Everything about Superman Returns totally explained
Superman Returns is a
2006 superhero film based on the
fictional DC Comics character
Superman. It was directed by
Bryan Singer and stars
Brandon Routh,
Kate Bosworth and
Kevin Spacey. The
screenplay was written by
Michael Dougherty and
Dan Harris. It was based on a story by
Bryan Singer, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty.
The film is a relaunch of the
Superman franchise that took more than a decade to get off the ground, and is the first Superman film since, made nineteen years earlier.
Superman Returns revolves around Superman's return to Earth after a five-year absence. Director Bryan Singer has said that the
continuity is "branching off from" elements of "the first two Superman films with
Christopher Reeve," which serve as, as he puts it, a "vague history." The film received fairly positive reviews and earned $391 million worldwide.
Plot
As the film begins, we learn that Superman has been missing for five years. He has traveled to where astronomers believed they'd discovered the remains of
Krypton. Superman returns to Earth, crashing back into
his adoptive mother's corn field in a craft like the one that delivered him to Earth when he was a baby. He returns to the
The Daily Planet and his life as
Clark Kent in
Metropolis. He learns that
Lois Lane has won the
Pulitzer Prize for her article "
Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."
During Superman's absence,
Lex Luthor has been released from prison. While away, Superman missed the appeals trial to testify against Lex. Upon his release, Lex marries a rich widow and obtains her fortune, immediately upon her death. Lex travels to the
Fortress of Solitude, steals Kryptonian crystals, and returns to Metropolis to experiment with a tiny fragment. The growing crystal causes a blackout due to an
electromagnetic pulse, interfering with the test flight of a new
space shuttle tethered to a
Boeing 777—a plane which Lois Lane is aboard while covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman and stops the plane from crashing onto a
baseball field.
The world rejoices in Superman's return, but Lois is more concerned with the blackout. Clark meets her fiancé Richard White, nephew of
Daily Planet editor-in-chief
Perry White, and their son, Jason. Clark is emotionally hurt when he overhears a conversation between Lois and Richard in which she says she never loved Superman. He buries himself in his work, including halting a bank
heist and saving Kitty, Luthor's co-conspirator. While Kitty distracts Superman, Luthor steals
Kryptonite from the Metropolis Museum of
Natural History. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman while Clark investigates the blackout. That night, Superman arrives at
The Daily Planet and takes Lois for a flight, during which he apologizes for leaving her.
After her latest Superman interview, Lois focuses her attention on the blackout again and ascertains its origin. She and Jason steal onto Luthor's ship, not realizing who owns it, and are captured. Luthor reveals his grand scheme: using one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals to grow a new
continental landmass in the Northern Atlantic Ocean that will destroy much of Earth's existing continents, and in the process killing billions of people and leaving him as the world's sole landowner. Seeing the effects that a stick of Kryptonite apparently has on Jason, Luthor inquires as to who Jason's father really is, but after Lois asserts that the father is Richard, he leaves to launch the crystal (now encased in green Kryptonite) into the sea. Under water, the crystal begins to create Luthor's new landmass. Lois faxes their co-ordinates to
The Daily Planet and is attacked by a henchman. The henchman is hit by a piano, appearing as though Jason pushed it at him; afterward, Lois and Jason are imprisoned in a
galley. Luthor hears of the incident and flees in a helicopter. The landmass's growth causes destruction in
Metropolis, to which Superman attends, and Richard arrives in a
sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason. Superman arrives to help, and then he flies off to find Luthor, who has returned to the still-forming continent.
Meeting Luthor, Superman discovers the landmass is filled with Kryptonite, which weakens him to the point that Luthor and his henchmen are able to beat and torture him. Superman falls into the ocean, after being stabbed with a shard of Kryptonite by Luthor. Lois makes Richard turn back to rescue Superman, and she removes the Kryptonite from his back. Superman, after regaining his strength from the
sun, lifts the landmass by putting layers of earth between him and the Kryptonite. Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter, but not before Kitty, unwilling to let billions of people die, tosses away the crystals; she and Luthor are stranded on a desert island some time later. Superman throws the landmass into space, but is weakened by the Kryptonite and crashes back to Earth. Doctors remove more Kryptonite from Superman's wound, but after it's removed they can't penetrate his skin with their surgical tools. While Superman remains in a coma, Lois and Jason visit him at the hospital, where, careful not to let Jason overhear, Lois whispers a secret into Superman's ear. Superman later awakens and flies to see Jason, reciting Jor-El's last speech to Jason as he slumbers. Lois starts writing another article, titled
“Why the World Needs Superman". She goes outside, only to be greeted by the Man of Steel after he's just finished visiting Jason. Despite another attempt to tell him that she loves him, she doesn't finish, but the look on Superman's face tells her that she doesn't need to. After reassuring her that he's now back to stay, he flies off on another patrol around Metropolis and then into space, having finally accepted Earth as his new true home.
