I hear the new Superman reboot movie as 3rd act problems. I wonder if Superman Returns had the same problem.
Superman Returns had first, second and third act problems, IMO.... None of them really worked.
I hope the new film isn't as ill-conceived.
I'm guessing, this is going from my experience as a writer and from what I've seen of Hollywood films, the problem is probably with the second act, not the third.
To clarify:
The first act is the setup, usually about the first 15 or 20 minutes, action films have fewer, sometimes as few as 5 to 10 minutes...
The second act, usually about the middle two thirds of the film, anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes (depending on the length and type of film) are where the characters run into complications achieving their goals.
The major goals, like saving the girl or foiling the evil plot of the film's bad guy, vary depending on the film. There are complications for the complications usually, the whole going from the frying pan into the fire sort of thing. In the middle of the second act there is usually a major turning point and the direction of the action or story changes.
It's this section that usually is the weakest in most films since it's the longest act. It's also because the second act requires so much deliberation and planning to get the complications (and the complications for the complications) to seem like they are eventualities, and not contrivances.
The third act is the resolution, where everything is tied up and the audiences get their final payoffs, or the happy endings. It's short and can be as little as a page long, but usually is slightly shorter than the first act, but can be significantly shorter at times.
I would guess, from what I know and have seen, that the problem is instead with the second act, and not the third. It's the most common place to have major problems.
The third act is unlikely, unless the ending isn't satisfying, but not knowing a thing about the project I'm basing that guess on experience, not actual knowledge.
Also, I think the stories about the script problems are suspicious since all the sites who have claimed that there are third act problems are really only repeating what
Vulture reported without any apparent confirmation being done.
