Will Superman Return?

There's been a lot of speculation lately, as to whether or not Warner Bros. Pictures will move ahead with a sequel to Superman Returns, given its less than expected gross at the box offoice thus far. Three weeks after its release in the U.S., the film has made some $166,017,362, as of Monday July 17th, 2006 (figure courtesy Box Office Mojo)

This from comicbookmovie.com:

Unless Superman Returns can gross more than $200 million domestically, Warner Bros. is said to be unsure it wants to back any sequels.

Fan site TMZ quotes talent agency insiders with ties to the film as saying Warner Bros. chief Alan Horn will decide the fate of a sequel on whether Superman Returns can make $200 million.

Also, the studio wants to "shave millions, many millions" off any Superman sequel's budget, the site says. The most Horn is said to be willing to spend is $150 million, the agency sources told TMZ since he feels burned by [director Bryan] Singer's high-flying FX budget.

And then there's this from today's Studio Briefing:

Studio estimates for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's weekend came in pretty close to the actual figures, with the official gross put at $62.3 million. After two weeks, the film has already become the highest-grossing movie of the year, with its total gross put at $258.4 million. Sony's Little Man and Universal's You, Me and Dupree fought it out for second place, with Little turning out bigger than expected with a take of $21.6 million. Dupree was less than $88,000 behind, with $21.5 million. Warner Bros.' Superman Returns, which finished in fourth place, continued to look as if it were still struggling against Kryptonite as it earned $12.3 million to bring its total to $164.3 million. Some analysts expressed doubt that the film, which cost about $210 million to produce, plus another $40 million to develop, would even hit $200 million during its domestic run

Even though the film isn't bringing in the kind of numbers at the pace WBs wants, I predict that it will indeed reach the magic $200 million mark, before it ends its stateside theatrical run in a few weeks time. I also believe that if they solve the film's pacing and (related) cramped screenplay issues, on the next one, they can move forward and come out better for it. Sure, I had issues with SR, but there's also lots to like as well It's not a total failure...Besides Supes is too important to the studio for there not be another one. Do you see them waiting more then three years in between installments? I sure don't. Not with all of the principals already optioned for the next movie And don't forget, there's also domestic DVD and On Demand/Pay Per View revenues down the road as well...