While it seems that a Superman sequel is sadly underway, in the meantime, the new man in tights is keeping busy with other fare. Variety reports that Brandon Routh, along with a slew of others, have signed on for an upcoming ensemble comedy that Starz is putting together, called Table for Three. Along for the ride with Routh are Sophia Bush, Jesse Bradford, Jennifer Morrison, Johnny Galecki, and Liza Lapira.

Routh stars as a suddenly single dude with a bad sense of logic -- he invites a perfect couple, played by Bradford and Bush, to share his big apartment. This seems a bit strange, especially since every guy I know who has had to spend a lot of time with, or share space with, a couple has completely hated it, but I guess the thought of being face-to-face with couples is appealing to this guy's now-single self. But then he finds a new romance and things get tricky as they "disrupt his life when they insert themselves into his new romance."

Michael Samonek will direct from his own script, and the film is set to be released later this year.

Bahahahahahaha. Yesterday was chock full of huge, monumental movie news. A disproportionate amount of it involved the geek realm, with casting and sequel bites galore. For example, we reported that Christian Bale and Brandon Routh were headlining the new Justice League movie as Batman and Superman. JoBlo insisted that all the rumors are true and Jake Gyllenhaal is replacing Tobey Maguire in the role of Spider-Man. (On the other hand, maybe it's Nicholas Brendon, or -- dear god no -- Jason Biggs.) From GFR, we learned that the Cloverfield monster was going to be putting in an appearance in Transformers 2. IGN even created an entire fake trailer for The Legend of Zelda movie! In slightly less shocking news, it turned out that Iron Man might get an April release date after all, depending on where you live.

But my favorite piece of news announced yesterday? Slashfilm's bombshell that Daniel Day-Lewis was headlining a Peter Weir remake of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo -- the one about a man who decides to build an opera house in the Peruvian jungle. This version, however, will be set 50 years in the future and feature a soundtrack by Mick Jagger. Weird, subtle, and just plausible enough (at least until you get to the futuristic setting) to make you frown before remembering what day it is. (After reading the first paragraph, I did more than frown: I rushed to start a Cinematical post!) Well-played, gentlemen.

Rumors have been flying today that Bryan Singer is indeed working on the sequel to Superman Returns. Well, it is not just rumor -- Singer himself confirmed it to Empire. "Yes, I'm just getting back with writers after the strike. We're just in the development phase. I'm starting to develop a sequel . . .with the intention of directing it." He lashes out at claims that first film was a flop, pointing out that it made $400 million.

If you're thinking "It wasn't a flop financially, Singer, it was a flop because no one liked it," well, he addresses that too. He promises the next one will up the stakes. "The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film. I'll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset. And now that the characters are established, there's really an opportunity to up the threat levels . . .Clearly there'll be a body count. From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror! All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon [Routh]? Well, I'm going to wake them up!"

My problem is that I didn't find it nostalgic or romantic, I just found it rather dull. I stopped believing a man could fly, and wondered instead why James Marsden was always losing his girls to men of steel and adamantium. All the pieces were there for a fantastic reboot, a film that could reintroduce Superman to a new audience, but it simply fell flat. I do believe Singer has it in him -- and he does tend to be better with superhero sequels than his originals. So I will forgive and forget, and happily await the next installment.

Can such a large project as the Superman sequel unravel in a single day? Certainly seems that way, doesn't it? First there was the Anne Thompson blog post which made the rounds earlier in the day (see our post on it here), in which she speculated -- and it seems a given that she wouldn't make such a speculation unless she had some info to back it up -- that Bryan Singer was likely to throw off the long-in-doubt sequel to the mediocre-performing Superman Returns in favor of concentrating on his other upcoming projects. I personally don't see the logic in this, since Valkyrie is already in the can and the Harvey Milk film will be a small thing that need not trample on a huge payday like the Supes sequel. However, Thompson also made a sideways reference to what may be the real issue -- Warner Bros.' increasingly obvious intention of using the upcoming Justice League of America as a way of rebooting said underperfoming Superman film by tossing Brandon Routh.

Now comes Latino Review, exploding a story that they claim to have been sitting on "for weeks and weeks" out of deference to sources at DC Comics. "Kelvin knew about Brandon not being the new Superman for weeks and weeks now, but made a promise to the DC people that he wouldn't break the story. Variety has now confirmed what we've secretly known for a while and Brandon Routh will be replaced in the stand-alone sequel by whomever is cast as Superman in the upcoming Justice League of America movie." Funny, since Variety doesn't say that at all -- this is clearly LR's attempt at a 'whoops, I thought it was safe to leak that info since Variety reported.' Anyway, if LR's source is legit the move on Warner and DC's part does make sense -- Routh didn't connect with audiences, for whatever reason, and in the age of instant reboots there are no second chances.

