Ashton Kutcher as Superman?
Kevin Spacey should be awesome
(AP) Superman is returning, and he's going to bust right through the screen.
Warner Bros. Pictures announced Thursday that the Man of Steel will be coming at you this summer. When Superman Returns opens June 30 in wide release, the film is also going to be shown on IMAX screens, with 20 minutes of the action converted into 3-D.
This will mark the first time ever that a live-action Hollywood feature has been shown in IMAX 3-D, perhaps a sign of things to come in the days of declining theater attendance. While Superman Returns can easily be considered one of the year's most anticipated movies, studios are probably figuring that any added incentives--better picture, bigger sound, cool glasses--can help.
IMAX Corp. will digitally remaster the long-awaited installment of the superhero's saga to bring it to the ginormous screen, no doubt to the delight of fanboys and -girls.
"The test scenes that have been converted into IMAX 3-D look, sound and feel absolutely amazing," Superman Returns director Bryan Singer said in a statement. "The magic of IMAX 3-D will envelop audiences in the story, enabling them to feel the emotion, drama and suspense in a completely new and unique way."
Moviegoers will be given some sort of visual onscreen cue when it's time to don their fancy specs.
"Today's announcement is a culmination of a great film, a great filmmaker, a great studio, and great technology--all working together to produce the most powerful and immersive cinematic experience available to moviegoers worldwide," IMAX cochairs and co-CEOs Richard Gelfond and Bradley Wechsler said in a statement laden with the promise of a grand cinematic event to come.
Revolutionary IMAX experience or no, hold-your-breath suspense has already been built into the 21st-century Superman experience, with a different actor donning the famous "S" insignia on the big screen for the first time in almost 20 years.
After a Rolodex's worth of names, including Nicolas Cage, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ashton Kutcher and Brendan Fraser, were floated for the title role, Singer decided on relative newcomer Brandon Routh, who to date only has one feature film--Karla, costarring Laura Prepon--under his big yellow belt.
Maybe Routh looked the cutest in the Clark Kent glasses.
The 26-year-old actor might need the strength of a locomotive to shoulder the hype that Superman Returns is generating. Warner Bros. has had the project in the works, in some form or another, for the past 10 years.
In 1998, it was Tim Burton who was going to plot Superman's flight plan. Then Brett Ratner came onboard, but subsequently left and become the man behind the mutant superheroes in X-Men: The Last Stand, which is due in May. Next Charlie's Angels director McG stepped in. And after he stepped out, along came X-Men director Bryan Singer.
This latest chapter in the story of Metropolis finds our hero returning to Earth after a mysterious absence, only to find that Lois Lane has moved on and evil nemeses abound. Kate Bosworth is on hand as Superman's sweetie and Kevin Spacey seems like a great choice to fill Lex Luther's smarmily nefarious shoes.