It's kind of cute to see DC Comics and Warner Bros. getting all excited about making superhero movies again now that The Dark Knight has been established as the greatest, most important film in the history of mankind. This comes after a decade of almost every DC-based movie being a failure while most of what has come from rival camp Marvel Comics has been successful. Now the tables have turned -- or they have for one movie, anyway -- and DC is emboldened. The next step? Find a way to ruin Superman again!

Word came last week that DC and Warners will reboot the Superman franchise, similar to the way Marvel rebooted the Incredible Hulk. (And gee, look how great that turned out! This summer's The Incredible Hulk did just as well at the box office as 2003's supposedly disastrous Hulk did.) Warner honcho Jeff Robinov said they plan to "reintroduce" the character -- but reboot, reintroduce, whatever you call it, are they forgetting that that's what 2006's Superman Returns was? How many times do they think they can redo this character before audiences just give up altogether?

Plenty of questions remain. A reboot probably means an entirely new cast, and possibly a new director. Word on the street before last week's announcement was that Bryan Singer could stay on board if he was willing to go in the new direction, but that's not very helpful right now, since no one knows what the new direction is yet.

So much for Warner Bros really taking their time deciding what to do with the Man of Steel! Group President Jeff Robinov confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that they plan on rebooting the franchise, a'la The Incredible Hulk. "Superman [Returns] didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says Robinov. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."

The plan is to release four comic book movies in the next three years -- including a third Batman (no word on whether Nolan is returning), a new Superman, and two other unnamed DC characters. Robinov also confirmed that Warner Bros plans to adopt the Marvel route of a single film for each character, and then building on those origin films to create crossover stories, rather than just jumping into the deep end of the Justice League pool. The only worrying part about Warner Bros new plan is that they are still drunk on The Dark Knight, and want their superhero films to follow that mold. Robinov feels that "exploring the evil side to characters" is the way to approach all the DC characters. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it." Including Superman.

As most of you noted in the comments, and as anyone distantly familiar with the character knows, a gritty approach is really not the one to take with Superman. He's the good old boy, an American icon, the complete opposite of Batman. He's also, arguably, one of the easiest characters to make into a family friendly comic book film. Superman is ideal for kids because he lacks the moral gray areas Batman revels in -- or should. I'm glad they're rebooting, but I'm wary of the dark direction they plan on taking.

[via SuperheroHype.com and thanks to Eli Gutierrez]

As our Erik Davis reported over the weekend, Warner Bros and DC Comics are in the midst of rehashing their strategy, opting for the slow and steady route. But there's one franchise that has his "reinvention" movie, as it were: Superman. Word is, Warner Bros is utterly torn as to what to do with him.

Variety's Anne Thompson reports that the studio is really taking their time in deciding what to do, and how Bryan Singer will play into it. At this point, despite all the rumors and excited quotes from Singer, no one is working on a Superman script.

Surprisingly, they're with the majority of fans on this one, and feel that the movie didn't revive the character the way they wanted, or the way they know it can be done. (You really have changed things, Christopher Nolan.) Thompson was told that the studio is making the Man of Steel a top priority -- and if Singer is willing "to go in the right direction," they'll keep him, if not, he's off the property. One executive freely admitted that "it might be better to start from scratch."

Remember, Mark Millar and a "big name action director" who had connections at Warner Bros were readying themselves to make a Superman pitch. Millar claimed the world would know by December. Given that such sharks are circling, I won't be surprised if Warners does start from scratch. I'm as perplexed as anyone as to where Singer can go from Superman Returns. For a healthy franchise, they're going to have to reboot, and leave Returns in that misty category of a Donner long delayed sequel.

What do you think? Reboot or continue Singer's storyline?

