Oh geezz...
I feel like a real monkey now!
Coming attractions has made ammends in my book for the whole Keanu Business and have appropriately come out with the best information regarding the superman debacle yet!! (they do rock my world chudsters!):
All who hail Patrick at Coming attractions Say 'I'....!
__---------------------------------___
Here is everything Patrick had to say today and it's just Brilliant mate! :
*****
September 23, 2002...
*****
A lot has happened since our last update to this page. The New York Times published a detailed breakdown of what happened for Warners to choose to develop Superman 5 over Superman vs. Batman (at least, what happened from certain WB individuals' points-of-view.) Essentially, the reason the WB execs favored S5 over SvsB is all due to the fact the studio stands to make additional revenue from future Superman sequels and related merchandise/spin-offs, whereas Superman vs. Batman is seen as a one time event.
Meanwhile, we've been busy talking to many Hollywood insiders, asking for their take on the Superman story. Surprisingly, each person seems to have a different spin on what's happening behind WB's closed doors. After listening to our sources and waiting to see what new information they could gather, we finally believe we have a clear idea as to what's happening over there.
In a word: chaos.
In order to understand what's been happening inside Warners, let's assemble the information our sources have told us in the form of a timeline of events, starting with the biggest shockwave that got the ball rolling again for this project: Columbia Pictures' biggest movie to date, Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man opened to record breaking numbers last May, everyone who had an understanding of how Hollywood works could tell you there was about to be a wave of comic book properties that would benefit from that film's success. Warner Bros. stands to reap the most rewards in a post-Spider-Man industry: since they own DC Comics, they have a potentially huge opportunity to develop and release a slew of movies and/or TV shows based on some of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes ever created. Characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern could be exploited and used to create Warner Bros. franchises. However, in recent times the studio has had exceptional difficulty in bearing fruit from this field: the last WB superhero film, 1997's Batman and Robin, made over $100 million domestically but is viewed as a disappointment by audiences. The problems Warners has had in creating a new Superman picture have been well documented on this page and elsewhere.
Still, if Hollywood development executives are anything, they're savvy enough to recognize the other guy's success and then try and repeat it using their own similiar idea. The huge success of Spider-Man was the impetus WB execs needed to get their own superhero properties rolling forward again. It's the reason why after one year of inacivity Superman vs. Batman suddenly received priority attention and director Wolfgang Petersen was signed.
Then inside the space of just one month, two major monkey wrenches were suddenly thrust into the most delicate and important gears of the WB machine:
J.J. Abrams' turned in his script for Superman 5. A power huddle consisting of WB's top executives was conviened to discuss which of the two superhero projects Warners had ready should be given the go-ahead: the new Superman film or Superman vs. Batman. The Times filled in this missing piece of the puzzle by reporting the execs favored Superman because of its franchise potential.
The second major event was when when Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the studio's president of worldwide production, announced his immediate resignation. di Bonaventura, who has just been promoted control over the studio's marketing efforts a short while before, told The Wall Street Journal that he felt his ability to make creative decisions for projects had grown more distant, and that he would shift his plans and become a producer for the studio. Remember this part of the story because it'll be important later on.
The sudden departure of di Bonaventura left a huge opening inside Warners and there are a number of execs who could inherit di Bonaventura's position of power. And that's precisely why we're hearing so many different stories about Superman these days, not just on CA but like the Journal article, or today's negative review of J.J. Abrams' Superman screenplay on AICN. A power struggle is taking place right now inside Warner Bros. and it doesn't just involve high level WB execs who are gunning for di Bonaventura's desk -- it also involves prolific producers who work at the studio and their battle to come out as the producer of the new Superman movie.
We strongly believe that facts and disinformation are being leaked not just to CA but to other outlets about the state of affairs with the Superman project. Whomever has their name listed in the opening credits of this film stands to win both financially and in terms of power within the halls of WB. If the new Superman movie is a Spider-Man-like success story, that producer will become the darling of the studio. The opportunity to win big is being dangled in front of the eyes of many producers who have studio deals at Warner Bros.
Which has many of these individuals asking the question: why is producer Jon Peters developing one of the crown jewels in Warners when he doesn't have a studio deal with the company?
