack of action scenes or scenes glorifying heroism.

The scene with the Virgin Galactic Shuttle was awesome and when Supes lands the aeroplane in the stadium withe cheering crowds *that* was what Superman was all about. Pity the rest of the film didn't live up to that.

The climax of the movie was Supers getting his arse kicked by thugs and lifting a grey krystaline rock into the sun - sorry that just doesnt cut it.

The movie ended with him leaving the hospital (yawn).

One more kinetic action scene in the end would have taken SUPERMAN RETURNS over the $200 million benchmark.

comment #24

guy steele says ...

Ok I gotta take a bite outta this 'no name' poster above...

"Superman returns was and excellent film best comic book movie I've seen except Batman Begins."

Bat's is the best Bat movie and Supes wasn't terrible but for my money far from the best.

"Spiderman 1 becomes unwatchable by the second viewing"

Spidey 1 only suffered from the Goblin effects. But it did a great job of establishing the characters and history.

"spiderman 2 was unwatchable on the first viewing?"

Man I want whatever it is your smoking... LOL... Spidey 2 was way better than 1. If it had a problem it was that the villian was taken over by his expeirment like the 1st movie villian. But you have to have cases like that in the Spidey universe just like you have to have nut cases as villians in the Bat movies.

"X-men 3 what a waste of time"

To be fair I didn't see X3 so no comment.

"fantastic four lets not even go there"

On this we agree... Maybe the worse Hollywood Comic Book Movie ever! Well ok Elextra sucked too!

"Daredevil please"

Actually Daredevil worked for me on some levels. Colin as Bullseye was great. The mis-step was Kingpin. Thee they blew it big. He with the Chin was fine as Dare and Garner was cool as Electra though finding an Asian might have been cooler.

"While x-men and x2 we're amazing popcorn flicks I would say singer out did himself with Superman returns"

Only in the FX maybe. X-Men 1 is a wonderful 'Comic Book' movie and X2 was about as good. However from a true comic book transplant to the screen look no further than Sin City. That did it right period!

As for Superhero movies... I like the heart in Supe 1, I liked the story elements of Supe 2, Spidey 2 delivered and both X-men's as well. Hulk was a wonderful Misfire on all accounts. F4 was as bad as Supe 3 & 4 except that I would watch 3 & 4 again before F4. The Blade movies? 1 & 2 fun fun #3 yuck!

Well that's my take on things Super.

comment #25

NYCBusybody says ...

I agree that it's silly for Americans to call it the World Series, or to say that they are the "NBA World Champs".

To take that further to the idea that Americans are more "solipsistic" than other peoples is misguided, I think. America is a much different culture than European countries, or Latin America. There are many different types of people, substantially different cultures, and most importantly, huge expanses of land with 300 million people. The inward nature of American thought is less attributable to Americans being easily-dismissed stupid morons, as to the fact that in most other parts of the world, the next country is just a short train ride away, the next culture easily reachable by transit, the populations more homogenous and centered, thus national culture easier to define and integrate with others.

I happen to think if anything, America should be proud of the fact that as a culture we have so many different varieties of things, even and especially sports. Anywhere else in the world, what is it? Soccer Ugh. Such an oppressive sameness.

comment #26

Tom says ...

"Has anyone here claimed that international box-office is irrelevent? You're jumping to conclusions based on our statements that the domestic box-office has been poor/disappointing.

Second off, there are only three major territories that Superman has not yet opened in. The international story isn't over...but it's 75% of the way there."

Thank you!

Besides, SR had even WORSE drop-offs in its 2nd week out in most foreign markets than it did here at home. In markets like Australia, Thailand, and Taiwan, it fell between 60 - 68% in its second week.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117946490?cs=1&s=h&p=0

"Yes SR could be considered a disappointment, but despite all it will cross the 197m mark (better than Ice Age 2) and the 400m mark world wide."

Huh???

SR hasn't even crossed the $190 million mark domestically, whereas Ice Age 2 earned $197 million. And Ice Age 2's worldwide cum so far is $644 million dollars.

SR, after several weeks in release and lots of marketing, has a total cum of just over $315 million. It will be a miracle if it can make $400 million by the time that it hits DVD.

SR is an earnings disappointment in every way. Even Madea's Family Reunion had a better average per theater than SR.

Why is it so hard for SR fanboys to accept this info and move on?

comment #27

guy steele says ...

Hi NYCBusybody: I just knew a New Yorker would stand up for the good old US of A!

I admit I have wondered why we call our top sport team winner a World Winner. It's true that our teams competed with no other countries except with Baseball and B-Ball where we play some Canadian teams.

I do hope that at some point our Football teams can play against the Canadians and NFL Europe teams.

I agree with NYCBusybody the world has Soccer... great. It's alot of countries Pride and Joy. England throws in Rugby and Cricket.

Soccer is big here from High School down. It hasn't caught on as big here but it's up against American created sports like B-Ball the NFL and Baseball only Hockey did we borrow from others like our brethern to the north.