Lots of people liked Brandon Routh's Superman, but many were also much less than impressed. He tried, but he just couldn't pull off the role like other fellow actors have in similar positions -- Tobey Maguire, Christian Bale, and so on. Instead of backing away from the comic world with a shrug, Routh is going to try again. Comic Book Resources has reported that the actor will take his next comic stab by starring in an adaptation of the horror series Dylan Dog. The movie, Dead of Night, will be directed by Snakes on a Plane helmer David R. Ellis, from a screenplay by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly.

Dylan Dog is a supernatural PI who lives in London, always wears a red shirt, black jacket, and blue jeans, and used to work for Scotland Yard. If you look at a picture of the character, he looks kind of like Rupert Everett, and that's because the look was based on the actor. (I guess he wasn't interested in the role...) I can see why Routh was picked, but I'm not sure it was the best match out there -- Routh has that fresh, gentle sort of quality, and Dog is all about the tortured visage. The actor will need to learn how to amp up the angst and look a little less sweet and cheek-pinchy.

I'm thinking Routh should take some pointers from David Boreanaz (who could've pulled the role off). Doesn't that picture on CBR look like Angel? Anyhow, fans will just have to hope that this stint works out better than Routh's last, and that this production doesn't get tossed into the pile of comic flops. The $35 million production will start soon in Connecticut.

I'm a big fan of author Bret Easton Ellis' work. Since many of his novels rely on the inner workings of characters' minds, they can be difficult to adapt to the big screen. The film version of Less Than Zero made cocaine addiction look like Pretty in Pink. I know I'm in the minority, but I detested Mary Harron's American Psycho. The only adaptation I feel got Ellis exactly right was Roger Avary's excellent take on The Rules of Attraction. Now three more films are going to try and re-create Ellis' world. Darren Star is working on The Frog King with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There is no director yet, but a movie version of Lunar Park has been announced. And director Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly) has put together a cast for the film translation of Ellis' 1995 novel The Informers.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Superman himself Brandon Routh are in "various stages of negotiation" to star in the ensemble film. The Informers is set in Los Angeles in 1983 and it tracks seven stories. The major characters are: a movie executive (played by Thornton), his wife (Basinger), his mistress, a rock star, a kidnapper, and a vampire (Routh, apparently looking to darken up his image). Rounding out the cast are Ashley Olsen as a "sexually promiscuous girl" (doesn't it seem like those twins are getting a ton of work these days?), Jon Foster (Stay Alive), Austin Nichols (John Monad on the baffling John From Cincinnati), and Lou Taylor Pucci (star of the very good Thumbsucker and the not very good Chumscrubber -- yes, they're different movies). Sounds like it could be a great flick! Now, whatever happened to Roger Avary's planned Glamorama movie? I would love to see that come to light. Did Zoolander steal its thunder?

Apparently neither Christian Bale nor Brandon Routh are doing Warner Bros.' Justice League movie. Does that leave the studio desperate to find replacements? Not according to IESB, which always seems to have the best scoops before everyone else (to paraphrase The Joker: Where do they get these wonderful sources?). The movie site, which also broke the news that Stephen Sommers would direct G.I. Joe, claims Tom Welling is filling the cape of Superman in Justice League. This should be good news to a lot of Smallville fans -- as my comic-obsessed buddy says: "That's who they should have gotten in the first place [for Superman Returns]" -- but it hasn't been confirmed yet, so no celebrating just yet. Still, IESB seems more sure of this rumor than any the site has ever announced. They admit over there that they haven't gotten a reply from Welling's people and that the WB people have denied it, but they're still positive that it is true, because of the sources they've heard it from.

Supermanhomepage.com got an official response from Smallville producer Al Gough, who said this casting "hasn't happened, won't happen, he is under contract to Smallville through Season 8." But IESB has recognized this debunking and still isn't backing down. The site insists Welling has the role and even points out that Smallville may even revolve production around the movie's shoot. As for Bale's replacement, IESB claims to also know who's playing Batman but doesn't have a good enough amount of sources to reveal it. Meanwhile, CHUD has a sarcastic response to the whole thing. The site has a joke post up claiming that Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson (poor guy) have been cast in the movie, the former as Batman and the latter as Superman. The post also brings back the old floater that Jack Black would be Green Lantern. Of course, CHUD is obviously making fun of IESB and wonder if they could get a lot of hits by just making up casting rumors, such as Jamie Bamber as Superman and Gerard Butler as Aquaman. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if IESB's latest, including the tip that Justice League will only be partially motion capture (like every other fantasy movie these days), is true.

