Juno director Jason Reitman was also on the Howard Stern Show today and revealed that he turned down an offer to direct Justice League of America for Warner Bros. Howard’s first question was “How’s the script?”
“Good, FINE… You know, I mean. I had to sign something, they send me the script and it comes on this spy paper which cant be xeroxed,” revealed Jason Reitman. “They have a time when I have to have the script back to them and the script is fine and I could be spending…” Jason later continued: “What am I going to do with Justice League of America? So Basically I’ll make a movie that is not as good as X-Men, then I’ll be the guy who made a movie not as good as X-Men. Where just like you talking about, going to smaller stations, if I make another small movie, and it’s really good, it performs well…” “Right now I’m thought of as a particular type of director. I’ve got an oscar nomination. I’ve made two indie films that play film festivals that are considered thoughtful. I want to stay in that world, I like making those type of films.”
Reitman later let it slip that the budget for Justice League would have been $150 million.
Discuss: Would You have wanted to see a Jason Reitman directed Justice League movie? If not, who would be your dream director?
You’ve probably heard by now that a federal judge decided last week that Time Warner is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman. The court has ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel (of Siegel and Shuster) are entitled to a share of the US copyright to the character. The quick backstory goes like this: Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to Superman 70 years ago to Detective Comics for only $130. DC Comics has since given the creators each a $20,000-per-year annuity (later increased to $30,000). But then in 1997, Mrs. Siegel and her daughter served copyright termination notices which permits heirs to be able to recover rights to creations in certain situations (part of the 1976 Mickey Mouse copyright act). Compensation would be limited to any work created using the Superman character after their 1999 termination date.
And this gets a little more interesting because the Siegels don’t own copyright to the entire Superman universe, or to even the character of Superman, at least as you know him today. They only control the elements of the character/universe that were portrayed in Action Comics #1. Superman was really an early concept at that time and most of his powers, friends, enemies premiered in later editions. But Action Comics #1 contained mainly the following: the Superman name, the trademarked costume, Superman’s alter-ego Clark Kent and the character of Lois Lane are.
All is not over just yet. Warner Bros will appeal the court’s decision. But I honestly don’t see anyway the decision will be overturned.
So what does this mean for the movies? Well first off, Warner Bros probably owes the Siegel heirs a good chunk of change for Superman Returns. But the bigger news is that this might put both the Bryan Singer-helmed Superman sequel The Man of Steel and the already troubled Justice League of America in jeopardy. With the relatives of Siegel now officially part-owners of the character, who knows what the future may look like. It’s also possible that in 2013 the entire Superman copyright will be yanked out of Warner Bros’ hands completely, as Joe Shuster’s estate takes the other half.
source: NYTimes
If true, thank booze. Cinema Blend says they received an email from a reader who spotted future Flash Adam Brody at a bar in British Columbia. What a tip, eh? There’s more though. Brody, who was allegedly boozing it up with director George Miller, went on to rundown the cast for the newly/oddly titled Justice League Mortal. All of the names for the superhero team were the same names being reported in the press, with one exception: the reader says Brody told her that Jumper’s Hayden Christensen is now Superman. And then Brody apparently signed her napkin.
Bogus? Perhaps. Now, the role is rumored to be filled by relative unknown D.J. Corona, and prior to that, Scott Porter (Music and Lyrics) was also tipped. Maybe the Blend should request a photo of the napkin (”Dude, that’s Brody’s lightning bolt!”). As the site points out, is the JLM cast currently bar hopping up there for the helluva it? But Christensen would also make sense for the troubled Warner Bros. production, which is apparently scouting locations in Canada after being leaving Australia over a tax rebate disagreement. A more recognizable name would draw attention away from the damp buzz. More on this as it develops. And yeah, I agree, Christensen is not an ideal Supes.
Discuss: Have you ever run into Adam Brody at a bar? Hayden Christensen did a good nerd journo in Shattered Glass, but he also put many to sleep (permanently?) in those prequels. Thoughts? Is Justice League Mortal a silly title? Should they just go ahead and add Kombat? Have any of our Canadian readers seen Brody recently?
