Excel
O-bama-ama-ama-ay-ay
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 19,523
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 58
Making SUPERMAN 2 a success
Unlike Batman Begins, which completely, 110% revived the Batman franchise, Superman Returns has not completely revived the Superman franchise. By that I mean, Batman 2 will gross just about as much as any Batman film could (as long as quality continues, of course). Superman 2, at the moment, is not going to gross all it can if it stays on course for summer 2009. That’s the reason I concocted this theorem.
The EXCEL THEORUM
Fast track Superman 2 for winter 2008. Summer 2009 is a 3 year wait, and that simply is too long. 2 is too short, but 2 and a half is perfect.
The “EXCEL THEORUM” is exactly this to sum up: Green light a 200 million dollar budgeted SUPERMAN 2 with EVERYBODY returning from both cast an crew. Give Superman a physical villain to FIGHT as well as keeping luthor around in a smaller role. You have to keep this at 140 minutes or under. Then on Friday December 10th 2008, release Superman Returns in United States in as many Imax screens as possible as well as conventional theaters.
What I would do for the plot
The film’s plot has to go a certain way. First and foremost, the credit sequence and score have to stay. That’s a given. In terms of changes, Superman and Lois have to get together (no not that way!) at some point in the film. There has got to be at least 1 physical villain for Superman to fight. It needs to look considerably lighter too. By this I mean traditional no more gloomy, dark cloudy sets (this isn’t Batman!) and while Superman saving things is spectacular, it isn’t that exciting anymore. But superhuman fights are.
The exact way I would have it go is have Brianiac arrive on Earth. Give him a male krptonion as his heir, and a female kryptonion as the heirs girlfriend. They come to Earth after being distracted by New Krpyton. They want power, and Superman isn’t going to let them have it. Lex Luthor weasels his way into by showing them the fortress of Solitude. Lois discovers Superman is Clark at the very end. Richard can do one of 2 things: he is still there, and at the end he breaks up with Lois because not only does he know Jason isn’t his, but he knows Lois doesn’t love him anymore and that she should be with Superman. Or he can die for Lois. I’d go with the first one.
Green light it NOW with a budget of 200 million again. W.B. know that it isn’t that large of investment, given how huge toy and merchandise sales would be during the holiday season. Worldwide gross would be enormous. D.V.D. sales and rentals would be big as usual. This is just fanboyism, but I would cast Jason Isaacs as the cold, ruthless, and enormous Brainiac. Billy Zane-get him younger looking and a cool costume and weapon-as the heir. Sophie Marceu (that chick from World is not Enough) as the female kryptonion. Those are 3 very, very good actors who would cost about 5 million combined. Start production in mid-late Summer 2007. General marketing campaign goes as follows:
-Trailer one with BATMAN 2 in summer 2008. D.C. fan boys-as well comic book fan boys in general- will be out in full force for what promises to be huge midnight screenings, so buzz among comic fans will skyrocket. The general public will be out as well, in what could be a Matrix Reloaded-sized increase over Batman Begins in the domestic department. I don’t think W.B. knows how well received Batman Begins really was or how much quality means to that franchise (please give it May 2nd or May 16th in 2008. PLEASE!). Pirates 2 has proved that word of mouth from previous films carries over to the sequels opening day. Word-Batman 2 is gonna be big.
-Theatrical trailer with looks like the biggest movie of October (not a horror movie)
-TV spot campaign hits around thanksgiving.
-Release date is December 10th for conventional theaters.
Why this will work: in today’s box office climate (and most likely 2008’s), sequels always open much bigger. Superman Returns 52.5 million opening weekend, and 84 million 5 day overall, signals what would have been roughly 75 million 3 day take has it opened on June 30th. The sequel’s opening promises to be bigger. A Friday, December 10th, 2008 release promises an opening north of 70 million due to it being a sequel. The fact that it features a physical villain would make it much more appealing to teenagers as well still keeping the kids/family audience. A 75/80 million 3 day would be expected. The thing a December release gives it that May doesn’t, is an extraordinary set up for it’s box office legs. It could open to 90 million in May, but falls horribly and not get 250 million again. If quality kept up par, a December release assures a multiplier of at least 3.5 after an 75 million opening, due to holiday legs. That right there is a basic minimum gross of 260 million. A multiplier over 4 is not out of the question at all if quality is up to standard. That’s 300 million or more. The character of Superman when done lightly like it should be, has unlimited appeal to families and the holidays are the biggest family going movie time of the year. Superman would hold extremely well in 3rd and rise on its forth weekend as well as having weekdays bigger then it would in the summer. It’s weekend would probably look like this:
Opening weekend:75 million
2nd weeknd-40 million
3rd weekend-25 million
4th weekend-25 million
no that isn’t a typo. It would stay the same if not rise from its 3rd weekend to 4th weekend due to the way the weekends line up for the holidays. Look Narnia. 63 million opening, 290 million total all from HOLIDAY LEGS while going up against juggernaut King Kong in the process. Superman could do this.
