Jeff Robinov doesn't have a clue. It's like saying "Gee, Titanic is the highest grossing movie of all time, let's make more movies with ships that sink". It's not the ship sinking that makes it good. Why don't execs get it? Darker doesn't equal better. It works for Batman. Batman has always been a dark character. It's about staying true to the character and spirit of the source material. It's about good writing, good characters, good acting, good direction. It doesn't matter if your making a period drama or a comic book movie. The Dark Knight is a phenomenon. Everything came together for that one. It isn't a fricking formula. Jeez. How do these guys get these jobs and how do I get one? I wanna be a studio president!

You see GREAT movies like Iron Man, TDK, and Hellboy 2 and you think maybe these studio heads finally get it. And then you read statements like this and realize that these clowns wouldn't have a clue if it sat on their face and farted.

A Dark Superman...hmmm...Wasn't Superman Returns' version of Superman pretty dark? I mean, Singer did make Supes into an absentee father/creepy, peeping-tom stalker with a messiah complex. Sounds dark to me.

Glad to see I'm not alone on this. This is completely stupid. The only good idea is individual movies leading to a large group movie. But even that's not original. And darker is not better. Batman should be dark. Superman should not. Allow more comic creators and industry people to get involved and take it out of brain-less studio executives hands. Sigh, if only it were that simple....

That's funny redhairs. Anyway, this article definitely speaks to the fact that many studio execs are just retards. If they follow through on their 'dark' plan, they will only continue to create and release trash ala Superman Returns. Just respect the source material and work to make GOOD movies. There are a lot of movies on the summer list that made 2-3 hundred million worldwide without being dark!!!! Wait a minute...I have a plot for the Superman Reboot. Superman returns to earth and is distraught that Lois is banging someone else. So he begins snorting coke and banging hookers with a master plan of fathering an army of super-offspring. With this offspring he plans to take over the world and show Lois what a stupid bitch she is. Then Supes gets put in rehab and forms a bond with Lyndsey Lohan and her lesbian friend while they Karaoke to Amy Whinehouse. After 28 days of detox Supes leaves with a clear head and has to stand against his now teenage army of super-evil-offspring (this will allow WB to cast as many young attractive TV actors as they want) They have a super bloody, dark battle in which we see Superman rip their limbs from their bodies and fry them with his heat vision. They will be no match for him since they are only half-breeds. Also, many of the super-offspring will be topless or fully naked since they are hot and evil (and it will help to achieve a darker rating). In the end Superman will stake an American flag at the top of a mountain of bloody body parts and carcasses of all his now-dead super-evil-offspring and reclaim his place as the greatest superhero ever. Maybe I like this dark movement...

Sinking ships, lazer swords, burning southern cities, and bats will make for one gangbusters movie. --- Hey, remember when executives spout buzz words and all of a sudden greatness happens? No? Right, because it's talented filmmakers that make great movies, not buzz words. With the right talent and aligned stars, a superman war epic or a superman roadtrip movie could both go over gangbusters with the public. Seriously, if any corporate execs troll trashy sites like Mania, get to work on a superman/batman buddy comedy roadtrip movie. Bruce & Clark go to White Castle.

Robinov is not a very smart man. He's the kind of dude who approved Batman and Robin. Just because one film worked (Batman Forever) doesn't mean that another one with MORE of the stuff from the previous will work (Batman and Robin). Returns was great IMHO. I liked where Singer was going with it. Granted there were some weird plot devices in there, (son, excessive-land-owner-Luthor, etc) they had already established something and now they're crapping on that because it didn't open big. I'll say what i've said on other boards... It was WB's fault for approving the script for Returns. All the elements that made people not like it WERE IN THE FREKIN SCRIPT!...YOU READ THE PART ABOUT THE SON!...ABOUT REAL ESTATE LEX!......MELANCHOLY/STALKER SUPERMAN!...NOW YOUR ANGRY ABOUT THE NUMBERS?!? Doesn't make sense.

Robinov is not a very smart man. He's the kind of dude who approved Batman and Robin. Just because one film worked (Batman Forever) doesn't mean that another one with MORE of the stuff from the previous will work (Batman and Robin). Returns was great IMHO. I liked where Singer was going with it. Granted there were some weird plot devices in there, (son, excessive-land-owner-Luthor, etc) they had already established something and now they're crapping on that because it didn't open big. I'll say what i've said on other boards... It was WB's fault for approving the script for Returns. All the elements that made people not like it WERE IN THE FREKIN SCRIPT!...YOU READ THE PART ABOUT THE SON!...ABOUT REAL ESTATE LEX!......MELANCHOLY/STALKER SUPERMAN!...NOW YOUR ANGRY ABOUT THE NUMBERS?!? Doesn't make sense.

