MAN OF STEEL will determine if a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie is made or not

Y’know, I have this idea that making movies these days might be expensive. Maybe it’s the high profile actors, the insurance forms that need to be filled out for various stuntmen or the hundreds of millions of dollars that happen to be mentioned in the film budget report, but something tells me that this business ain’t cheap.

Take Man of Steel for instance. That’sa  movie with a budget of over $250 million. And even that will most likely pale in comparison to how much it would cost to bring Superman and friends to the big screen in a Justice League movie. And that’s a burden that will rest on the box office shoulders of the man of steel.

Speaking to Variety, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara and president Jeff Robinov mentioned that the performance of the last son of Krypton would have a direct impact on the momentum of the proposed Justice League film;

“Further out, the studio’s planning a “Justice League” tentpole — encompassing DC Comics mainstays Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and the Green Lantern — on the order of Marvel’s “The Avengers.” Will Beall is scripting but no director has been attached yet.

Stakes are high for “Man of Steel.” Other than Nolan’s Batpics, Warners has not been able to effectively exploit the DC library. Its 2011 “Green Lantern” underperformed, and a “Justice League” film wouldn’t likely be in theaters before 2015, as Warner’s top brass has indicated that they are awaiting the results of “Man of Steel,” which opens June 14, before moving further ahead.

It’s been a rocky road for DC Comics based films in recent years. Here’s a look at the numbers that they’ve generated in the last couple of years;

• Batman Begins – $374 million
• The Dark Knight – $1 billion
• The Dark Knight Rises – $1.08 billion
• Superman Returns – $391 million
• Green Lantern – $219 million

Now, bearing in mind, most of these films had budgets of $150-$270 million, and usually, they’re expected to double those budgets in order to be considered a box office success. So that left movies such as Superman Returns and Green Lantern under-performing technically, against expectation.

But they’re also crap films, so screw them, that’s to be expected. Still Man of Steel is looking solid so far, and it might just be puffing on a billion dollar note when it arrives later this year, thanks to that realistic script from David Goyer.

Last Updated: January 29, 2013