Merchandise
And that’s just the box office. It’s the holiday. Christmas time. A new superman movies out, and can you remember the last time there was a big super hero movie out then for kids to go see? Nope. Its merchandise sales-by that I mean the boards game toys action figures, the whole works-would be selling out the ASS for Christmas presents. You don’t understand how much money would lie in this.
The only Negative
This isn’t even really a negative, cause there isn’t a way to test it. But rumor among us box office followers is the first big superhero movie of the summer does better then second. See x3>superman returns (maybe not), batman > fantastic four, x2 >Hulk, spidey 3>fantastic four 2(yeah that hasn’t happened yet but that’s a given). So no one knows whether it translates for the whole year, and if Batman 2 already having been huge would effect Superman 2’s box office. I tend to doubt, no trends show it.
TO SUM UP
W.B., you’ve gotta keep the budget big if you want the franchise to continue growing. You’ve gotta add a physical villain and make it lighter while still keeping it’s crowd pleasing abilities from humor and drama, and having the fighting to make the teenagers come this time. Then give it the trailer with Batman 2 and holidays 2008 release date, and the franchise will be set. Because this one would make so much money, and be well received by so many (assuming qualities on par!), you could go back to the summer for say 2011, and by that time it would be anticipated by many. Routh and Bosworth would have grown into their roles. And it would have a great shot at a 300 million+ domestic take.
if you agree, say so!
Unlike Batman Begins, which completely, 110% revived the Batman franchise, Superman Returns has not completely revived the Superman franchise. By that I mean, Batman 2 will gross just about as much as any Batman film could (as long as quality continues, of course). Superman 2, at the moment, is not going to gross all it can if it stays on course for summer 2009. That’s the reason I concocted this theorem.
The EXCEL THEORUM
Fast track Superman 2 for winter 2008. Summer 2009 is a 3 year wait, and that simply is too long. 2 is too short, but 2 and a half is perfect.
The “EXCEL THEORUM” is exactly this to sum up: Green light a 200 million dollar budgeted SUPERMAN 2 with EVERYBODY returning from both cast an crew. Give Superman a physical villain to FIGHT as well as keeping luthor around in a smaller role. You have to keep this at 140 minutes or under. Then on Friday December 10th 2008, release Superman Returns in United States in as many Imax screens as possible as well as conventional theaters.
What I would do for the plot
The film’s plot has to go a certain way. First and foremost, the credit sequence and score have to stay. That’s a given. In terms of changes, Superman and Lois have to get together (no not that way!) at some point in the film. There has got to be at least 1 physical villain for Superman to fight. It needs to look considerably lighter too. By this I mean traditional no more gloomy, dark cloudy sets (this isn’t Batman!) and while Superman saving things is spectacular, it isn’t that exciting anymore. But superhuman fights are.
The exact way I would have it go is have Brianiac arrive on Earth. Give him a male krptonion as his heir, and a female kryptonion as the heirs girlfriend. They come to Earth after being distracted by New Krpyton. They want power, and Superman isn’t going to let them have it. Lex Luthor weasels his way into by showing them the fortress of Solitude. Lois discovers Superman is Clark at the very end. Richard can do one of 2 things: he is still there, and at the end he breaks up with Lois because not only does he know Jason isn’t his, but he knows Lois doesn’t love him anymore and that she should be with Superman. Or he can die for Lois. I’d go with the first one.
