The world of visual media might have blown up with a major hurricane of content both on the big and small screens, but the quality is something that only a few could achieve like the old times. One such example is Christopher Nolan, the brains behind The Dark Knight trilogy, which is considered by many as one of the most exceptional depictions of Batman in history.
Not only did all three films receive critical praise and admiration from the audience, but the combined box office collection was also absolutely phenomenal for any DC film at the time. Although, taking a step back to the year after Batman Begins’ release, another film took over the box office from it, even when it was considered a commercial disaster.
Superman Returns Beat Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins At The Box Office!
Revered as one of the greatest directors of all time for his absolutely masterful creations of cinema, Christopher Nolan certainly lives up to this reputation by delivering on it and then some. Thus, when he created an entirely new iteration of the caped crusader of Gotham City, people were beyond impressed by his efforts, which made the subsequent films both a commercial and critical success. Still, it’s surprising to learn that Superman Returns, a film that was canceled due to poor box office performance, out-earned the 2005 superhit.
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The film came out in 2006 and saw Brandon Routh as the face of the omnipotent superhero from Krypton. The film was a successor to 1987’s Superman IV and was targeted as the official comeback of the Kryptonian to Earth after five years in space. With the success of past films, Warner Bros. believed that this movie would become the box office conqueror that they were waiting for.
And while the film did gross a collection of $391.1 Million, it wasn’t satisfactory enough for the production company to invest any more resources into the series, which lead to the cancelation of its pre-planned sequel, and thus, the entire franchise. While on the other hand, Batman Begins, a film that earned $373 Million, was given the green light to continue.
The main reason for this was the presumption from WB that due to the film being a new take on Batman in very grounded scenarios of adversity, not many people would be interested in watching it. And although the box office was still on the lower side in comparison, it was exceptionally more than the company had predicted earlier, and the rest is history.
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What Went Wrong With Superman Returns?
The only thing that stopped the continuation of Brandon Routh’s reign as the Man Of Steel, apart from the relatively unimpressive box office collection, was its lack of appeal to the broader audience. Seeing as Superman IV was released all the way back in 1987, the film tried desperately to connect itself to that film, which meant relying on the nostalgia of the movies of Christopher Reeve as the symbol of hope. This led to new fans and audience members feeling left out and disoriented.
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Superman Returns, streaming on HBO Max.
Source: IMDb
