Yet again, DC < Marvel

From Friday's Wall Street Journal:



Emboldened by this summer's success with "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros.' movie studio is setting a new strategy...

...Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes -- known as "Batman vs. Superman" -- after the $215 million "Superman Returns," which had disappointing box-office returns, didn't please executives. "'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says Mr. 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," he adds. "But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."...

...With "Batman vs. Superman" and "Justice League" stalled, Warner Bros. has quietly adopted Marvel's model of releasing a single film for each character, and then using those movies and their sequels to build up to a multicharacter film. "Along those lines, we have been developing every DC character that we own," Mr. Robinov says.

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

So let me get this straight, Warner. You're rebooting Superman just four years after the previous film, and you want to make it "dark?"

Do you know what Superman is?

Jackholes. Here's a crazy idea, Warner. Rather than rebooting the entire franchise, just make the next movie really good. See Star Trek II for a template; like Superman Returns, Star Trek: the Motion Picture is a generally good but deeply flawed film (for the record, I really like both films for all their faults). But Star Trek didn't get rebooted in 1980, it just got a great script, a great director, and great effects.

Here's the cure-all for Superman, Warner. Are you ready? Give it to Brad Bird. The director of Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and The Iron Giant is your man. And think about putting it in the 1930s.

Wow, I'm glad Iron Man was so good. I'd hate to have to reboot it in three years, directed by Luc Besson and starring Justin Timberlake.

EDIT: I just found AICN users also suggesting Bird and the '30s. Great minds...



Aint's It Cool link.