This could be bad news for fans of overpriced, undercooked superhero franchises, but good news for people who prefer to see filmmakers attempt to fulfill their early promise: Bryan Singer is going to be making his next movie at the newly reborn United Artists (that place dies and comes back more than Jean Grey), and it’s not going to be Superman Returns II.
Singer is reteaming with Usual Suspects screenwriter Chris McQuarrie for an original thriller set in WWII. Like Usual Suspects, it’s going to have a big cast. Beyond that everything is hush hush. But it’s Singer, who made an early splash with some interesting movies before getting sidetracked into a career aimed at earning him a spot in Comic Con’s Walk of Shame, signing fanboy autographs for twenty bucks a head.
"This was something Chris showed me late last year, and we worked on it quietly during the holidays," Singer told Daily Variety. "We brought it to UA and it was nice one-stop shopping. We decided it was the right place to make this movie, as opposed to shopping it around. It’s a period in history that has always fascinated me, and we found a very interesting story that materialized into a pretty wonderful script."
I’ve been so disappointed seeing Singer turn into a strict big budget action director, especially as he’s not particularly skilled at that. I cheered when Logan’s Run fell apart, not because I don’t want to see it remade but because I wanted Singer to take on his long-planned Harvey Milk biopic. This film, which is going to be modestly budgeted in comparison to his bank-busting last movie, is going to push back the date on a Superman Returns sequel, and could be the beginning of a series of delays and cancellations that kill the project – or more accurately allow everyone involved to let the project die without stepping up and admitting how disappointing the first film was. (At the box office. Every time I write that the film disappointed I get some nutcase who steps in and insists that they liked the movie.)