After countless delays (to some fanboys’ enjoyment), the Justice League of America 2009 tent pole from Australian director George Miller has hit another snag, a major one that has been months in the making. The production was just refused a tax rebate vital to filming down under by the Australian government. Miller is right angry…
“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking,” Miller told The Sydney Morning Herald. “If that’s going to be the final decision, they’re throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs. …It feels to me like I’m not fighting for this film. I’m fighting for the Australian film industry.”
The tax rebate was turned down because the powers that be think the film will be seen as All-American and not Australian upon release. What does this mean for the D.C. Comics dream team currently starring Megan Gale, Adam Brody and other unproven, fresh faces? Over at Action-Figure.com, a writer speculates that the suits want to move the film to Canada now, and goes so far to say that sources have told him Miller, who was key to getting the rebate, may be replaced along with the entire generally C-list cast. Wishful thinking or is Warner Bros. simply over it?
Casting announcements were supposed to be made more than a month ago, is Justice League delayed? Rumor has it that the start date has been pushed back from March to April/May or even possibly as late as July, this according to IESB. The site the studio’s concerns with the cast of unknowns as the main reason for the delay. But this sounds awfully strange to me.
I’ve also heard rumblings about production delays, but I’ve always gotten the impression it had more to do with the script (with the writers strike in full effect, rewrites are an impossibility). Who knows. One thing is for sure, a Justice League of America movie could be huge if done right. And by done right, bigger names need to be hired for these roles. I’m also not the only one hesitant with the age-range of the Teen Titan cast. Has Warner Bros not learned anything from Batman Begins?
Let’s forget everything we think we know about the Justice League film for a second and look at the facts: George Miller, the guy behind Mad Max and Babe, is attached to direct; the screenplay is from two unproven writers; Christian Bale and Brandon Routh are not in it; and as of today Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop is a lock to create the slew of iconic costumes for the 2010 tentpole. Knock, knock, it’s Adam Brody from The O.C. as the Flash. Get out Brody! You’re not a fact. You’re just “probably true”! Call me bonkers, but I’m not ready to trash this project yet, pretty no-name faces attached. Even with moderate expectations, I say some spectacular visuals from Miller’s vision the likes we haven’t seen before are guaranteed; and if they’re PG visuals, so be it.
Producer Barrie Osbourne (LOTR, Face/Off, The Water Horse) confirmed the involvement of the physical-effects arm of Weta to The Dominion Post and stated that Weta Digital might join the project at a later date.
“They are doing all the costumes and they’re doing a brilliant job. A lot of people thought it would be too hard, that you can only make those things in Hollywood.”
Osbourne also lent his full support to the project, saying…
“George Miller has a great take on the material, so it elevates it to something that’s not a comic-book movie,” he said.
Does Weta’s involvement in any way change your hopes for the first movie that will see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Aquaman together on screen?
A sequel to Superman Returns has been in limbo since the beginning. Warner Bros was unhappy with how the film performed, and fans were unhappy with the lack of action and unnecessary out-of-canon third act plot twist. But director Bryan Singer showed up at Comic Con expressing his desire to make a sequel that would give the fans what they wanted. Warner later announced that Superman: Man of Steel was given the official go-ahead, and a June 2009 release date was touted. Then Singer got distracted by the Tom Cruise WWII film, and a Justice League movie appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Variety’s Anne Thompson wrote a blog post last week which I quickly dismissed as an opinion piece. But I’ve since been told that the comments were more fact based than opinion. So here are Anne’s comments about the current state of the Superman sequel, Justice League and third Batman film:
“Speaking of DC Comics pics, it is highly unlikely that Bryan Singer will return to shoot the next Superman movie. (The director is finishing up Tom Cruise’s Nazi film Valkyrie, and prepping The Mayor of Castro Street). The next Superman we will see on the big screen will not be Brandon Routh, but a younger Superman among a cast of youthful superheroes in The Justice League. That movie will likely not be shot, however, until after the WGA strike is resolved. Warners is so happy with Dark Knight that their fondest hope is that Nolan will return to do another Batman.”