Green light it NOW with a budget of 200 million again. W.B. know that it isn’t that large of investment, given how huge toy and merchandise sales would be during the holiday season. Worldwide gross would be enormous. D.V.D. sales and rentals would be big as usual. This is just fanboyism, but I would cast Jason Isaacs as the cold, ruthless, and enormous Brainiac. Billy Zane-get him younger looking and a cool costume and weapon-as the heir. Sophie Marceu (that chick from World is not Enough) as the female kryptonion. Those are 3 very, very good actors who would cost about 5 million combined. Start production in mid-late Summer 2007. General marketing campaign goes as follows:
-Trailer one with BATMAN 2 in summer 2008. D.C. fan boys-as well comic book fan boys in general- will be out in full force for what promises to be huge midnight screenings, so buzz among comic fans will skyrocket. The general public will be out as well, in what could be a Matrix Reloaded-sized increase over Batman Begins in the domestic department. I don’t think W.B. knows how well received Batman Begins really was or how much quality means to that franchise (please give it May 2nd or May 16th in 2008. PLEASE!). Pirates 2 has proved that word of mouth from previous films carries over to the sequels opening day. Word-Batman 2 is gonna be big.
-Theatrical trailer with looks like the biggest movie of October (not a horror movie)
-TV spot campaign hits around thanksgiving.
-Release date is December 10th for conventional theaters.
Why this will work: in today’s box office climate (and most likely 2008’s), sequels always open much bigger. Superman Returns 52.5 million opening weekend, and 84 million 5 day overall, signals what would have been roughly 75 million 3 day take has it opened on June 30th. The sequel’s opening promises to be bigger. A Friday, December 10th, 2008 release promises an opening north of 70 million due to it being a sequel. The fact that it features a physical villain would make it much more appealing to teenagers as well still keeping the kids/family audience. A 75/80 million 3 day would be expected. The thing a December release gives it that May doesn’t, is an extraordinary set up for it’s box office legs. It could open to 90 million in May, but falls horribly and not get 250 million again. If quality kept up par, a December release assures a multiplier of at least 3.5 after an 75 million opening, due to holiday legs. That right there is a basic minimum gross of 260 million. A multiplier over 4 is not out of the question at all if quality is up to standard. That’s 300 million or more. The character of Superman when done lightly like it should be, has unlimited appeal to families and the holidays are the biggest family going movie time of the year. Superman would hold extremely well in 3rd and rise on its forth weekend as well as having weekdays bigger then it would in the summer. It’s weekend would probably look like this:
Opening weekend:75 million
2nd weeknd-40 million
3rd weekend-25 million
4th weekend-25 million
no that isn’t a typo. It would stay the same if not rise from its 3rd weekend to 4th weekend due to the way the weekends line up for the holidays. Look Narnia. 63 million opening, 290 million total all from HOLIDAY LEGS while going up against juggernaut King Kong in the process. Superman could do this.
Merchandise
And that’s just the box office. It’s the holiday. Christmas time. A new superman movies out, and can you remember the last time there was a big super hero movie out then for kids to go see? Nope. Its merchandise sales-by that I mean the boards game toys action figures, the whole works-would be selling out the ASS for Christmas presents. You don’t understand how much money would lie in this.
The only Negative
This isn’t even really a negative, cause there isn’t a way to test it. But rumor among us box office followers is the first big superhero movie of the summer does better then second. See x3>superman returns (maybe not), batman > fantastic four, x2 >Hulk, spidey 3>fantastic four 2(yeah that hasn’t happened yet but that’s a given). So no one knows whether it translates for the whole year, and if Batman 2 already having been huge would effect Superman 2’s box office. I tend to doubt, no trends show it.
TO SUM UP
W.B., you’ve gotta keep the budget big if you want the franchise to continue growing. You’ve gotta add a physical villain and make it lighter while still keeping it’s crowd pleasing abilities from humor and drama, and having the fighting to make the teenagers come this time. Then give it the trailer with Batman 2 and holidays 2008 release date, and the franchise will be set. Because this one would make so much money, and be well received by so many (assuming qualities on par!), you could go back to the summer for say 2011, and by that time it would be anticipated by many. Routh and Bosworth would have grown into their roles. And it would have a great shot at a 300 million+ domestic take.
if you agree, say so!
They're just basing it off of Superman I and II. Remember in those films that Zod and his crew were released by Superman's actions in both versions of II (even the Donner cut). Even in Superman IV his primary nemesis used a sample of his hair to create a nuclear powered clone. No, it wasn't left over from the Abrams script. Have you seen the second film of the original series? Notice in SR that Kitty makes note of the fact that Lex had been there before. Anyone could operate the console. It's just like a fancy DVD player...just with holograms.
