Big news out of Comic-Con.
BURBANK, CA, July 20, 2013 – On the heels of the worldwide success of “Man of Steel,” director Zack Snyder is bringing together the two greatest Super Heroes of all time—Batman and Superman—for the first time on the big screen. The announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
The current hit, “Man of Steel,” has taken in more than $630 million at the worldwide box office to date, and climbing. Along with its star, Henry Cavill, the upcoming film brings back Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane. The new Batman has yet to be cast.
Snyder is co-writing the story with David S. Goyer, who will then pen the screenplay. Production is expected to begin in 2014, with an anticipated release date in Summer 2015.
Silverman stated, “Zack Snyder is an incredibly talented filmmaker, but beyond that, he’s a fan first and he utterly gets this genre. We could not think of anyone better suited to the task of bringing these iconic Super Heroes to the screen in his own way.” Kroll added, “We are thrilled to be back in business with Zack and his team on this next movie. The success of ‘Man of Steel’ is a wonderful testament to the love and support that both fans and new audiences, worldwide, have for these characters. We are very excited to see what Zack has in store for all of us.”
Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, noted, “Superman and Batman together on the big screen is a dream come true for DC fans everywhere. All of us at DC Entertainment could not be more excited for Zack’s continuing vision for the DC Universe.”
Zack Snyder, who made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con today, breaking the news to audiences there, later said, “I’m so excited to begin working again with Henry Cavill in the world we created, and I can’t wait to expand the DC Universe in this next chapter. Let’s face it, it’s beyond mythological to have Superman and our new Batman facing off, since they are the greatest Super Heroes in the world.”
The new film brings back Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder as producers. This time, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers, along with Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan.
Thomas offered, “Whilst our ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy is complete, we have every confidence that Zack’s fresh interpretation will take the character in a new and exciting direction. His vision for Superman opened the door to a whole new universe and we can’t wait to see what Zack does with these characters.”
The film is based on Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, and Batman characters created by Bob Kane, published by DC Entertainment.
There was actually a “Batman vs Superman” movie in development for a while in 2002. Wolfgang Petersen was going to direct from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and Akiva Goldsman. It’s actually not that bad of a script, but it DOES commit the cardinal sin of Comic Book Movie scripts in that it requires quite a bit of knowledge and understanding of the comics to understand what’s going on, rather than building a world and continuity of its own. Christian Bale and Josh Hartnett were set to star as Batman and Supes. It was eventually scrapped in 2004 after J.J. Abrams turned in a new draft of HIS Superman script, “Superman: Flyby”.
I’m not as excited as I probably should be for this (given my geek cred), but I’m really interested in how they’re going to go about it and what villains they’re going to bring in. If I were in charge (thank God that’s not the case, right?), I’d have Lex Luthor as a financial and intellectual rival for Bruce Wayne who also decides to wage a public relations campaign against Superman (perhaps over all the oft-mentioned carnage that took place in the final battle in “Man of Steel”). Then bring in Brainiac to serve as Superman’s physical antagonist, and also use him as a way to expand upon the Kryptonian backstory built up in “Man of Steel”.
@Adam:
Don’t just blame Americans for the trend… superhero movies make just as much money overseas as they do domestically.
I still won’t ever understand America’s obsession with grown men in pajamas
I’ll never understand America’s obsession with grown men in pajamas
+1
I wonder if they’re going to address the whole (non-)controversy about Superman killing at the end of Man Of Steel. Especially since much was made of Batman’s “one rule” in the Dark Knight…
I wonder how they’re going to weave the themes from both films (assuming they work off The Dark Knight) – MoS’s hope and DK’s fear.
It could be a great film or horribly bad. I’m not going to jump to conclusions just yet, but I worry they might be rushing into the Superman & Batman film too soon and could use one more film to develop Superman further.
I find it hilarious that despite decades of a head-start, Marvel will put the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, their 10th or so team in popularity, on the big screens before Warner put Superman and Batman together, let alone a Justice League movie.
Goldman: The Princess Bride, The Great Waldo Pepper, Misery.
“The picture asks: Does great goodness bring upon itself great evil? This goes back to the Book of Job; it’s God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a modern-day saint — like Ingrid Bergman in Europa ’51, and in a way, like Charlie in Mean Streets. I like the first Exorcist, because of the Catholic guilt I have, and because it scared the hell out of me; but The Heretic surpasses it. Maybe Boorman failed to execute the material, but the movie still deserved better than it got.” –Martin Scorsese
“TERMINATOR 2 is a pretty awesome movie” –Paul Thomas Anderson
Anyways, bye.
“But this summers three big pictures so far are ET, Rocky III and Star Trek II. So for the present we may as well prepare ourselves for seven more Star Wars sequels and a half a dozen quests involving Indiana Jones. By the end of the decade we may well be seeing ET meets Luke Skywalker.”
William Goldman,
Adventures in the ScreenTrade (1982).
“By the end of the decade we may well be seeing ET meets Luke Skywalker.”
right, because Luke Skywalker never met an extra-terrestrial? so he would need to travel back in time to do that?
silly Goldman
“But this summers three big pictures so far are ET, Rocky III and Star Trek II”
So one masterpiece, one laughable dud, and one movie that’s darn good fun? If only the entire history of Hollywood could have maintained that ratio.