According to our insiders, before di Bonaventura left the company there was already a feeling that Superman could be placed into the fasttrack for development. If that were to happen the film's attached director, McG, wouldn't be able to free up his time from completing Charlie's Angels 2 and move into Superman full bore. According to our sources, a feeler was sent out to director Michael Bay (Armageddon) to see if he would look at Abrams draft and consider Superman as his next project.
Bay was the only director that Warners felt would be the right business fit for the project; he is a director that both di Bonaventura and Alan Horn, WB's chief operating officer, agreed upon. Bay also had a contract with WB to make I Am Legend at the studio. And low and behold, who is one of the producers working on I Am Legend with Bay? None other than David Heyman, the producer of Harry Potter -- and as you may recall, the same David Heyman that a scooper on August 22 told us was "replacing" Peters.
Slowly but surely the dots are being connected.
Abrams worked with Bay before on Armageddon so the connection was already there. Reportedly Bay read Abrams script and didn't like the concept of multiple "Supermens", a story that we now know somewhat accurately describes the script. Bay passed. Had he agreed one of the conditions would be to shift Bay's contact to direct I Am Legend to Superman -- and that also meant David Heyman would have to be attached as a Superman producer too.
But Hollywood is a small town and it didn't take long for the film's attached director, McG, to get wind of Bay's interest. This is apparently what soured McG on the project, but the extent of the damage isn't known.
It was around this time none other than M. Night Shyamalan cold called Warner Bros. to ask about coming in and talking about directing Superman. Word had now gotten out that WB's was looking for a replacement for McG.
Sources say that Shyamalan approached WB exec Jeff Robinov about helming Superman, but that ultimately the talks never advanced because Shyamalan would ask to receive too much profit participation and creative control for Warners to make a Shyamalan Superman film a financial viability. Our source said that the notion of a Shyamalan Superman movie was also not a favorite of WB exec Alan Horn, who our insiders say favors Peters as the franchise's producer.
But by this point the Kryptonite really started hitting the fan. Longtime WB producer Joel Silver, who had made two of the studio's biggest franchises in the forms of Lethal Weapon and The Matrix, wanted a shot at being given Warners' king of superheroes. This might have been where talk about Keanu Reeves starring as the new Man of Steel got its start.
Just this afternoon we were also told of another WB producing company that is upset over their "second son" treatment. Tollin/Robbins, the producing company led by Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin, have made a smash success with their WB TV series Smallville, which chronicles the life of a teenage Clark Kent.
According to our source, Tollin/Robbins is upset that Peters/Abrams Superman movie screenplay violates the continuity established in their TV show. What Tollin/Robbins might not know is that there's even been a high level discussion about the possibility of ending Smallville prematurely so the new Superman film can have a clear playing field for its interpretation of the Superman characters. While that might sound insane, our source says that the only reason this discussion took place is because Columbia's Spider-Man made $400 million dollars domestically and nearly a billion dollars worldwide; if a Superman movie stands to make similar dough, a Smallville TV series could impact its chances at the box office. As crazy at that sounds we have to insist that we don't make this stuff up; we merely report it.
Our sources also say that no single Warners executive felt that Abrams script was ever perfect but they did agree it had the most potential of the two superhero projects. Supposedly they want someone to come in a rewrite the script...but according to yet another source of ours, WB has already found their man. The same individual who told us all about the inside dealings on the big budget Peter Pan movie about to shoot in Australia also told us last week three crazy, can't be believed items about the new Superman:
Abrams script infringes on Superman's comic book origins;
Abrams script has Superman fight "his cousin", and Lex Luthor is an alien;
novelist/screenwriter Michael Chabon is currently rewriting Abrams script.
Last Friday it was announced that Chabon was hired to rewrite The Amazing Spider-Man (a.k.a. Spider-Man 2), which left us with little hope he would also be rewriting Superman. However, this source's information about Luthor's true identity was spot on according to negative review of J.J. Abrams' Superman screenplay on AICN. If our source is right about Superman's cousin fighting him, we believe that is the character of Ty-Zor referred to in AICN's review.
But is Michael Chabon really rewriting the new Superman script as well as Spider-Man 2?!? How strange can this tale get before all is said and done?
