Legendary pictures had a page online stating that one of their moviesin development was “Superman Unleashed” with the following plot synopsis:

“Ramping up the action of its esteemed predecessor, the sequel to ‘Superman Returns’ promises to raise the stakes and take the audience to heights of action that no other superhero movie can achieve.”

This could just be a working title, but it looks like the ‘Man of Steel’ name given to the Returns sequel is now unlikely. The page with the information has since been removed.

Via /Film

Sorry to get you guys all excited but I have just gotten confirmation from two independent sources that the report was completely false. I don’t know if an interview with James McTeigue actually aired on RTL1 or not (I’m guessing not) but The Wachowski Brothers have definitely never had any talks with DC or Warner Bros to helm a Superman film. This is confirmed.

- McTeigue confirmed that Plastic Man was the next project in the pipeline for the Wachowski’s and he had been signed on to provide Second Unit support. Says the movie has been delayed indefinitely due to a major shake up of projects at WB.

- Bryan Singer has refused to undertake a re-boot of the Superman franchise and has left the Executives at WB with no choice but to take a fresh creative direction.

This is it.…

- He stated the Wachowski Brothers had been approached to re-boot the franchise as a trilogy and they are currently reviewing their options as its like being asked to take the final play in a superbowl final. Says if they do agree, he will likely either succumb to providing second unit support on the movie or will champion the directorship of Plastic Man — He started to giggle as he stated its like a young child for the Brothers and they wont give that up easily.

- Says, the very thought of the brothers making a superman movie is unbelievable as they have grown up in the world of comic books and they would be ideal for the project.

- Stated that Bryan Singer is looking to move on to Logan’s Run a movie to be produced by Joel Silver.

What do you think about a Superman movie helmed by the Wachowskis?

Jordan Hoffman: Bryan, I have to ask you…..The Man of Steel! Superman!

Bryan Singer: I couldn’t – I wish I had an answer.

JH: I’m strapping you to a lie detector right now.

BS: (laughs) Yeah?

JH: You feel that on your arm?

BS: Yeah, yeah.

JH: That’s me strapping a lie detector to you.

BS: Okay.

JH: Tell me something about Superman and you and your relationship together.

BS: I love Superman and I can not tell you anything else. I, uh……

JH: Would you like to tell me something else? But you simply can’t?

BS: I can’t, I….no-no I wish I could! Yeah! I wish I could, but there’s nothing I have to tell. I’ve got a world tour (laughs) press tour on Valkyrie, a premiere in New York, uh –

JH: But there is talk of a new film, though. Are you officially involved in this talk of the new film?

BS: I am not officially involved in the talk, no.

JH: But when talk happens they’ll call you.

BS: Well it’s, you know, I have relationships with Warner Brothers and with the character and, and, and, and it’s just the way things work out.

JH: But you are not divorced from Superman at this point.

BS: No.

JH: All right.

Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes — known as “Batman vs. Superman” — after the $215 million “Superman Returns,” which had disappointing box-office returns, didn’t please executives. “‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”

[…]

“Superman [Returns] didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” said Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”

[…]

Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

Fans have been clamoring all over the web–and on this blog–for a complete reboot. And within the halls of Warner Bros. the same debate rages on. They too believe that the last movie didn’t break the mold and wound up in some kind of middle limbo. Today I was told that it is a priority at the studio to find the right direction and if Bryan Singer is willing to do that, fine, but if he gets in the way, he may not stay on the project. There are no writers working on a Superman script now. The studio wants to figure it out. “It might be better to start from scratch,” one exec admitted.

We’ll keep you posted.

Would you prefer a Superman started from scratch?

“It’s just ‘Man of Steel’ now, I know, they’re busy writing a script and then I trust we’ll be starting next year, early next year. That’s my timeline anyway.”

Speaking of DC Comics pics, it is highly unlikely that Bryan Singer will return to shoot the next Superman movie. (The director is finishing up Tom Cruise’s Nazi film Valkyrie, and prepping The Mayor of Castro Street).

This is a rumor, and we need to wait for confirmation from studios that this is the case. For now we can hold our breath.

And for a seemingly double blow, Latino Review suggested for a moment that Brandon Routh would also be out. However, the ever faithful and reliable Aint it Cool News entered into the fray to get some reliable closure on the issue:

I just got off the phone with a very high-ranking mole who is absolutely in a position to know what’s happening with this film, and he tells me that it is “absolutely false” that Brandon Routh is out as Superman for the stand-alone series.

The only thing that has been determined is that JUSTICE LEAGUE will not feature the actors from the other films. That’s it.

Right now, Routh is still Warner’s choice to return if they make another stand-alone SUPERMAN film, and that’s based on conversations as recently as a few weeks ago.

Don’t believe this one, kids. Routh’s still the Man of Steel.

It seems like the whole crazy rumor originated through rumblings in the Justice League movie camp.

This [source] has personally observed Bryan Singer at work on VALKYRIE and apparently [Singer] has been putting pressure on one of his cast members to return to his star-making role as a villain in Singer’s SUPERMAN sequel.

That, of course, would be Terence Stamp, the role would be that of General Zod.

For some background reading on the Zod subject I recommend Wikipedia, which has summaries of Zod’s history and role within the Superman movie universe.

Once Military Director of the Kryptonian Space Center, Zod had known Jor-El, Superman’s father, when he was an aspiring scientist. When the space program was abolished after the destruction of the moon Wegthor (caused by renegade scientist Jax-Ur), he attempted to take over Krypton. Zod created an army of robotic duplicates of himself, all bearing a resemblance to Bizarro. He was sentenced to the Phantom Zone for his crimes.

“The Justice League of America has been a perennial favorite for generations of fans, and we believe their appeal to film audiences will be as strong and diverse as the characters themselves.”

And the second entitled “Justice League film gets script”.

Husband-wife writing duo Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney turned in a first draft that had Warner Bros. suits actually smiling

How would this filming schedule work in-between TDK and Man of Steel? Would the correct cast be present? These are the questions being asked. The IESB had a chance to talk to Christian Bale, he stated categorically that he was not involved in the adaptation and nor had he been approached. And later Moviehole confirmed that the WB are looking for an all new cast and that the movie was “full steam ahead” with casting starting immediately. They also mentioned an assigned director, George Miller (Happy Feet meets Mad Max).

All this seemed a little confusing until the final and fitting piece of the puzzle unearthed, how this could be possible without dismaying fans and whilst aiming for an early 2008 production schedule. The IESB have a number of somewhat reliable sources stating that the JLA movie shall in fact be a CGI/Motion Capture film (e.g. similar to The Polar Express or more recently Beowulf). This still needs some closure but it all makes perfect sense. These films traditionally take slightly longer to create so we could see a late 2009, summer 2010 release.