(Not picking on your comment, The Pope. Just poking holes in Goldman’s lament.)
pfff ET: THE EXTRA-TERRESTIAL? Far more seminal, iconic, and essential than anything Goldman ever did. Don’t wanna be rude, but probably more important than the sum of his works. Huge fan of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, but that’s pretty much it, and who knows how much Pakula (who deserves most of the credit), Redford, and Nora Ephron’s contributions made it into the “signature” screenplay. Nothing out of this world either. Not even close to my Top 100. STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE? Not a masterpiece, but that’s what Goldman is deriding? He’s got a wasteland full of dreadfully forgettable attempts.
Huge fan of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, but that’s pretty much it
I agree, Bryce. Goldman’s first draft of All the President’s Men had Butch Berstein and Sundance Woodward wise-cracking and romancing their way through D.C. The staff at every level of The Washington Post felt insulted by how it trivialized and Hollywoodified what they did.
Pakula and Redford and Efron didn’t give it a top-to-bottom rewrite as has been claimed. But they had the good sense to cut the sillyass crap and amp up the serious aspects.
Goldman’s own ratio of Masterpiece to Good Fun to Dreck is 2 to 10 to 20.
Awesome, Ryan. I only had a vague notion of the episode, but thanks for filling in the details!
Bryce, that’s just a tiny fragment of the whole story that I read in Alan J. Pakula: His Films and His Life. It’s naturally pro-Pakula and features page after page of lengthy stories told by Robert Redford, but I don’t doubt the veracity.
I took a chance on this book, worried it might be second-tier fan-fluff. But was happy to find it’s got fantastic depth and really astute analytical insight. 5 or 6 bucks for a good second-hand copy. You won’t be sorry.
Not sure how I feel about this. I’ve always wanted to see something like this, but I really don’t want Snyder or Goyer involved. Not sure if I want Nolan involved. WB needs their own kind of Joss Whedon, one who can tell the difference between writing for comic books and writing for movies while finding a right balance. Watching Avengers was like reading a comic making me feel like a kid again.
I just don’t think Snyder has what it takes to make a film that makes me say “Oh man that is totally Superman. That is so Batman.” I’m more worried about Goyer’s writing honestly.
In general this is great news in terms of entertainment, not only for superhero fans, DC fans, but also casual moviegoers, myself included.
But I am not sure if I could comfortably handle another piece of Zach Snyder’s efforts. I found WATCHMEN insipid from time to time, and to dismiss it bluntly – quite a borefest (not 100% to it but the word serves the purpose in large scale). But I enjoyed 300. (I though didn’t find its sequel’s trailer interesting enough.) In my opinion, Man of Steel could have been more exciting as far as mainstream entertainment goes, especially for the last 70 mins or so.
Anyway, I can see why they’ve opted for him: he seems to be a better option relatively for the time being in both terms — bling bling and quality, I believe.
[Test: Old e-mail address used (just to check out my original avatar)]
You can use whichever email address gives you the avatar you like best. No problem.
Roger that. Thanks for the info, Ryan.
After seeing the $$$ that Avengers raked in, they are sooooooo trying to get a Justice League movie made.
I agree with Anne Thompson – all of this sounds a bit sad and desperate.
Well you and Anne sound like downers. Come on man, how could you not be excited for this?
Is Anne Thompson not aware that Batman and Superman have joined forces since as far back as the 1940s?
As for Christian Bale — not to be ageist, but has there ever been a Batman over 40? Somebody might want to run the numbers on that.
Do we want to keep Batman roughly the same age as Superman? Henry Cavill is 30 and guess who’s 32. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, that’s who.
I think it would be a blessing if Bale came back. It would be cool to see Bales older and more confident Batman, tell Cavill’s younger and more naive Superman how to do things. And it sounds like they might be facing off for a little bit of the film.
This is some of the greatest movie news I have ever read!!! I think Christian Bale is coming back and just not saying anything. He said he would only come back if Nolan is attached, and he is:) and if Bale does come back, I hope Hathaway does too. This is going to be Epiiiccc!
To quote a friend of ours, RASPBERRIES
(thx for the inspiration, Paddy)
this is depressing… how many lives does zach snyder has? we give this new film a mediocre “57” on metacritic right now and forget it.
Officially not excited about this. MAN OF STEEL was such a disappointment I’m still recovering. The only way the could win me back is if they just straight up adapt a great arc from World’s Finest. Please get rid of David S. Goyer, that guy doesn’t know his ass from his elbow! Zack Snyder is a great executioner if the material is great beforehand. He’s not able to work from a weak script, a trade-mark of truly great directors, but his visual execution is rarely matched. I loved WATCHMEN and 300 (Just straight-up adaption + His trademark style) because of these exact reasons. That’s why his DAWN OF THE DEAD is a noteworthy remake, because the first one is already a masterpiece and he just stuck to it. Please Hollywood! How do you let guys like Goyer and Damon Lindelof ruin projects with such awesome potential.
p.s. Ridley Scott of you ever get to make a PROMETHEUS sequel just hire Duncan Jones to write the Script.
I haven’t seen man of steel, but I do not understand that after all the negative comments, warner still going with snyder and goyer. a
Why not go with Duncan Jones?