I don't know how I never saw these, but some old Canadian Filmmakers Festival posters are sailing through the web, and they show what spoofing should be like. Think Jaws -vs- a fisherman, the little Poltergeist girl swayed by hockey, Superman ready for winter, and Dorothy in a pair of sensible boots rather than slippers. But my favorite is above, because it would make one hell of an awesome comedic remake of The Birds. Canadian geese -- they're the real birdly foe. They take over outdoor spaces, attack you to mark their territory, and they're scarier than Hitchcock's mean feathered fiends. If only these were the sort of spoofs hitting the big screen these days.

Check them out in the gallery below, and read more about the festival over here.



[via Slashfilm]

There's really no way to choose between all the cool, pricey geek stuff up in auction right now. Some of the stuff is pretty affordable, like Vulcan ears from Star Trek 3 (currently priced in the hundreds), and a Cantina alien head cast from Star Wars. Oh, but that's not all -- there's so much that I'm just going to list a few of the expensive highlights:

• Christopher friggin Reeve's Superman costume from Superman I & II. If I was rich, I'd throw down the 60-80k pronto.
  
• In the same price bracket, you can also nab the Ben Affleck Daredevil costume, though that doesn't seem half as cool.
• But gearing back up on the cool costume scale -- Peter Parker's first stab at a Spider-Man costume!
• How about an animatronic Velociraptor from Jurassic Park 3, or a full-size suit?
• Charlton Heston's tablets from The Ten Commandments.
• The Dr. Evil and Mini Me space suits. But if you buy those, you best have an Alan Parsons Project CD as well.
• And for a last nibblet: C-3PO's feet! (Pictured above)

Which would you bid on first?

Isn't that the most exciting headline? My mind is whirling with images of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash showing up to some remote mountain location and saying "Where's my movie?!"

Unfortunately, the goings-on at the summit are a lot less glamorous, but if you're a DC fan they might be nearly as exciting. According to Variety, Warner Bros and DC are busy charting a course for their superhero franchises, trying to decide which hero or what franchise to kick into high gear. While Marvel Studios is announcing origins and crossovers left and right, Warners is still holding onto their DC characters, and finding themselves unable to take the big screen plunge. Even the two they've shoved out the door are about to languish -- Christopher Nolan hasn't committed to a third Batman film, and Superman is wondering why he ever bothered returning. (Though the rumors swirling around the Man of Steel this week suggest he may be a big part of Warners' new strategy.)

They have been in a similar predicament before. Five years ago, Warners was getting ready to hire someone just to oversee their DC movies, aware they could lose an entire generation of young geeks if they didn't get going. And while they did manage Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen, it's just not enough. While there's no real indication of what their strategy will be, expect the studio to start buckling down and decide what to do with the Justice League.

So, Cinematical readers, which DC property are you hoping they'll concentrate on first? As you can probably guess, I favor Wonder Woman. I think it would be a huge statement for them to concentrate on such an iconic female superhero when no one else has. But based on the persistent comments that pepper my inbox, I'm betting that it's a close call between her and the Green Lantern. Sound off, my friends.

There was an interview with Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier over at AlloCiné (via AICN) in which someone threw out a number of different sequels (Spider-Man, Superman, Indiana Jones), and (I think) asked if he'd be interested in directing any of them. Now, according to someone who wrote in to AICN, Leterrier stopped at Superman and said something like ... "maybe they have already asked me." We here at Cinematical have watched the video in question (you can too over here), and he definitely does look at the camera, smile and say something regarding the Superman sequel. I don't speak French, though, but it appears as if that's the correct translation.

So, has Warners already talked to Leterrier about possibly directing the next Superman movie? And is Leterrier the big-name action director Wanted's Mark Millar mentioned when he recently talked up his own Superman project? As AICN points out, Leterrier is currently working on the Clash of the Titans remake for Warners, so it seems reasonable for them to also talk to him about Superman. Is DC trying to steal a Marvel guy? Interesting development ...

What say you? Would Leterrier do a better job than Singer on Superman?

UPDATE: Leterrier contacted AICN and said the following: "What I meant was that I had been told about a possible reinvention of Superman. Not that I was offered the job." Take that as you will ...