Here in this country The NFL Rules first and formost. I would say B-Ball then Baseball, Hockey and finally Soccer. Maybe it's crass of us to like sports that score alot. Baseball is slow but we look at it as our national 'pasttime'. Hockey can be very low scoring but it moves so fast, there are fights and it's indoors and cool and great looking ladies attend the games here for some reason.

Then there's Tennis, Golf and Volleyball.... whew!

comment #28

NYCBusybody says ...

Guy,

Whether it's a "sport" or not is debatable, but Nascar is second only to the NFL in popularity.

I apologize for steering a Superman related post to Nascar. Only I do that. I'm weird.

comment #29

guy steele says ...

NYCBusybody: I am surprised to see you even know of Nascar.

Yes I forgot about it and it is second only to the God Loving NFL.

Boy you keep surprising me NYCBb! Just imagine... A New Yarker like you mentioning Nascar... It's so not The Village or Soho of you.

Snicker.

Oh back on topic: Don't forget Supe's total WW gross cut it by 45-50% The Chains and Distb. Channel have to eat too. So if HW and WB spent say $280 on Supes not counting any P&A then it would have to gross at leasst $560 or more just to break even and if you include the marketing ect then at least a $600-$620 gross is needed to make the budget and expenditures back. Anything over that after that is split might be considered profit... but then I am sure there were backend deals that could affect that as well... So yes Supes is a disappointment. I know there is licensing... and yes I am sure WB made some $$$ there... but is anyone buying the tie-ins?

That is why HW likes filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez his films make a ton of cash even without setting the B.O. on fire.

comment #30

lesterg says ...

If only Rodriguez could remember how to make a quality film, it would be great for everyone.

Here's hoping that this divorce/Rose McGowan thing finally gets him out of his comfort zone and back on track.

comment #31

guy steele says ...

Lesterg: Amen Brother!

I think Robert will be back on track QT is working wih him on their Dbl. Feature extravaganza!

But my point was even Robert's bad movies make coin.

It's always about the budget then the story. I know Story first... but PLEEEEZE! If Hollyood believed that we would have a summer of L.A. Confidential type movies. Which would be cool with me.

comment #32

alfred says ...

To Guy Steele:

WB has not really taken on the task of having Supes battle creatures or Aliens as he has in the comics.

yea he has.
He has fought the most evil of his homeworld foes:
Brainiac.
he also fought Mxplxk..the trouble maker from the comics.
In the first few seasons, He did fight an insect woman,a dead girl who takes over high school girls bodies in hopes of living out her high school experience over and over again,a girl who kidnaps people and places them in her own high school in hopes of never growing up..
I guess it helps that they have an on set dc rep to look over scripts..with the movie, the corp cares more about the merchandise than the script and dc.

I read that the reason people can't tell who he really is was that in the 30s and 40s, people in real life had a hard time distinguishing between on and off glasses...yea I know..whaa? but that's what the comic info book said.

I am guessing you didn't look at the link.

comment #33

guy steele says ...

No I didn't look at the link. Um are you talking about the cartoon series? When I reference TV I was talking about the series from the '50's. And as far as the movies go he hasn't fought the kind of villians you mentioned.

I know it is far easier to do those kind of stories in animation.
I meant WB not as the network but as the studio...

comment #34

alfred says ...

Look at the link.
It gives a really great review of the movie's relation to the comics and it's where I got my smallville ideas.
no, I was referring to the teen-adult show "Smallville" when I mentioned who he has fought.

comment #35

rk says ...

I say ... Keep Singer, because he is undoubtedly talented, and bring in some new writers for the sequel.

I thought the script for SR was bland and led to the poor box office.

comment #36

sr was better than you think says ...

Okay, everyone ragging on Lois for not being "granite" enough must be a man and not a father because then they would know that even Lois Lane would soften a little as a result of having a child, especially a child who up until he shoves the piano at the man in the yacht is very fragile. I think Kate Bosworth did an excellent job portraying an abandoned-with-child Lois who is forced to be less selfish (and think about her son) and stay with the guy she doesn't really love wholeheartedly to offer Jason a better life.

Did any of you criticizing Lois actually pay attention to the story line? It very clearly says that Lois was in love with Superman, that he left her without saying goodbye, that she was pregnant (unknowingly) with his son, and that ALL OF THIS WOULD AFFECT HER "GRANITE" PERSONALITY. If anything, I would say her character is more of a change from a "diamond" to a "granite", and it's exactly on-target. And guys, quit targeting Kate Bosworth; she played the part exactly as the script said.

One more note in response to downplaying the relationship between Lois and Clark and uplaying the relationship between Lois and Superman:
I, too, asked this rather stupid question, having fallen in love with both the "Lois and Clark" and "Smallville" series, but only a TRUE Superman friend would've seen that the original movies also downplayed Clark and upplayed Superman.

SR is meerly a chapter in a very long series of movies and stories to come. Think of it as Harry Potter 3; even though it's a good story and it leaves a lot of strings to follow, it's just unraveling the story to come. The major events that you all are complaining about are YET TO HAPPEN in the film series.

And none of you all complained when LOTR did the same thing...

Post a Comment