Here's a funny story, from Superman fansite, Bluetights.net. A police officer at the Capitol building in Washington recently spotted Mike Dougherty, scripter of Superman Returns and its in-limbo sequel, The Man of Steel, and decided to quiz him on the spot about what exactly is going on with that film. Dougherty claimed to be "shocked" that anyone would actually recognize him on the street, which I kind of understand, but he stood there and took his grilling. Obviously Dougherty wasn't going to tell a cop to buzz off, so he ended up actually spilling some details on the project. First, he seemingly disputes the recent buzz that The Man of Steel is being put on the back burner in favor of a 'Justice League with Superman' film. "He said that they were on track and the goal is still to have the movie out in the summer of 2009. He seemed a little hesitant about it but did his best to try and reassure that it will get done by then," the cop reported.

More specifically, he confirmed to the cop that there were, in fact, two villains for the film. One of those will, of course, be Lex Luthor, so this isn't really news. And I'm in the camp that really wonders if this project will come together at all. I mean, really, who is clamoring for it? The first film was such a lackluster affair that I can't imagine Warner Bros. would want to use the same team to deliver the same thing all over again. Even if there is a deliberate upping of the ante, hasn't the audience sort of given their verdict on this? Let's just move on to something else.

"I can guarantee you that there is some work being done with Superman right now." These are the beautiful words spoken by one of Bryan Singer's people to IESB.net last week. Now, after all the rumors and speculation that the sequel was delayed, canned or unlikely, we can finally rest, knowing that Singer is still planning on returning to Metropolis next summer to shoot The Man of Steel. IESB contacted Singer's camp in order to question them about a Harvey Milk movie titled The Mayor of Castro Street, which Singer had reportedly been linked to. Actually, IESB was specifically referencing the producers of Castro Street, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who had flat out said Singer would be working on their film once he's done with Valkyrie. In addition to the statement above, the Singer source said Meron's and Zadan's statement is "total horse s#*%". They also pointed out that Man of Steel producers Gil Adler and Chris Lee are currently in Germany with Singer and the Valkyrie production. Apparently everyone is lax enough with the WWII drama to take meetings about Superman.

Even if you had a few problems with Superman Returns -- as I had -- you should be anticipating its sequel, The Man of Steel. Because there's always room for improvement, right? Sure, it will be fun to see Supes (played by Brandon Routh) in the Justice League movie, but it will be a lot better if we can get at least one more solo movie before then. I guess Warner Bros. could have gotten another director (as many of our readers would prefer), but since I was disappointed with the first X-Men and then totally loved X2, I personally think Singer needs to stay on. Maybe after being slightly disappointed with Superman Returns I will totally love The Man of Steel, too.

Tooling around online, Cinematical came across an interesting bit of casting news -- the kind that leads you to do a double take. Superman himself, Brandon Routh, has signed on for a role in Buddy Giovinazzo's Life is Hot in Cracktown; a film that has already lined up ten thesps to play an assortment of characters whose lives intertwine in a crack-infested community. Heck, Lara Flynn Boyle is playing a crack whore! Does it get any better than that? Of course, this raises the all-too-important question of the day: Will Superman put down the car and, instead, pick up a crack pipe?

The news of his casting has conveniently slipped past IMDb, and I haven't noticed it in any of the trades. However, it's listed as one of Routh's upcoming films on his website, and I was able to track down the following quote from Routh on a message board: "I'm currently filming a small role in Life is Hot in Cracktown, based on Buddy Giovinazzo's novel by the same name. This role allowed me the opportunity to stretch and play against type, while not carrying an entire film on my shoulders as such an extreme character." Since everyone in the film is either playing a prostitute, a drug dealer or your friendly alcoholic wife-beating neighbor, I think it's pretty safe to say Routh will not be flying in to save the day -- as in, he won't be playing Crackman or anything like that. I just wonder why we haven't heard anything about this? Could it be that folks are afraid this character could somehow taint Routh's image as the Man of Steel?

I don't know about you, but it seems to me as though we just finished an entire year of writing about Superman Returns. We had almost no downtime on the Man of Steel, because all those pesky rumors were suggesting the film hadn't made enough for Warners to want a sequel, but director Bryan Singer was running around talking about the sequel anyway. The dust finally settled a few weeks back when Warners agreed to give Singer back his toy, but made him promise to be more careful with it (read: spend a lot less money and make fans happier) this time. This essentially means it is time to start talking about Singer's new Superman flick, which means I get to write even more about him. Aren't I just the lucky one?

