Batman or Superman? It’s a tough choice – would you rather be an interesting man with no super powers and a bat costume, or a dullard who can shoot lasers out of his eyes at will? Oh, the decisions!
If you’re seriously mulling this conundrum over, perhaps you should try and make some new friends. But the rest of you can get excited at the news that both Batman Begins and Superman Returns are due to get the sequel treatment fairly soon. Unless you don’t like superhero films. In which case – why are you even reading this?
Batman Begins is a film that reinvigorated the superhero movie
scene. Previously, baddies tried to kill superheros by doing things like tying them up
inside a great big cup and pouring tea on them, but Batman Begins got
rid of all the jokes and made everything very very serious and profound
indeed. And this summer, Superman Returns is set be a great big hit too
– mainly by people who just want to go and stare at Superman’s enormous willy.
And, if Variety is to believed, both Batman Begins and Superman
Returns have got sequels in the pipeline. The magazine noticed that
Warner Bros – the studio behind both movies – have both Christian Bale
(Batman) and Brandon Routh (Superman) in a contractual headlock, and
that both films were in the ‘planning’ stages.
However, Variety also reported that the directors of Batman Begins
and Superman Returns – Christopher Nolan and Bryan Singer – aren’t
signed up for anything yet. They may as well be, though: at a recent
comics convention, Singer told a crowd of fans that his brain is a mess
of Superman sequel thoughts, "like my ideas for X-Men 3," whatever that
means. He could be being a touch premature, though – Superman Returns
isn’t even out until June, and it might flop on its arse – killing any
sequel thoughts anyone might have had.
The Batman sequel, on the other hand, looks a little more certain.
Batman Begins was the eighth-biggest film of 2005, and that rare beast
– a critically-lauded summer blockbuster. While Christopher Nolan
hasn’t confirmed the directing post, his brother Jonah is down for
scriptwriting duties – so it’s almost a given.
All being well, the Batman sequel will hit screens in 2008, while
the Superman sequel will be released in 2009. Still thinking whether
you’d be Batman or Superman? Yeah, us too. We hate ourselves sometimes.
Read more:
Superman, Batman Sequelize? – E! Online
[story by Stuart Heritage]