Superman Returns AICN's Moriaty states this IS the summer of Superman

[mad-sci]

Before anyone thinks this has nothing to do with SR, if you read the way through, you'll see its all linked.

From Moriaty's MI3 review:-

And before I can write about M:I3, I have to say... this is the summer of Superman, no matter how SUPERMAN RETURNS is as a film. So much of the dynamic of this summer was dictated by circumstances surrounding the development of a new SUPERMAN film for Warner Bros. We’ve been writing about a new SUPERMAN for as long as there’s been an AICN... a full decade now... and it’s been a fascinating roller-coaster ride. One of the few times I’ve ever had a conversation with VARIETY’s Michael Fleming, it was to talk about all things SUPERMAN one day, and we both agreed... there’s a book in there for anyone willing to wade in and tell every sordid detail of what’s gone on in an effort to revive what is obviously a very important franchise for this studio.
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So when Paramount announced Abrams as director of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 after a long development process that included Frank Darabont, Joe Carnahan, and David Fincher, I was cautiously optimistic.


That development squaredance led to several other people re-aligning in terms of what projects they ended up doing. Because the Abrams script was picked over the Andy Kevin Walker script, Walker was free to go write this summer’s ZODIAC, which was directed by David Fincher, who abandoned the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE job that Abrams took later. Brett Ratner was attached to direct that SUPERMAN, but when he was booted, that cleared the way for Bryan Singer to take over SUPERMAN (after McG flirted with it before his own fear of flying grounded him), which left the director’s chair open on X3, giving Brett Ratner a place to rebound. Wolfgang Petersen, who did not end up making his SUPERMAN VS BATMAN, stayed with Warner Bros. to make POSEIDON.

Dizzying, isn’t it?