Mark Millar is becoming a real Hollywood insider these days, a Frank Miller in training. He dropped quite an intriguing bombshell to Scotland's Daily Record -- claiming that there's a Superman movie revamp on the way. While some of his claims could be dismissed as wishful thinking by a man who merely wants to fulfill his Kryptonian dreams, he's certainly talking it out with someone. Says Millar, "I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think. The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost 200 million, but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it. Sadly I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas. But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime's dream."

Now, this flies directly in the face of Bryan Singer confirming he was attached to the sequel. But there's been a peculiar lack of progress with it. He's obviously busy with Valkyrie, but when you look at how quickly the Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises are moving, well, someone's not moving faster than a speeding bullet anymore. Could Warner Bros really be open to rebooting the franchise? The parallels between Ang Lee's Hulk and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns are striking, and I can honestly see the studio choosing a similarly clean slate. But they would be ditching a pretty expensive investment in Returns, and creating quite a controversy in the process.
Far more people loved Superman Returns than Hulk, and Singer commands a lot of geek cred.

When two movies with similar plots hit theaters around the same time, it usually just reveals the vapidity of Hollywood formula (as was the case when Deep Impact and Armageddon came out a few months apart). The situation changes, however, when the subject matter has far more thematic weight. Defamer's S.T. VanAirsdale points out the potential conflict brewing now that The Weinstein Company has picked up U.S. theatrical, DVD and television rights to the 2004 German film Operation Valykrie, a dramatization of the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hilter during World War II. Sound familiar? That's because Bryan Singer's upcoming 2009 release, Valkyrie, tells precisely the same story, with Tom Cruise in the role of would-be assassin Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg. In the German movie, the character is played by Sebastian Koch, the debonair star of The Lives of Others and Paul Verhoeven's Black Book.

In addition to the overlapping content, VanAirsdale points out another potential conflict: Koch's female co-star in Black Book, the alluring Carice van Houten, stars opposite Cruise in Valkyrie, creating the sort of meaty overlap that money can buy. Harvey Weinstein's no slouch when it comes to instigating controversy, but his company hasn't exactly had the best of luck with its recent daring titles (few turned out for Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?). Personal drama has impacted Cruise's films before, but this might be the rare case where he would have nothing to do with it.

What in the world is going on now? Valkyrie (recently criticized by Fox's Roger Friedman, who said the film "is set up for not only failure, but ridicule") has just shifted release dates yet again (according to The Hollywood Reporter); this time moving from October 2008 to President's Day Weekend 2009. You might remember that the flick was originally supposed to hit theaters this June, before the first release date shift was made. Some claimed MGM and United Artists were moving the film to the fall in order to line up for possible Oscar consideration. Could all of this early negative talk have convinced them to, instead, target one of the first big holiday weekends of 2009?

Seems like a pretty good decision to me. With everyone trashing Tom Cruise for his non-existent German accent and silly eye patch, there was pretty much no way this film was going to be taken seriously come Oscar time. The cast definitely rocks -- no doubt there -- but if Lions for Lambs proved anything, it's that you should not release a Tom Cruise film in the middle of Oscar season unless it's Thanksgiving Weekend and we're talking Mission Impossible 4. Valkyrie will now go up against a new Friday the 13th film and Confessions of a Shopaholic. Clark Woods, president of domestic distribution, had this to say: "When an opening became available for President's Day Weekend, we seized the opportunity. Moving into a big holiday weekend is the right move."

Let's hope there's still a right move to be made...

So we all know that Tom Cruise jokes are getting a little old, but you can't deny it's been fascinating to watch one of the most powerful guys in movies have a "freak out" and be forced to watch all his star-worship fade away. According to Fox News' Roger Friedman, it's not looking good for Bryan Singer's historical drama, Valkyrie. According to Friedman, "Valkyrie is a set up for not only failure, but ridicule." Friedman goes on to take shots at Cruise's attempts at a German accent and even Singer and Christopher McQuarrie's dialog gets a few (dis) honorable mentions. Although, to be fair, I wouldn't count on a gossip reporter from Fox to be the final word on film criticism.

Friedman joins the chorus of critics who think that Valkyrie will not only fail to improve Cruise's current Hollywood standing, but that it will further add another nail to his box office coffin. Cruise still has a few more chances to pull himself out of this mess: First up will be a cameo in Tropic Thunder, then it's on to a full-on attempt at comedy with director Todd Phillips (Old School) in Men, and finally Cruise is expected to star alongside Ben Stiller in the buddy comedy, The Hardy Men (which I personally think has some potential). Who knows? Maybe he will finally be making people laugh at him on purpose. Valkyrie arrives in theaters on October 3rd.

[via Film Drunk]

Holy "Where the hell did this one come from" Batman! In a last ditch effort to win back fans, Warner Bros. has apparently convinced both Christian Bale and Brandon Routh to reprise the roles of Batman and Superman for their upcoming live-action Justice League of America film (currently titled Justice League Mortal). A press release just sent to Cinematical comes with this hilarious quote from a studio rep: "Brandon wasn't too hard to convince; he half-jokingly told us he's dreamt about this opportunity every night for the past several months."

Both men have signed a three-picture deal, which means Warners has plans to extend Justice League beyond the initial film, due out in 2009. Currently, there's no word on whether Armie Hammer (the actor supposed to play Batman) will still appear in some capacity, be it as a younger version of Batman or as a random extra in a background shot. On why he ultimately decided to take the role when there's a good chance it could confuse fans and screw up Nolan's franchise, Bale said, "I don't see me taking on this role getting in the way of anything, aside from someone else's paycheck. The script is awesome. Batman is awesome. Brendon and I look forward to taking this one to the next level."

