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'Superman Returns' at 20: Is it a sequel? Is it a reboot? Two decades on, we're still not sure
Brandon Routh's only outing in the cape is more than just a love letter to Richard Donner's classic original movie.
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It's a contested field, but John Williams' majestic "Superman" theme is up there with the best the composer's ever written. Almost five decades on, that stirring orchestral march remains synonymous with Krypton's most famous son, still more than capable of making grown men want to run out of telephone boxes (remember those?) while ripping their shirts open.
It's perhaps not surprising, then, that Bryan Singer couldn't imagine using any other music when signed up to direct "Superman Returns", which celebrates its 20th anniversary this weekend.
"From day one, Bryan said he wouldn't even greenlight the movie if he couldn't use the John Williams music," composer John Ottman told IGN at the time of release. "That's how important it was to Bryan. I had moments of wanting to evolve the theme a little bit and alter it slightly, but Bryan was against any modifications at all, even down to the last flute flourish."
But the filmmaker's devotion to Richard Donner's classic 1978 "Superman: The Movie" (still undoubtedly the best "Superman" movie) stretched way beyond replicating that famous score — a homage James Gunn repeated in his own Man of Steel reboot last year. Because, for better and worse, "Superman Returns" is an unashamed love letter to the film that made us believe a man could fly all those years ago.
"Smallville" may have been flying high on TV, but the early '00s had hardly soared for DC on the big screen. The success of "Blade", "X-Men" (also directed by Singer), and "Spider-Man" had turned Marvel into Hollywood's pre-eminent source of comic-book blockbusters, and the Distinguished Competition was playing catch-up.
They were also licking their wounds following infamous stinkers "Batman & Robin" (1997) and "Catwoman" (2004), and the DC renaissance wouldn't truly begin until Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed "Batman Begins" in 2005.
There had been attempts to bring Supes back to theaters for the first time since 1987's disastrous "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace". Tim Burton, who'd directed the ridiculously successful 1989 "Batman" reboot, was attached to "Superman Lives" in the '90s, while "Das Boot"/"Air Force One" helmer Wolfgang Petersen spent several years developing a standalone "Batman v Superman" movie, working from a screenplay by "Seven" writer Andrew Kevin Walker.
Then Brett Ratner was all set to direct "Superman: Flyby", scripted by a certain JJ Abrams, until he left the project in March 2003, citing difficulties casting the lead role — not to mention his desire to make "Rush Hour 3" — as reasons for his departure. "Charlie's Angels" director McG briefly picked up the cape, but by July 2024, Warner Bros had handed the Fortress of Solitude keys to Singer. Singer subsequently departed the X-Men threequel, which was ultimately directed — after a bizarre game of Hollywood musical chairs — by Ratner, before he made "Rush Hour 3".