Warner appears to want to do a total reboot with the DC comic line-up, aside from their successful Batman franchise. So it sounds to me like Routh might also be out as Superman (ie read: MY SPECULATION, not Anne’s), which is a shame considering he didn’t do a bad job. Plus, why bring Singer’s extra baggage on for Justice and the sequel? It’s bad enough that they’ll have two Batmans to market.
And while I love Singer, and wish he would return for Man of Steel, I must admit it’s a smart move by the Warner execs to cast a new Superman for Justice League. They’re planning for a franchise. They want a young star who can take on a trilogy or two.
But Warner Bros doesn’t understand is that fans don’t want the teen titans. They don’t want more-cartoony. But this appears to be the direction they are heading towards. I’m convinced that fans want dark and edgy, real but tounge firmly in cheek, action packed but with a dramatic backbone. Why can’t the studios look back at how the former comic book movie franchises fell, and see that this is the wrong move to make? Maybe because while most everyone I’ve talked to hated Spider-Man 3, it is still the 12th highest grossing film of all time. And with statisics like that floating around, executives are likely to believe that fans want things like multiple villains and corny dance sequences in Jazz clubs.
And it’s a shame because I think Singer could have made an incredible Superman sequel if he was given the space. But that film, we might never ever see.
Over the weekend we got a ton of emails from readers who saw I Am Legend. You see, during the opening sequence in an abandoned Time Square, a huge billboard is visible advertising a Batman vs. Superman feature film which will hit theaters on 05-15-10. Fans have started to speculate that this could be the Justice League movie. As we’ve told you before, director George Miller recently announced that the Justice League film was still on the fast track, but would be released under a new title. And rumor has it that a fight between The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel is a main focal point of the Justice League script.
But don’t get too excited, producers are saying that the poster in the movie is a completely fictional creation. The sight gag was an addition to the film by screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman, who was originally attached to a Superman vs. Batman screenplay that never got produced. So calm down - there isn’t going to be a Batman vs. Superman movie just yet. A very cool easter egg indeed.
photo: Tuna
Knocked Up and The Rules of Attraction star Jay Baruchel sat down with Le Journal de Montreal and revealed that he has been cast in an ultra secret big budget project for Warner Bros. ObsessedWithFilm provides the following translation:
“He’s been chosen by Warner to star in the next big fantasy action film, scheduled for 2010. The highest budgeted project produced by the Burbank studio, a secret for the moment.”
The Justice League of America movie is one of the few movies Warner Bros is currently prepping that might fit this broad description. But the big screen live-action adaptation of Justice League is currently scheduled to hit theaters in 2009. Or could the writers strike have pushed it back? I also can’t imagine Baruchel playing any of the established JLA superheros.
TriggerStreet is reporting that Baruchel walked from his contract with DreamWorks (She’s Out of My League) to play a Villain in the JLA adaptation. Maybe Baruchel could play Maxwell Lord, a shrewd and powerful businessman turned villain. But does Baruchel really look like the villain type?
But if not Justice League, then what? Other possibilities include:
- Superman: Man of Steel
- Thundercats
- SuperMax (the Green Aroow prison break movie)
- Oz (a revisionist take on The Wizard of Oz)
- The Clash of the Titans remake
- 2012: The War for Souls
So let the speculation begin…
Last month we reported that O.C. star Adam Brody was rumored to be cast as Wally West aka The Flash in George Miller’s Justice League of America movie. Today the Los Angeles Times, who actually mentions/references SlashFilm.com, has confirmed the rumors, reporting that Brody has closed negotiations for the role. However, Warner Bros is still keeping mum. Apparently the studio wants to hold off on any announcements until all the roles are cast.
Justice League supposedly begins with the funeral of Barry Allen, the second Flash (1956-1986). His nephew (by marriage) Wally West was exposed to electrically charged chemicals at ten years old when he was visiting his uncle’s police laboratory. West donned a copy of his uncle’s outfit and became the young crime fighter named Kid Flash. After Barry Allen was killed, Wally took over as the fastest man alive. The Flash possesses “super-speed,” and superhuman reflexes which allow him to violate certain laws of physics. Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus helmer David Dobkin is signed on to direct a Flash feature film following production of Justice League.