I feel like a real monkey now!
Coming attractions has made ammends in my book for the whole Keanu Business and have appropriately come out with the best information regarding the superman debacle yet!! (they do rock my world chudsters!):
All who hail Patrick at Coming attractions Say 'I'....!
__---------------------------------___
Here is everything Patrick had to say today and it's just Brilliant mate! :
*****
September 23, 2002...
*****
A lot has happened since our last update to this page. The New York Times published a detailed breakdown of what happened for Warners to choose to develop Superman 5 over Superman vs. Batman (at least, what happened from certain WB individuals' points-of-view.) Essentially, the reason the WB execs favored S5 over SvsB is all due to the fact the studio stands to make additional revenue from future Superman sequels and related merchandise/spin-offs, whereas Superman vs. Batman is seen as a one time event.
Meanwhile, we've been busy talking to many Hollywood insiders, asking for their take on the Superman story. Surprisingly, each person seems to have a different spin on what's happening behind WB's closed doors. After listening to our sources and waiting to see what new information they could gather, we finally believe we have a clear idea as to what's happening over there.
In a word: chaos.
In order to understand what's been happening inside Warners, let's assemble the information our sources have told us in the form of a timeline of events, starting with the biggest shockwave that got the ball rolling again for this project: Columbia Pictures' biggest movie to date, Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man opened to record breaking numbers last May, everyone who had an understanding of how Hollywood works could tell you there was about to be a wave of comic book properties that would benefit from that film's success. Warner Bros. stands to reap the most rewards in a post-Spider-Man industry: since they own DC Comics, they have a potentially huge opportunity to develop and release a slew of movies and/or TV shows based on some of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes ever created. Characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern could be exploited and used to create Warner Bros. franchises. However, in recent times the studio has had exceptional difficulty in bearing fruit from this field: the last WB superhero film, 1997's Batman and Robin, made over $100 million domestically but is viewed as a disappointment by audiences. The problems Warners has had in creating a new Superman picture have been well documented on this page and elsewhere.
Still, if Hollywood development executives are anything, they're savvy enough to recognize the other guy's success and then try and repeat it using their own similiar idea. The huge success of Spider-Man was the impetus WB execs needed to get their own superhero properties rolling forward again. It's the reason why after one year of inacivity Superman vs. Batman suddenly received priority attention and director Wolfgang Petersen was signed.
Then inside the space of just one month, two major monkey wrenches were suddenly thrust into the most delicate and important gears of the WB machine:
J.J. Abrams' turned in his script for Superman 5. A power huddle consisting of WB's top executives was conviened to discuss which of the two superhero projects Warners had ready should be given the go-ahead: the new Superman film or Superman vs. Batman. The Times filled in this missing piece of the puzzle by reporting the execs favored Superman because of its franchise potential.
The second major event was when when Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the studio's president of worldwide production, announced his immediate resignation. di Bonaventura, who has just been promoted control over the studio's marketing efforts a short while before, told The Wall Street Journal that he felt his ability to make creative decisions for projects had grown more distant, and that he would shift his plans and become a producer for the studio. Remember this part of the story because it'll be important later on.
The sudden departure of di Bonaventura left a huge opening inside Warners and there are a number of execs who could inherit di Bonaventura's position of power. And that's precisely why we're hearing so many different stories about Superman these days, not just on CA but like the Journal article, or today's negative review of J.J. Abrams' Superman screenplay on AICN. A power struggle is taking place right now inside Warner Bros. and it doesn't just involve high level WB execs who are gunning for di Bonaventura's desk -- it also involves prolific producers who work at the studio and their battle to come out as the producer of the new Superman movie.
We strongly believe that facts and disinformation are being leaked not just to CA but to other outlets about the state of affairs with the Superman project. Whomever has their name listed in the opening credits of this film stands to win both financially and in terms of power within the halls of WB. If the new Superman movie is a Spider-Man-like success story, that producer will become the darling of the studio. The opportunity to win big is being dangled in front of the eyes of many producers who have studio deals at Warner Bros.
Which has many of these individuals asking the question: why is producer Jon Peters developing one of the crown jewels in Warners when he doesn't have a studio deal with the company?
