A Hero Complex

Ben Fritz of Variety offers an update on how Superman Returns is faring at the box office as its first week in release draws to a close:

"Superman Returns" is off to a strong start, albeit not as fast as a speeding bullet.

Warner Bros. superhero tentpole grossed a solid $52.5 million on its opening weekend and $74 million over the five-day Fourth of July frame. Since its Wednesday opening, the Bryan Singer-helmed franchise restart has taken in $106 million.

Though the Man of Steel dominated the frame, "The Devil Wears Prada" was the biggest surprise. Fox's chick lit adaptation proved very successful counterprogramming, grossing $27 million for the weekend and $39.6 million over five days -- far beyond expectations.

Based on the weekend alone, "Superman" was on the low end of recent nonsequel superhero pics, ahead of WB's own "Batman Begins" last year but behind "Spider-Man," "Hulk," "Fantastic Four" and "X-Men," which Singer directed in 2000.

But the prime opening date, which essentially created a seven-day weekend, worked in the studio's favor. The $106 million "Superman" cume bests all those films except "Spider-Man" at the end of their first week.

No matter how one measures, however, "Superman" did fail to keep up with last year's Fourth of July opener, "War of the Worlds." The pics' Wednesday debuts were virtually identical at $21 million. But "Superman" slowed down faster, making less in its first seven days than the $112.7 million that Paramount's Tom Cruise starrer grossed in six.

The $220 million "Superman Returns" is a very pricey bet for Warners, which is hoping to restart the franchise. Assuming it holds in a manner similar to "Batman Begins," a cume in the low 200s looks likely. Foreign performance will be crucial.

While auds tilted male, WB distrib prexy Dan Fellman pointed out that "Superman" did better with families than darker films like "Batman" and "Worlds," which meant latenight shows were less crowded over the weekend.

That could help extend its run throughout the rest of the summer, as family films tend to hold well. Pic is almost certain to take a big hit next weekend, though, against the bow of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"Superman" set a record on Imax screens, where a 3-D version grossed $3 million over the weekend and $5 million Wednesday through Sunday, beating the "Batman Begins" record of $3 million over five days.

And then there's this from Roger Friedman's latest column on Fox News.Com:

Superman is facing one indignity after another. Forget about the box office problem. The film dropped significantly yesterday, taking in an estimated $8.5 million on the actual Fourth of July. The total is now around $105 million for eight days (more or less) -- not exactly a speeding bullet.

On Saturday came a new smack in the Man of Steel’s face: a mocking video from the always witty Kevin Smith, director of the upcoming “Clerks II,” one of my favorite films from the Cannes Film Festival.

Smith, you may recall, was the first of many screenwriters who went to work on a script for "Superman." And, like the others, his was tossed aside.

But now, on Smith’s MySpace page, there’s a video ad for "Clerks II" in which the director takes aim at "Superman Returns" while promoting his own film.

It’s very funny, too. While John Williams’ "Superman" theme plays in the background, two puppets that are supposed to be Smith’s characters Randal and Dante making fun of the caped hero.

“If you only see one movie this summer,” Dante says.

“It will probably be 'Superman,'” responds Randal.

“Why in the hell would they want to do that?” Dante says. “It has zero polar bears and not one giant spider.”

After a pause, and Williams' fanfare, the Jay character asks Randal: “Can you read my mind?”

Of course, once Smith was off of the "Superman" project, a series of events unraveled. Brett Ratner came and went, and eventually "Superman" went to "X-Men 1 and 2" director Bryan Singer.

The result is the movie we have now, a kind of washed-out epic that doesn’t deliver and is a little witless in the end. Smith gets the last laugh: His "Clerks II," which opens July 21, should be an enormous indie hit.

To make sure that happens, Smith apparently has agreed to do something unusual: the first 10,000 MySpace members who add the “Mooby’s Presents Clerks II” page to their "friends" list will have their names added to the ending credits of the movie.

I don’t know exactly how this will happen, but it reminds me of a stunt for a Todd Rundgren album back in 1973, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. You sent in your name from his prior album and Rundgren included it on a poster for his “Todd” album. I did it; so did other fans. And I made sure to buy that album just to make sure my name was there.



Given the fact that SR's budget has been mentioned in nearly every story related to the film's box office...Execs at Warner's are no doubt hoping that it somehow manages to do well against the coming onslaught of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest . The film continues to do well overseas...

As for Kevin Smith's riff against Supes, I see it more as a cross promotion--then serious "sour grapes"...His main concern is, after all, selling Clerks 2 and giving it to the number one film in the land is nothing new...Personally I can't wait to see Clerks 2.