Cast and characters
Production
X-Men director Bryan Singer turned down directing to direct
Superman Returns. Because of his
Academy Award-winning performance in Singer's film
The Usual Suspects and friendship with the director, Kevin Spacey was immediately cast as Luthor. He in turn suggested
Kate Bosworth, who played his wife,
Sandra Dee, in the film
Beyond the Sea, for Lois Lane, and she was hired after Singer saw her screen-test. Singer, unlike previous directors, stated his Superman, like
Christopher Reeve, should be an unknown. After viewing hundreds of auditions and casting calls from directors previously attached to the project, he found a twenty-four year-old bartender from
Iowa named
Brandon Routh, whose frame and charisma suited the role of Superman; this actor's Midwestern roots and meekness seemed to fit Clark Kent's mild-mannered and bumbling persona, as well. Routh got the part after a meeting with Singer, spilling a drink on the director in the process, which a panicked Routh believed to have cost him the part. Nevertheless, Singer admitted the misfortune is what helped him choose Routh, because he visualized Clark's clumsiness in the young actor. In 2005, Brandon Routh was introduced for the first time to the media as the new Man of Steel.
Hugh Laurie was cast as
Perry White, but had to quit due to his role in the series
House, being replaced by
Frank Langella.
Rather than adapting an existing storyline, Singer chose to write a draft of an original story. Singer didn't want to do an origin movie, as he considers
Superman to be a classic (as he'd seen the film many times while filming
X-Men), so he decided to do a return storyline. With his previous writers from
X2, Dan Harris and
Michael Dougherty, Singer created a script that was a
semi-sequel to the original film with very little ties to
Superman II and completely disregarding the events of
Superman III and . His first draft included the character of
General Zod, whom he wanted to be played by
Jude Law, his first and only choice for the role. When Law turned down the part three times, Singer eliminated the character from the script. The most difficult challenge, he admits, was finding the obstacle that would be impossible for Superman to overcome: the passage of time and change. According to Singer, Lois' son Jason is a permanent reminder of this.
While Superman's costume has undergone a variety of changes over the decades, the costume in this movie has been updated for the 21st century and clearly has modern and retro influences. The color scheme is darkened several shades so that bright primary colors are less visible and the material has a deep, webbed texture that's visible on close-up shots. The Superman chest emblem is now a smaller raised 3D-piece. At San Diego Comic Con 2005, Bryan Singer stated that the original silk-screened emblem looks like a billboard, while the new shield has an advanced alien look. The emblem itself is embossed with hundreds of smaller emblems.
The cape doesn't sport the large yellow and black emblem, and it now has a visible liner of a different material. The neckline of Superman's top has been changed from a wide scoop-neck to a crew-neck cut. The boots have also been changed, they're now a shorter, mid-calf length with a slightly rubbery appearance for the sole as well as the Superman emblem in varying sizes on the bottom. Finally, the belt and buckle are changed to include the addition of the Superman emblem. Several of these changes were inspired by the Superman costume from Superman cartoons produced by
Fleischer Studios in the 1940s, that was inspired by the original Golden Age comics Superman created by
Jerry Siegel and
Joe Shuster.
Budget
The film initially was speculated as having a budget as high as
US$260,000,000, which would have made it the
most expensive film ever (
as of August 2006). According to various articles, the development process had utilized "pay or play" contracts, meaning that those involved were paid even if production didn't commence as planned. According to
Variety, these development costs exceeded $40 million before Bryan Singer came aboard. On the site The-Numbers.com, Bryan Singer was quoted as saying the budget for
Superman Returns was $250 million in late 2004. He later denied that figure. In February 2006, Warner Bros. had unofficially put the budget at $184 million, "factoring in tax breaks offered in Australia." In a July 2006 interview with
Newsweek, Bryan Singer quoted the final production budget number as $204 million. On October 30, Variety reported that studio placed the cost at $209 million after factoring in tax rebates and incentives. This figure also consists of the $50 million that was spent in the 1990s trying to get a fifth Superman film into production.
