"Batman vs Superman" News & Rumors

[Ty]

The movie ain't out yet.  It might turn out perfectly. It might be better than avengers. Fuck zack snyder

[Kise]

No chance of Shaq reprising his role as Steel? :-<

[Kirk]

No chance of this being a good film?

[Fnord]

Man of Steel Sequel Carrying Reported Budget Of $131 Million?



Movie accounting is always more than a little mercurial. If you ask some guys at Warner Bros., they still haven't made any profit off the merchandising behemoth that was 1989's Batman. Never mind today, in a world where international box office is relied upon but obscured by more complex gross share rules, and where the DVD market blossomed, then capsized immediately. It's a very complex thing you're saying when you declare a movie a bomb or a hit. Or even when you say it's expensive.

So it makes perfect sense that a Detroit CBS affiliate would get their wires crossed in discussing a budget for the WB's upcoming Man of Steel sequel, which does not yet have a title but is sure to be something unnecessarily complicated. The claim is that this film, which unites Batman and Superman, and possibly a slew of other DC characters, is budgeted at $131 million. Which, for those of you keeping score, is nearly $100 million less than the reported cost of Man of Steel, allegedly a $225 million movie. The report also claims it's the most expensive film ever made in Michigan, besting the costs of Oz The Great And Powerful. Which, reportedly, cost $215 million. Perhaps there's an extra digit missing somewhere.

Maybe that dollar figure is the initial cost of some of the location shooting, and only some of the effects work, supposedly being done at Michigan Motion Picture Studios in Pontiac but also likely elsewhere given the size of such a project. Maybe it's isolating the separate paychecks of all the actors, like Ben Affleck's $10-$15 million payday and Henry Cavill's $12.50 plus bus fare stipend. Maybe there's a second wave of filming set for an undisclosed location, and the WB is keeping it under wraps from any reporter that might inquire. Or maybe they just got it wrong. Journalism is a fickle beast.

Whatever the case, this is sure to be one of the most expensive films of all-time. How could it not be? It reached that status as soon as Batman entered the picture, given that he's the only superhero in the game coming off back-to-back billion dollar hits (not counting Iron Man, who needed The Avengers to pull that off). You've also got Gal Gadot joining the gang as Wonder Woman, with a host of other superpowered characters jumping into the fray. There's also the matter of all that collateral damage in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. It's likely all parties involved think that orgy of death and mayhem needs to be "topped." Poor Michigan. You're not gonna make it out of this alive.

The nice takeaway is that the production is expected to bring several jobs to the state, beefing up their economy, with the claim that $5 million alone will go straight to the hotel industry. This movie may be a big budget behemoth, but if one of these superheroes doesn't get a hotel mint on their pillow, there might be some skyscrapers coming down. Superman And The Super-Friends remains on-schedule for a July 17, 2015 release date.

[Mike Powers]

Film pushed to May 2016

http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/310262/[Movies]-UPDATED:-Batman-vs.-Superman-Pushed-to-2016.htm

[Gravedigger]

Star Wars pushed back from the summer of 2015 as well. I think some studios are afraid to go up against The Avengers...

[Mike Powers]

Or more likely, they're smartly giving an expensive and complicated film enough time to actually be good.

[Black Death]

Or more likely, they're smartly giving an expensive and complicated film enough time to actually be good.

I agree  with Mike , I am all for a delay if can make the movie better in the long run. 

[Marq]

Star Wars pushed back from the summer of 2015 as well. I think some studios are afraid to go up against The Avengers...

Haha, as EFK's resident LucasFilm insider, it's mostly because we didn't even have a damn finalized script until very recently.

[Fnord]

Batman Vs. Superman's Production Is Still On Schedule Despite Release Date Shift



Don't change that Bat-channel too quickly! The industry has been scattered since news broke that the Man of Steel sequel was being pushed from its 2015 release date to May 2016. Everyone figures with a shift like this, everyone simply moves to the right, and we start talking about Wonder Woman movies, Ben Affleck's other jobs, and an inevitable Justice League film. Instead of everything shifting, however, could it be that Warner Bros. plan is to just build on the production plans they already had set?

Buried within a Deadline report about Ben Affleck's possible commitment to direct the Fox pilot The Middle Man is the news that Affleck will not be free to shoot the show due to plans that involve a certain black cape and cowl. Despite the release date change, the report says that production on Batman vs. Superman is imminent and Deadline claims that "the main players have been summoned to start work right away." This scuttles plans for Affleck to helm his first ever series pilot, a step several major directors have been taking recently (just last night, Fox debuted Rake with Sam Raimi behind the camera). On the TV side of the story, the network remains undecided about either pursuing another director, or waiting for Affleck's schedule to clear up.

The question is, will that ever happen? Or will the WB ride Affleck like The Lone Ranger rode Silver? Part of this whole Affleck-as-Batman situation, which will involve the actor starring in multiple films as WB's crown jewel superhero, was about pleasing the actor/director, given that both The Town and Argo were such mainstream successes for the studio. Affleck wants to continue directing, shooting his next feature Live By Night sometime later this year, and in the fall he'll have press obligations for David Fincher's Gone Girl. Basically, commitments to Batman vs. Superman - which promises to have both a long, arduous blockbuster-level shoot and will be a tremendous physical strain on the 42 year old thespian - mean that he doesn't have a lot of free time for anything else. The studio likely knows that pushing the superhero film to a start date during any other time in 2014 was a fool's game, and that by postponing or losing Live By Night they'd be losing another potential moneymaker as well as angering one of their treasured filmmakers. So, hey, maybe they do have a script ready to go, namely one from Affleck's Oscar-winning Argo collaborator Chris Terrio.

Of course, if they're ready to shoot now, why was the movie delayed at all? Why depart that primo 2015 release date? The opening slot of summer 2016 is undoubtedly also primo real estate, but by that time it will be only the fifth big DC hero film (not including Jonah Hex) since 2008, the start of Marvel Studio's self-produced empire. In contrast, the competing studio will have put out ten films in the same time period, with the eleventh currently carrying the same May 6, 2016 release date. Seeing Superman and Batman tango onscreen is undoubtedly the audience draw. Waiting another year certainly tempts the overexposure of the genre, though, particularly if it's a long and drawn-out production period. All it takes is the smallest droplet of bad buzz, and the project will look like a sorry sister next to whatever Marvel is cooking up for that date - or even later that summer. Perhaps there's more to this story, but regardless: full steam ahead on the Man Of Steel sequel!

Source: CinemaBlend

[¿PapaPancho?]

And you guys thought you blew a lid with Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot being Batman and Wonder Woman ...


SAY HELLO TO MR KINISH!



Granted that is fan made but the news is true.

Jesse Eisenberg has been cast as Lex Luthor

and

Jeremy Irons has been cast as Alfred Pennyworth

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/01/31/jesse-eisenberg-lex-luthor-batman-superman/

[Gravedigger]

I don't see Eisenberg as Lex, but it could work. A lot of people thought Ledger wouldn't work as the Joker, so maybe this could work out similarly. Getting Jeremy Irons is a good get. He's a good actor.

[Mike Powers]

Just when I thought my confidence couldn't get any lower.....

[Kirk]

Did they just use random.org to cast this film?

Having said that, I'm a big fan of Jeremy Irons.

[Marq]

I'm anxious to see him, if I'm honest.

A cocky billionaire in the year 2014 doesn't look like an oil tycoon anymore, but rather a young-looking, white kid with a start-up. Granted, Eisenberg's 30 years old (the same age as the guy who plays Superman, if you can believe that), but maybe he'll pull something outta left field.

Call my cautiously optimistic?