According to our insiders, before di Bonaventura left the company there was already a feeling that Superman could be placed into the fasttrack for development. If that were to happen the film's attached director, McG, wouldn't be able to free up his time from completing Charlie's Angels 2 and move into Superman full bore. According to our sources, a feeler was sent out to director Michael Bay (Armageddon) to see if he would look at Abrams draft and consider Superman as his next project.
Bay was the only director that Warners felt would be the right business fit for the project; he is a director that both di Bonaventura and Alan Horn, WB's chief operating officer, agreed upon. Bay also had a contract with WB to make I Am Legend at the studio. And low and behold, who is one of the producers working on I Am Legend with Bay? None other than David Heyman, the producer of Harry Potter -- and as you may recall, the same David Heyman that a scooper on August 22 told us was "replacing" Peters.
Slowly but surely the dots are being connected.
Abrams worked with Bay before on Armageddon so the connection was already there. Reportedly Bay read Abrams script and didn't like the concept of multiple "Supermens", a story that we now know somewhat accurately describes the script. Bay passed. Had he agreed one of the conditions would be to shift Bay's contact to direct I Am Legend to Superman -- and that also meant David Heyman would have to be attached as a Superman producer too.
But Hollywood is a small town and it didn't take long for the film's attached director, McG, to get wind of Bay's interest. This is apparently what soured McG on the project, but the extent of the damage isn't known.
It was around this time none other than M. Night Shyamalan cold called Warner Bros. to ask about coming in and talking about directing Superman. Word had now gotten out that WB's was looking for a replacement for McG.
Sources say that Shyamalan approached WB exec Jeff Robinov about helming Superman, but that ultimately the talks never advanced because Shyamalan would ask to receive too much profit participation and creative control for Warners to make a Shyamalan Superman film a financial viability. Our source said that the notion of a Shyamalan Superman movie was also not a favorite of WB exec Alan Horn, who our insiders say favors Peters as the franchise's producer.
But by this point the Kryptonite really started hitting the fan. Longtime WB producer Joel Silver, who had made two of the studio's biggest franchises in the forms of Lethal Weapon and The Matrix, wanted a shot at being given Warners' king of superheroes. This might have been where talk about Keanu Reeves starring as the new Man of Steel got its start.
Just this afternoon we were also told of another WB producing company that is upset over their "second son" treatment. Tollin/Robbins, the producing company led by Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin, have made a smash success with their WB TV series Smallville, which chronicles the life of a teenage Clark Kent.
According to our source, Tollin/Robbins is upset that Peters/Abrams Superman movie screenplay violates the continuity established in their TV show. What Tollin/Robbins might not know is that there's even been a high level discussion about the possibility of ending Smallville prematurely so the new Superman film can have a clear playing field for its interpretation of the Superman characters. While that might sound insane, our source says that the only reason this discussion took place is because Columbia's Spider-Man made $400 million dollars domestically and nearly a billion dollars worldwide; if a Superman movie stands to make similar dough, a Smallville TV series could impact its chances at the box office. As crazy at that sounds we have to insist that we don't make this stuff up; we merely report it.
Our sources also say that no single Warners executive felt that Abrams script was ever perfect but they did agree it had the most potential of the two superhero projects. Supposedly they want someone to come in a rewrite the script...but according to yet another source of ours, WB has already found their man. The same individual who told us all about the inside dealings on the big budget Peter Pan movie about to shoot in Australia also told us last week three crazy, can't be believed items about the new Superman:
Abrams script infringes on Superman's comic book origins;
Abrams script has Superman fight "his cousin", and Lex Luthor is an alien;
novelist/screenwriter Michael Chabon is currently rewriting Abrams script.
Last Friday it was announced that Chabon was hired to rewrite The Amazing Spider-Man (a.k.a. Spider-Man 2), which left us with little hope he would also be rewriting Superman. However, this source's information about Luthor's true identity was spot on according to negative review of J.J. Abrams' Superman screenplay on AICN. If our source is right about Superman's cousin fighting him, we believe that is the character of Ty-Zor referred to in AICN's review.
But is Michael Chabon really rewriting the new Superman script as well as Spider-Man 2?!? How strange can this tale get before all is said and done?