Filming
Shooting of
Superman Returns began during February 2005 in
Australia, on locations that included a farm outside of the regional town of
Gunnedah in North West
NSW and
Newcastle and
Sydney. Much of the filming took place in the city centre of Sydney, mostly in the York St area and near Wynyard Station as well as many other areas in Sydney.The part where Lois picks her son up from school was shot in
Sydney Boys High School Other scenes were shot in various parts of the
United States. The film was shot entirely on
high-definition video using
Panavision Genesis cameras. Singer said the first cut of the movie was 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Visual effects
Using footage from the original
Superman film as a reference point,
Marlon Brando was re-created using computer technology. In addition to the footage, photography was also scanned using a cyberscan and a lumispheric scan to re-create Brando's appearance. In June 2006,
Rhythm and Hues, the studio that created the special effect, released a video detailing the process. The video is available on the 2-Disc special edition DVD release of the film, but different music plays and the video ends with credits.
The opening credits for
Superman Returns are presented in a deliberate recreation of the style used for
Superman, again to the accompaniment of
John Williams' theme music. However, the new graphics differ in several respects. They are of a duller shade of blue (changing to red for Brandon Routh's and Kate Bosworth's credits) and lack the 'soaring' sound effect that accompanies their predecessors. They are also designed using a taller typeface, and some letters are visibly conjoined into
ligatures. In addition, whereas the originals change direction (zooming away from the viewer after the appearance of the 'S' symbol), the new ones consistently travel towards the audience. Because of the number of co-production credits that precede it, the 'S' symbol arrives slightly later on screen. The camera flies through space at breakneck speed throughout the entire sequence, following the path of Superman's return to Earth from Krypton. (In the 1978 film the opposite journey was depicted.) The sequence for
Superman Returns was designed by
Kyle Cooper.
At least a couple of scenes suggest past media interpretations of the
Superman character. In one scene in downtown Metropolis, Superman holds a car over his head with the hood pointed downward at about 45 degrees, similar to the cover of the first
Action Comics issue in 1938. The scene where Superman saves an out-of-control airplane and gently sets it down in a setting impossible to fly out of (a baseball stadium) echoes a scene from one of the Fleischer
Superman cartoons, in which Superman sets a large, 8-engine airplane down in the middle of a city street, with the wings extending down side streets.
Brandon Routh, who actually has brown eyes, had to wear blue contact lenses to re-create Superman's blue eyes.
Promotion
Warner Brothers promoted
Superman Returns very heavily prior to its cinematic release. During production, Singer released a series of 'video diaries' on the internet at
BlueTights.net
, giving almost unprecedented up-to-date insight into the behind-the-scenes work being done on what would normally be a very secretive production. However, after 27 installments, the video diaries stopped for a while shortly before the
teaser trailer debuted. On
November 17,
2005, Warner Bros. released the teaser trailer, containing John Williams' music and Marlon Brando's dialogue from
Superman. The main theatrical trailer premiered online on
May 2, 2006. It appeared in theatres on
May 5, 2006, along with prints of . On
May 19, 2006 with
UK prints of
The Da Vinci Code, the studio released the film's international trailer. A second full version was issued with some prints of on
May 26, 2006. A third trailer appeared on the film's new official website in June, 2006. It also appeared online before the new site came on in the end of May.
Warner Bros rolled out an immense list of tie in products and companies which included
General Mills,
Burger King,
Duracell,
Pepsi,
Doritos,
Papa John's,
7-Eleven, and
Colgate. and Warner Bros advertised the movie on the
Red Bull Racing Formula One cars for the
2006 Monaco Grand Prix;
David Coulthard managed to get the team's first podium that day as well. On the podium, Coulthard also wore a Superman cape in celebration of his achievement.
NASCAR champion
Jeff Gordon also sported the "Man of Steel" look by promoting the movie on his #24
Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the 2006
Pepsi 400 at
Daytona International Speedway.
Along similar lines,
Troy Bayliss appeared in promotional 'Superman' leathers and sported a cape on the podium following a win and a 2nd place at the
2006 Brands Hatch Superbike World Championship round on his way to winning that year's championship.
On
May 11, 2006 Warner Bros began a campaign of nine different television commercials, and released eleven clips of
Superman Returns through various websites midway through June. The
iTunes Music Store also released an exclusive premiere scene, and was first made available on
June 20, 2006.
, a documentary covering the history of the Superman franchise, was released just prior to the film. Along with input from Bryan Singer, the documentary contains commentary from other past and present actors, directors, writers, artists, and fans, and was narrated by Kevin Spacey.
Release
Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience was released simultaneously in 111
IMAX format theatres world-wide, which (in some theaters) included approximately 26 minutes of specially converted
3D material. It is the first Hollywood live-action film to be released in this combined format.
The DVD release of
Superman Returns was released on
November 28, 2006. There are three versions available: a single-disc version, a 2-disc Special Edition, and an exclusive 3-Disc version available only through
Circuit City. The third disc features the documentary "The Science of Superman."
