The Pitch: Superman Trilogy - Prologue

Ok, so I kind of want to more of my "The Pitch" articles, as people keep throwing interesting ideas at me or drawing me into arguments about how "they should totally make a Batman Who Laughs movie" (which is a terrible idea, just being clear). The problem is, The Pitch takes a long time to write and much of the information isn't really what I'm excited to write about. You've probably noticed that my last couple have been shorter and more conversational in tone, as I just had the one or two points to cover. To this end, I'm changing up how The Pitch works. Shorter articles, more of a focus on ideas and with an eye to talking about how the characters interact with the medium of film, rather than a full-on "this is how I would make a movie".

My first project is going to be taking a look at a troubled character, in terms of the film market, Superman. I've spoken about the issues with making a good Superman film in the past, more than once, and I really don't think it's as hard as the internet commentary would indicate, but there are certain hurdles that few really clear. It's not a matter of Superman being "too powerful", though the lack of credible threats to him is a factor. It's not a matter of repetition, but I'm kind of sick of Zod and Luthor as the only antagonists. It's not that the character is locked into the time in which he was created, though at least a nod towards the Gold and/or Silver age seems to work better. Superman is tricky because he is the progenitor, the original superhero, and the narrative and cultural baggage that comes with that can make the work so much harder.

What I don't get is that Superman has so many good stories, yet no one seems to be able to adapt them. Superman the Movie and Superman II have the excuse of comics being more serial at the time they were made, but many of the films that failed to make it to the screen seem intent to remake Superman II or focus on adapting The Death of Superman. For me, both of these stories, whilst good, don't front-load the most interesting things about Superman. As I've said before, the focus really needs to be more on "The Man of Tomorrow" than "The Man of Steel", what does Superman mean as opposed to what Superman can punch. 

So keep an eye out for a new version of The Pitch, coming soon, with a look at Superman and how I feel a film series may work for this character.