By Drew Dietsch
| Published
Hey everyone, Drew Dietsch back again with another assignment for Giant Freakin Robot on historic film failures.
And this one is a bit unique because it should be seen as a success, but under the right (or rather, wrong) circumstances, even hundreds of millions of box office dollars don’t protect you from ending up as a perceived miss instead of a hit.
Break out your Marlon Brando crystals because it’s time to explain why Superman Returns failed.
Boo These Men
Before we get into the actual investigation, I feel we have to acknowledge an uncomfortable element of Superman Returns.
Two of its key players, director Bryan Singer and Lex Luthor actor Kevin Spacey, are pretty renowned in Hollywood for being, let’s say for legal reasons, NOT VERY NICE GUYS.
However, that was not as publicly known when Superman Returns hit theaters in 2006, so their involvement in the movie and its eventual success or failure was not affected by their not very nice allegations.
*sigh* Okay, with that unpleasantness out of the way, let’s set the stage.
Superman’s Long-Awaited Return
Superman Returns was the long-gestating culmination of a return for the iconic progenitor of all superheroes.
Ever since the embarrassing final entry in the series was shopped to schlockmeisters Cannon Films in 1987, Warner Bros. and others involved like producer Jon Peters were trying to figure out how to bring the Man of Steel back to the big screen.
Through a number of unmade projects, including the infamous Superman Lives! which brought in Tim Burton and Kevin Smith, it seemed like the Last Son of Krypton was going to be a tough nut to crack.
Eventually, things did work out with Bryan Singer, director of X-Men and X2: X-Men United, helping to develop a story that would directly link to the previous two Richard Donner films.
Singer had been a key figure in the superhero renaissance that got us to the MCU of today. He was also an ardent fan of Donner’s original film and the character, and that might contribute to the big reason Superman Returns ended up being seen as a failure.
With almost twenty years between Superman Returns and the last film, there is a bit of an alienating quality to the movie for new viewers. It’s trying to give off the air of being a full reboot, but it wants to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to being a legitimate sequel to the Richard Donner classic.
We’ll dig into that aspect later when we talk about the movie’s actual release.
It’s Too Dark To Tell If It’s A Bird Or A Plane
For now, it’s also worth noting that the look of Superman Returns is surprisingly drab and dark for a story and character who is often portrayed as exceptionally bright.
Until Zack Snyder took that drab darkness even further. Get mad in the comments, Snyder bros.
But really, it’s odd to look at a Superman costume whose bright red cape is now a dingy maroon. There are shots in the film where Superman’s cape or boots look brown or even black.
And that’s a lot of the visual palette for Superman Returns: chilly, muddy, and dark. And though that didn’t seem to be a huge issue for audiences, I do think it contributed to the longevity of the movie’s chance for success.
Superman Returns And The Box Office Illusion
But this isn’t a video series where I just give my personal review of the movie and point out the issues I think it has. You’re here to learn something concrete about why Superman Returns is viewed as a failure.
And as far as the box office is concerned, Superman Returns looks like a success at face value. It earned $200 million at the domestic box office and another $191 million in international markets.
So how do you turn $391 million into a failure?
According to Box Office Mojo, Superman Returns had a reported budget of $270 million, equivalent to $430 million today. Other places list lower numbers but all of them are well above $200 million.
The point being that Superman Returns was a gargantuan production intended to kickstart the superhero’s franchise potential.
And even though critical reaction to the movie leaned positive, the overall takeaway from audiences didn’t seem to indicate a strong desire to see more from this version of the character.
The opening weekend CinemaScore for Superman Returns was a B+, not terrible but not encouraging if you just spent more money than any of us can even imagine on a movie about a guy in tights.
So, Superman Returns didn’t make its budget back with its domestic box office but that isn’t what really made the movie a perceived failure. It was the international box office that doomed Superman Returns.
The Real Kryptonite Of Superman Returns
As the 2000s rolled on, international markets like China and Latin America became more and more crucial to blockbuster films’ super success. It got so overbearing by the 2010s that movies like Iron Man 3 were including entire scenes that featured a Chinese character solely in the Chinese version of the film.
This is to drive home how vital international markets were to these tentpole releases. When Superman Returns couldn’t even match its international take with its domestic dollars, the writing was on the wall.
Why didn’t it hit as big as possible with international audiences?
There are always a multitude of factors to look at when a movie greatly succeeds or greatly fails, but in this instance, I think it’s clear that a key factor in the film not connecting with audiences around the globe was its dual nature as a reboot and as a sequel.
We Americans tend to assume that our popular media is just as well-known around the globe as it is on our own shores. There was clearly the thought with Superman Returns that folks would be clamoring for a return to the Richard Donner version of the character and world, going so far as to recreate the opening titles of that movie and using the indelible John Williams theme for the movie (something James Gunn also can’t let go).
But with decades between films and his pop culture relevancy being diminished, this take on Superman didn’t reinvigorate audiences around the world. It felt strangely old hat with a new unknown actor stepping into one of the most beloved and memorable performances in cinema history.
No shade to Brandon Routh, I think he does what’s asked of him in the movie and I’m glad he got another shot at DC Comics stardom in television.
But those international markets were enough for Warner Bros. to declare the film a net negative. Plans for a sequel were scrapped – the ultimate franchise failure – and the next time Kal-El would hit the big screen, it would be seven years later in a full reboot that would end up earning $291 million at the domestic box office and $379 million in international markets.
And that got its sequel, alright!
Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?
Superman Returns is an odd movie these days, firmly stuck between the past and the future of blockbuster movies. It feels more like a strange footnote to the cinematic history of Superman than one of his biggest productions ever.
Thanks to the bombastic and aggressive fandom for Zack Snyder’s interpretation of the character, Superman Returns has been shouted out of relevancy and discussion, often treated as something being forgotten.
Though certain facets of the movie deserve absolute irrelevancy, Superman Returns doesn’t deserve to be completely abandoned. I’m not a huge fan of the movie anymore, but its failure is much more interesting than whatever the hell both versions of Justice League were.
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