Singer Blames Marketing for Superman's B.O.
The Man of Steel's much-ballyhooed return to the big screen would've made more money if the marketing had been done right, the director claims.
Superman Returns director Brian Singer blames Warner Bros. marketing for mishandling his film and dampening its domestic box office return. Although the film is doing very well internationally and should do well in DVD sales, it fell off the top 10 in this, its fifth week of release and will likely fall short of grossing $200 million.
Newsarama interviewed Singer at the recent San Diego Comic-Con and asked the tough questions:
"In my personal estimation I felt it was an issue with the marketing," Singer said. "You've got a dense summer and you're resurrecting a character. There's a different kind of approach you've got to take when you bring in something new. Even though he's Superman and the character is ubiquitous, a Superman movie is a very new thing and it has to be presented in a new way. So a lot of that burden falls on the kind of presentation it is given."
Regarding the plot being essentially a rehash of Richard Donner's Superman 1978 film: "It takes you on the same journey that the original one did but as an adult which was quite intentional," Singer said. "Right down to him sinking in the water. It is not remaking the first one but I wanted to take the audience on the same kind of journey as the first one but with a mature guy who's going through a dilemma that wasn't in the first one. It's in the marketing. I don't know how to specifically qualify but it has to be understood how to present something that hasn't been around for a while. The last Superman, Superman IV, in its American release made 15 million dollars. It is still something new and it has to be launched on the flip side of the other movies of its ilk."
And then Newsarama asked a question that has bugged continuity fans:
NRAMA: After he gave up his powers in Superman II, Lois and Superman slept together. I'm going to assume that that's when he got her pregnant…
BS: Possibly.
NRAMA: Then he gives her the kiss, which made her forget that they even slept together. Was the pregnancy a mystery for her?
BS: I ignored that part. I just assumed she remembered sleeping with him.