Superman Returns

Superman Returns

Credits
Title:	Superman Returns
Director:	Bryan Singer
Writers:	Michael Dougherty; Dan Harris; Bryan Singer
Producers:	Gilbert Adler; William Fay; Stephen Jones; Chris Lee; Scott Mednick; Jon Peters; Bryan Singer; Thomas Tull
Composer:	John Ottman
Cinematography:	Newton Thomas Sigel
Editors:	Elliot Graham; John Ottman
Production
Distributed by:	Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures Bad Hat Harry Productions
Released:	June 28th, 2006
Rating:	PG-13
Running time:	154 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Budget:	$270,000,000 ^[1]
Gross:	$200,069,408 (US) ^[1] $391,081,192 (Worldwide)
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Superman Returns is an American feature film of the superhero fantasy genre. It is based on the character of Superman as seen in comic books published by DC Comics. The movie is a quasi-sequel to the original Superman film series starring the late Christopher Reeve. The film was directed by Bryan Singer with a script written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, based on a story treatment by Dougherty, Harris and Singer. It was produced by Warner Bros. in association with Legendary Pictures as well as Singer's production studio, Bad Hat Harry Productions. It was released theatrically in the United States on June 28th, 2006. The film stars Brandon Routh as the caped Kryptonian "Man of Steel" Superman with Kate Bosworth as his love interest, Lois Lane. Taking on the role of primary antagonist of the movie is Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Co-stars in the movie include James Marsden as Lois' love interest, Richard White, Parker Posey as Lex's gun moll, Kitty Kowalski, Frank Langella as Daily Planet managing editor Perry White, Sam Huntington as cub reporter and photographer Jimmy Olsen and Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent.

Plot[]

Actor	Role

Superman Returns is a soft remake of the Superman film series, but is also considered an "homage sequel", which is to say: It is not a direct sequel to the original film series starring Christopher Reeve, but carries with it many of the plot elements, character arcs and thematic structure of the original films. The most notable elements of this are in the performances of Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey, who both imbibe the spirit of the characters as originally portrayed by Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman.

As an homage sequel, Superman Returns continues from Superman: The Movie, and Superman II, but ignores the final two sequels, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

Superman Returns was adapted into comic book format by DC Comics in the Superman Returns: The Official Movie Adaptation graphic novel in 2006. A tie-in series, Superman Returns Prequel, was also released as a four-issue limited series.

Director Bryan Singer had been fresh off directing the first two installments in the X-Men film series, but decided to turn away from the franchise with its third installment, X-Men: The Last Stand, handing the directing chores over to Brett Ratner. However, he did bring X-Men alum James Marsden over with him. In the X-Men films, Marsden played the role of Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. In Superman Returns, he plays the role of Richard White.

Obviously, Marlon Brando did not have any direct involvement in this film. However, he does appear in the role of Jor-El courtesy of archival footage that had been filmed for hte original movies, but never made it into the theatrical releases. Marlon Brando died two year earlier on July 1st, 2004.

Actor Brandon Routh, who plays Superman, will go on to play another red and blue DC Comics character, though one of somewhat lesser renown than Superman. He will play Ray Palmer, aka The Atom, on episodes of the CW Network television series Arrow, before taking on a more leading role in the spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow.

At the time of production, there were in fact two live-action Superman projects that were in the public eye. While Brandon Routh was squeezing into his super-tight super-suit, Tom Welling was off on the CW Network as the small-screen version of Clark Kent on Smallville. When Superman Returns was released, Smallville had been on break in between seasons five and six of the show.

The scene where Superman saves Kitty Kowalski's runaway car is an homage to the cover from Action Comics #1, published in June, 1938. This was the first appearance of Superman.

A few years after the release of Superman Returns, Jimmy Olsen portrayer, Sam Huntington, will go on to take on a much hairier role in the Syfy series Being Human. One of the three main cast members of the show, Huntington will play a werewolf named Josh Levison.

Actor Jack Larson plays Bo the bartender in this film. This is likely a nod to the comic book character Bibbo Bibbowski, who is the owner of the Ace o' Clubs bar in Metropolis. Jack Larson is classically known for playing Jimmy Olsen in the Adventures of Superman television series from the 1950s.

Actress Noel Neill, who plays Gertrude Vanderworth in this film, is best known for playing Lois Lane in the Adventures of Superman television series from the 1950s. She was the second actress to play Lois on the series following Phyllis Coates, who played the role in season one only. Noel Neill also played Lois' mother, Ella Lane, in a special cameo appearance in Superman: The Movie in 1978. She was uncredited for her participation in this role.

Actress Raelee Hill, who plays a nurse in a hospital in this film, is also known for playing Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu on episodes of the science fiction television series Farscape. She appeared in twenty-two episodes of the show as well as the 2004 television movie, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

Superman Returns was released on DVD in Region 1 format in a single-disc widescreen edition and a two-disc special edition by Warner Home Video. The widescreen edition is in DVD-ROM format. It was released in North America on January 8th, 2008.^[2]

Superman Returns was included in the Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition set, which was packaged in a foil tin that includes the first four films from the original series. This collection was released on May 29th, 2007. ^[3]

The film has also been included in the Superman Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray collection, which is an eight-disc set released by Warner Bros. on June 7th, 2011. ^[4]

A Superman Returns video game was produced to coincide with the release of this film. It was produced by Electronic Arts and released in a multiplatform format on November 14th, 2006. The game incorporates audio samples of various characters from the film.

In addition to all of the characters featured in the film, the Superman Returns video game also features other characters from the greater Superman mythos who were not included in the movie such as Bizarro, voiced by John DiMaggio, Mongul, voiced by Todd Williams, Riot, voiced by Peter Lurie, Mister Mxyzptlk, voiced by Dwight Schultz, and Metallo, voiced by John Billingsley (the latter two actors are both veterans of the Star Trek television franchise).