Well, I have to say that the corporate thinking is pretty common. See its not their intentions, its their approach that is all fucked up. Yes, you need a darker movie. People just dont want smurfs anymore. The problem is really that they say 'ok, darker superman. check'. But in reality they need to sit down and say 'this movie needs to have dark undertones'. Thats when someone opens up their mouth and says 'Hmm wont work for superman himself what else you got?' Well, can we make the villain dark? Can we make metropolis darker? Can we tie it in with dark reality? Thats when they say 'ok, lets make superman boyish, and simplistically pure, and the villian insidious and dark. To the point where superman is helpless because he cant confront the darkness with the kind of darkness it needs. Eseencially, doing exactly opposite of the Dark Knight, REALLY setting up a sequel. Setting the characters (as they are already) so far apart on the spectrum, they have no choice but to collide morally. Now, what does this mean for superman. Lets see a list of the blahze ways the ALWAYS make the villain an equal. 1. The villains from crypton! *yawn* 2. Superman is weakened by cryptonite! *snore* 3. Superman fears for his secret identity. *shutter* 4. Villain goes after the loved ones! *shakes head* 5. Villian STEALS XXXXXXXX and uses it on XXXXXXX. Ok so the above are so cliche, you dont knwo what to do, but they are part of the plots used by all the major movie success' this year. So whats the answer? The answer is you sit and watch a basketball game. Or a UFC match. Because when you do that, you say 'Wow, this guys unstoppable. Unless you had a guy that could xxxxxxx. You would have to fight him lik exxxxxxxx to beat him. Then create a character that actually gives superman some kind of a fit. But lets face it. Superman is boring. He doesnt know kung fu. He doesnt do any matrix moves. He flies. And he punches. And not good, tactical punches. im talking roundhouses. Superman is stuck in limbo. So unless you have a villain that makes supes have to suck it up and bring his 'skillset' into the year 2000, you might as well base the next movie on his son kicking ass in rocket football. The bottom line is, to make a successfull superman, its going to have to be a coming of age movie. A movie where superman starts out the pinnacle of justice, rightness, and properness, and have him realize that the old guard is no more, and make him go gorilla. Make him learn some bad ass fighting moves for a reason, realize that hes going to have to stop being the protector of rightness and become the punisher of wrongness. The walking of that line, will make for a good film. Go on either side and your screwing the pooch.

Dark doesn't mean fuckin Batman! It probably means more real and relatable. Heck even Marvel gonna go a darker route if they make Tony Stark battle alcoholism. Nobody bitching about that. You guys read "dark" and get scared. Chill out, wait to see what happens. DC isn't completely retarded. Sure they see the sucess of TDK and obviously want to follow on those footsteps. What's wrong with that anyway? TDK fuckin owned. If they gonnna try to emulate someone might as well be the best. Best player in the NBA right now, Kobe Bryant. Who does he play like? His Airness, greatest ever. Nothing wrong with WB shooting for TDK status. Besides they said they'll go as dark as the character will allow them to go. <BR itxtvisited="1" /><BR itxtvisited="1" />On the Superman front, they could bring in red kryptonite to the Superman world and make Supes act differently than what he's always been seen on screen. <BR itxtvisited="1" />Singer fucked up Superman when he decided to follow Donner. They had to reboot cause the kid was fucking terrible idea and with Lex being portrayed the way he has been, there's no damn LexCorp.<BR itxtvisited="1" />By rebooting you take care of those 2 things right off the bat and can hopefully cast someone in the Lois Lane role that's worth it. I don't think a reboot will mean another origin film though, so I'm not worried about that.<BR itxtvisited="1" />Now, the character they really need to turn darker is not Superman but Lex Luthor if he's going to be back(and he has to be but not as a main guy) and any other villain they bring into the mix.<BR itxtvisited="1" />The other thing they need is put more action into the film, SR was a fuckin bore, and make Superman do super things. Stopping a bank robbery & catching a guy falling off a building aren't super. Superman can do that shit in his sleep. They need to put him in some actual danger maybe throw a damn punch. Did Superman punch anyone in SR? 'A Green Lantern film should feel like a rollicking space opera that takes the viewer on a planet-hopping adventure to unseen corners of the galaxy." That's exactly what GL will be if the script rumors are true.