The single-disc edition has no extra features, while the 2-disc edition has over 3 hours of bonus material, including deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes documentary titled
Requiem for Krypton: Making Superman Returns, created by
Ludovico Technique.
Requiem for Krypton, which accounts for nearly all of the three hours of bonus features (thereby making it actually longer than the film being profiled), ends with a
blooper reel from the film, including outtakes from scenes not in the theatrical release of the film, culminating in a rare outtake featuring Marlon Brando.
Also released on that day was the 13-disc
Ultimate Superman Collection. Alongside the four original Christopher Reeve films, it features as well as and other documentaries. The Region 1 release of the
Ultimate Collection set contains a 14th disc consisting of Singer's Internet video blog entries. All of those features were released individually the same day, as was
Supergirl.
Superman Returns was also released on
HD DVD (which features standard-def on the disc's opposite side) and
Blu-ray Disc. These DVDs also have the bonus features found on the 2-disc edition. The film became the best-selling DVD of 2006 on
Amazon.com in both the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.
Reception
Superman Returns grossed $200,081,192 in the United States and an estimated $191 million internationally, taking in over $391 million worldwide by the time its theatrical run officially closed on
November 2,
2006. It made $21,037,277 from its
June 27,
2006 and
June 28,
2006 screenings and $52 million in its first weekend, a rather fair amount, but it was quickly overtaken in its second weekend by
Disney's in the U.S, but kept a fairly steady gross in the UK..
The movie was well reviewed by many critics, receiving a "Certified Fresh" film ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, with 77% overall approval from critics, and a 73% from the "Cream of the Crop." The film also received a 72% on Metacritic.
Many critics gave the film particularly high praise.
Empire gave the film five stars (out of five), and described it as "the finest popular entertainment since the
Rings trilogy closed." David Ansen of
Newsweek said, "Next to Singer's champagne, most recent superhero adventure movies are barely-sparkling cider." Other reviews said that Singer had done the Superman character proud, and that the whole cast had succeeded.
Leonard Maltin commented on his website, "Bryan Singer has brought us a brand-new movie that celebrates the traditions of Superman in a movie that somehow still seems fresh.
Superman Returns is completely absorbing and highly entertaining."
In contrast,
Roger Ebert's reaction to the movie was very negative, saying, "This is a glum, lackluster movie in which even the big effects sequences seem dutiful instead of exhilarating." The
New York Times labelled the movie "leaden," while the
San Francisco Chronicle observed that "
Superman Returns finds no reason for being, other than that it's summer, and computer graphics have improved since the superhero days of Christopher Reeve."
Superman Returns was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the
Academy Awards and
BAFTA, losing both to
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Awards won by the film include Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing and Best Music at the
Saturn Awards, Best Superhero on
Spike TV's Scream Awards,
and Best Male Newcomer at the 2007
Empire Awards for Brandon Routh.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album assembled by composer
John Ottman (also one of the film's editors) was released
June 27 2006 by Warner Sunset Records /
Rhino Entertainment. It contained over 55 minutes of the original score as well as some
Enhanced CD multimedia content, including two trailers and a "Behind the Scenes" piece on the recording of the score, which includes the film take on the main titles which is edited on this album with the end credits to create the "Superman March," which doesn't appear in its entirety in the film.
Legacy
Adaptations
DC Comics, Superman's publisher, released four prequel titles throughout June 2006 to tie in with the movie. The four 40-page editions served to explain the backstory to
Superman Returns and are entitled
Krypton to Earth (which reintroduces the origin from the
1978 Film, with
Jor-El as the main protagonist),
Ma Kent (in which
Martha Kent recalls finding her son, his life growing up, and contemplates if she'll ever see him again),
Lex Luthor (discussing
Lex Luthor's time in jail, how he met Kitty and Gertrude Vanderworth (the old rich woman)) and
Lois Lane (going over
Lois' heartbreaking loss of the Man of Steel, her first meeting with Richard, and the birth of Jason).
DC Comics also released a comic adaptation of the movie written by Martin Pasko and illustrated by Matt Haley. The story in the adaptation only focuses on the core story, and doesn't have any mention of the possibility that Jason is the son of Superman. Nevertheless, the comic does include scenes from Superman's journey in Krypton, unrealized scenes shot for the movie. The
novelization by Marv Wolfman was published by Warner Books on
1 June, 2006. The novelization doesn't link Jason to Superman. Brutus is killed by Lois by pulling a bookcase down onto his head, snapping his neck; however, just like in the movie, Jason finds Superman near-drowning.
Sequel
Further Information
Get more info on 'Superman Returns'.
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