Superman News from Comic-Con

Bryan Singer was at Comic-Con on Friday and here's the news:

He did NOT announce a sequel, as many expected. He did say he's in negotiation with Warner Bros. and expects there to be a sequel in 2009. He said he plans to go all "Wrath of Khan" in the film and that there will be much more action. He said he'll put Superman through the wringer with an alien foe. Quote: "There'll be plenty of crazy, scary sci-fi shit in the next one."

Singer also said NO extended edition (disappointing). He showed a gag reel (details here). He blamed the marketing department for the lower-than-expected box office (I do, too, and will be writing more about that). And he was joined by Richard Donner, director of the '70s Superman movie, who is re-cutting Superman II into the movie he wanted it to be.

(If you don't know the history of this, Donner actually shot both I and II at the same time, or at least he got 3/4s of II done -- but costs were crazy and by the time they finished I, Donner and the producers were no longer speaking. So they hired Richard Lester to finish II and most Superman fans find the movie not so great, me included. I am very much looking forward to a Richard Donner cut of the movie. It'll be out on DVD this fall, I think.)

Singer also talked about what was to have been the opening sequence of the move -- the Return to Krypton. They spent $10 million on this, but Bryan ultimately felt it didn't feel like a part of the same movie. If you were wondering why Superman is so weak at the beginning of the movie, when Martha finds him, it has to do with some green kryptonite he encountered on the voyage to Krypton. Apparently, he only has enough strength to say "home" and the spaceship brings him back to Earth.

Anyway, a mixed bag of news from Comic-Con.