SUBMITTED BY Typhon24
November 3, 2002 — From Variety:
And in August, Warner Bros. unplugged -- for the foreseeable future -- "Batman vs. Superman," a pic that had been greenlit for Wolfgang Petersen to direct, but didn't survive the departure of its champion, Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Warner Bros. topper Alan Horn found the story too dark and decided to proceed with a lighter, non-vs. "Superman" instead.
Moreover, as "Spider-Man" helmer Sam Raimi points out, any reinvented Batman or Superman would lack a history with an actor to humanize the character with whom audiences are familiar -- critical for the want-to-see factor. "I think you do need a relationship not just with the suit, but the man in the suit, because I really want to have expectations: Who is he? And, why is it so interesting that these two characters meet, vs. just the icons of heroes," Raimi says.
The thinking at Warner with respect to "vs." was to reintroduce familiar icons and then push ahead with new individual movies. Par vice chairman Rob Friedman notes that as "Thornberrys" skews about two years older in demographics, the result of that dual-toon movie, if successful, "will be that 2+2=5" at both the box office and in merchandising.
"Personally, I'd like to see "Jason vs. Batman," Raimi laughs. "I think New Line should swap with Warner Bros., and they should each give the other a villain for a hero. Call me old fashioned, but I don't want to see 'Sherlock Holmes vs. Watson.' I want to see the Good Guy vs. the Bad Guy, like a wrestling match, and think, 'I wonder if he can take him?'" |