Okay ... yeah, I am. I love it. Ready to start round two? Good. Now that Singer is officially on the go for his second try, star Brandon Routh is of course set to join him. Rotten Tomatoes caught up to Routh to ask him his thoughts on the next Superman flick. Routh responded to Singer's discussion of adding more action to the flick, saying: "That might be kind of interesting to throw some punches or throw something, I don't know, a little more active." Is it just me, or does that quote say a whole lot about the first flick. When the guy who plays Superman isn't actually sure what it would be like to "throw some punches," you've got a problem with your movie. Routh also said he'll need to hit the gym again more seriously to get back into Man of Steel shape, but he isn't worried because he has some six months to go before shooting starts. Maybe he can spend some time at the punching bag. ...

Just a few days ago, Superman Returns finally broke the magic $200 million domestic box office mark set by Warner Bros. as the necessary standard for a sequel. With the benchmark met, the studio sat down with director Bryan Singer this past weekend and inked out terms for a new deal. IESB did some investigating, and they report the following from "studio insider" sources:

• Most, if not all, of the original Returns team will be working on the sequel, and the big deals were all finalized late last week or this past weekend, only days before the $200 million take became official.
• The much-rumored smaller budget is fact. All told, Returns cost over $250 million. The new flick will be slashed all the way down to a piddling $140-175 million. This is still a lot of money, so you need not worry about a severe deterioration of CGI or other effects.
• Much like the Fantastic Four and other superhero flicks, the sequel plans to have much, much more action. Comic book movies often struggle to find the balance between plot and action; a struggle which often damages promising flicks. Maybe as we press on, writers, directors, and studios will get better at finding said balance. We can hope, right?

What say you? Can Singer pull off a sequel that's better than his own so-called sequel?

Although it may not have raked in quite as much cash as everyone involved hoped it would, Superman Returns has continued to quietly chug along the box office, slowly slipping towards only the end. With a large budget and a ton of promotion, Returns was considered a small failure (or, at least, not the success it was expected to be) with the low box office take it pulled in during the first month or so of the movie's theatrical run, and the sequels which had once seemed so certain as to be etched in stone were quickly cast into doubt. The studio rumoredly gave director Singer an ultimatum -- bring in 200 million domestically or you're finished with the Man of Steel.

Well here we are at the end of October, and with a mighty weekend of 173 thousand bucks thanks to second-run and two-dollar theaters, Returns has officially passed the 200 million domestic milestone, with a worldwide take still slightly under 400 million. So it looks like Superman will be back, hence the oh so clever title of this post. Early thoughts suggest he'll be making his next theatrical appearance in the summer of 2009, so we've got a good two-plus years to make up rumors about who'll be in it and how much it will cost to make. I'm calling it right now: Cinematical Editor-in-Chief James Rocchi as Zod. ...

Bryan Singer was king of the world when he departed the X-Men franchise for the Man of Steel. Singer was set to breath life back into an exhausted franchise, and expectations were rightfully high. Superman Returns was a good movie. Generally, critics and audiences agreed on this fact. It was good ... but it wasn't great. And box office receipts reflected such. It brought in okay money, but not nearly as much money as was hoped, especially given the large budget of the film. Before you could say "truth, justice, and all that stuff," Warner Brothers was beginning to backpedal away from their lofty sequel ambitions. An ultimatum quickly came down: make 200 million or no sequel. Even then, Warner has indicated a much smaller budget for the next Superman film.

Financing partner Legendary, however, is insisting none of this worries them in the slightest. Legendary insists the company is turning a profit on Returns, and is still fully interested in financing a a sequel. This is certainly good news for Singer, who (as mentioned above) will be working on a shorter leash from Warners. We probably haven't seen the end of Singer's run with the Man of Steel.

Within the first day or so of launch, Superman Returns was being seeing as a disappointment, financially speaking. Sure, it was raking in good cash, but not nearly as much as everyone involved had hoped, with such a big-name superhero title. Consequently, some suits at the studio got cold feet (as they are wont to do when a financial disappointment is involved), and suddenly further Superman sequels -- which had seemed like a sure bet from the day director Bryan Singer came on board -- were in jeopardy. The word quickly came down that a take of $200 million domestic was needed for the studio to bring Singer back for a second round; a second round with much less money.

Many fans may have been worried by this, but it seems as though Singer is entirely unfazed. At ComicCon, the director has already begun talking about his plans for the next film, although he admits no actual deal has been struck. Singer said he is aiming for a 2009 release, and is excited because he won't have to bother with long-winded character introductions, he can instead jump right into the action. Or, as Singer said: "get all Wrath of Khan on it." The only teaser info he gave was suggesting we could see an "alien villain" in the next film.