Sounds like the studio is finally getting serious about this film, bringing on two actors with established fanbases -- guys they know will bolster the flick's box office. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, like what happens to Bryan Singer's The Man of Steel now and will Chris Nolan even go ahead with a third Batman film with Bale doing JLA? Well, one thing is for sure: This whole project just got a lot more interesting ...

For more, check out the entire press release over here.

So for starters, the newest photos from Valkyrie manage to make Tom Cruise look a lot more dashing. Good thing, too, because the only other photo release prompted a flurry of cheap shots aimed at everybody's favorite tabloid whipping boy. Empire now has three new studio stills from Bryan Singer's historical drama about the infamous July 20th plot to assassinate Hitler. Joining Cruise are Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard and Terrence Stamp. There are also some extra shots in the newsstand edition of Empire this month, along with an interview with Singer.

Cruise stars as German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. In 1944, Stauffenberg along with other high-ranking officers in the Nazi party attempted to assassinate Adolph Hitler. Stauffenberg and his crew attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb planted in a briefcase. Obviously they failed, and the key players were rounded up almost immediately. By 1945, most of the men involved had committed suicide or had been executed in a variety of nasty ways.

Last Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the estate of Jerome Siegel was entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to all things Superman. Siegel created the character with his partner Joseph Shuster in the 1930's before selling the copyright to Detective Comics (which later became DC Comics, now owned by Time Warner) for a whopping $130. Siegel has been fighting to reclaim a portion of the copyright basically ever since, though all he ever won was a $30,000 annuity that stopped in 1999. Now, 11 years after his death, it looks like he's been vindicated, pending an appeal by Time Warner. You can find more details in this New York Times article.

No one seems sure about what specific implications this will have, and I'm no expert on copyright law, but everyone seems to agree on two things: 1) Time Warner may owe the Siegel estate a lot of money from use of the character since 1999, and 2) this may have thrown at least a temporary wrench into Warner's plans for a follow-up to Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Ordinarily, news that legal squabbling is holding up production on a favorite franchise would lead to a lot of cursing from fans who are shocked -- shocked! -- that money and greed would stand in the way of filmmaking. But this time it's a "little guy" who's causing all the trouble, not a faceless corporation, and it seems churlish to complain.

My prediction: Time Warner will pay the Siegels off. There's too much money in Superman for something like this to halt the assembly line for very long.

Rumors have been flying today that Bryan Singer is indeed working on the sequel to Superman Returns. Well, it is not just rumor -- Singer himself confirmed it to Empire. "Yes, I'm just getting back with writers after the strike. We're just in the development phase. I'm starting to develop a sequel . . .with the intention of directing it." He lashes out at claims that first film was a flop, pointing out that it made $400 million.

If you're thinking "It wasn't a flop financially, Singer, it was a flop because no one liked it," well, he addresses that too. He promises the next one will up the stakes. "The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film. I'll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset. And now that the characters are established, there's really an opportunity to up the threat levels . . .Clearly there'll be a body count. From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror! All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon [Routh]? Well, I'm going to wake them up!"

My problem is that I didn't find it nostalgic or romantic, I just found it rather dull. I stopped believing a man could fly, and wondered instead why James Marsden was always losing his girls to men of steel and adamantium. All the pieces were there for a fantastic reboot, a film that could reintroduce Superman to a new audience, but it simply fell flat. I do believe Singer has it in him -- and he does tend to be better with superhero sequels than his originals. So I will forgive and forget, and happily await the next installment.

Slashfilm now has the first on-set photos from Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk. As we all know, Bryan Singer's competing Milk film, The Mayor of Castor Street, has been parked in development hell. Now it looks like Van Sant's film will be the first Hollywood life-story of the legendary mayor of San Francisco, so get ready for a little stroll down memory lane since most of these photos are of the local spots in the area being given a 1970's makeover.

For those of you not familiar with Milk's legacy, he was, "an American politician and gay rights activist, was the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California, and therefore, according to Time magazine, 'the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet.'" The perpetually dour Sean Penn will play Milk, and most gossip had Matt Damon in the role of Milk's murderer and co-worker, Dan White. Now it's looking like Josh Brolin will step in. Other cast members include Emile Hirsch, James Franco, and Diego Luna

While most of the focus had been on whether Penn could pull off the congenial and upbeat Milk, I have to admit I'm a little nervous on the directing end of things as well. As much as I respect Van Sant, I wonder whether he is willing to make a more 'conventional' biopic. It might be the only way to introduce as many people as possible to this invaluable figure in gay rights, rather than alienating them with something a little more along the lines of Last Days. Milk is set to open in theaters later this year.

Last week, a minuscule comment from Anne Thompson led to Latino Review bursting out with a scoop they claimed was true -- that Warner Bros. would not be inviting Brandon Routh back to star in the next solo Superman flick, currently titled The Man of Steel. In her article, Thompson claimed that Bryan Singer would most likely not direct the film since he was too busy working on other projects, and that the next time we see the Superman character he would be part of the much-hyped Justice League of America.

Cue AICN flying in to the rescue. According to the site, a "very high-ranking mole who is absolutely in a position to know what's happening with this film" said that whole Brandon Routh rumor was "absolutely false." That as of right now, Warner Bros. still wants Routh to return to the role, if and when another solo flick gets up and running. AICN tells us this is based on conversations as recent as a few weeks ago. One thing that's not mentioned, however, is whether Singer would return as director. Valkyrie is all but wrapped, and The Mayor of Castro Street shouldn't take that long to piece together. So if they plan to shoot this Superman film in, say, 2009 (for a summer 2010 release), then I don't see a problem with Singer making that schedule. Then again, perhaps the studio would rather someone else come in and take the reigns.

Me? I don't care ... so long as Routh wears less make-up and bulks up a little more. I want the manly man version of Supes this time, not the teenage girl version. You?