Superhero movies have been around since the 1940s, but it wasn’t until 2000’s X-Men that the genre started to prove itself worthy of being invested in. Studios were still very apprehensive about producing superhero movies, as they were a foreign concept to casual moviegoing audiences. That being said, even when studios did release movies, they had reservations about some creative decisions that were made and decided to either remove them or add to them. More often than not, studio interference has proven to be destructive, and taints the director’s name, as the director is the one who puts their reputation on the line when they release a movie. Have a look at 7 superhero movies (in no particular order) that suffered because of studio interference.
1. Superman 3
Studio interference isn’t something that’s unique to 21st Century movies. It has happened a lot in the past, and one of the best examples given is Warner Bros.’ Superman 3. The story behind the failures of Superman 3 starts all the way back in Superman: The Movie. Richard Donner, the director of Superman and Superman 2, had a lot of trouble and disagreements with the Salkinds; producers who had purchased the film rights of the Superman character in 1974. While filming Superman (1978), tensions rose between Richard Donner and the Salkinds, and Donner walked away from production before Superman 2 had wrapped up filming. Only 75% of it was complete. The production budget and schedule were among the many problems Donner and the Salkinds had, with Donner stating that he was never given a budget. Things had gotten so bad between them that Richard Lester was brought along to be an associate producer and an intermediary between Donner and the Salkinds, as they were no longer speaking to each other. A prior problem between Lester and the Salkinds was resolved by giving Lester the position of second unit director. Richard Donner wasn’t the only one who had problems with the producers. Marlon Brando had a falling out with them as well, as he was not paid the money that he was promised for his performance as Jor-El until legal actions were taken, and his scenes were even cut from Superman 2. Donner disagreed with the decision to remove Jor-El from the movie. There was a point in which Donner was unavailable for the European promotional campaign for Superman, and the Salkinds hired a temporary director to take the helms. Eventually, Donner was replaced altogether by Richard Lester, when about 75% of Superman 2 was done. It happened so suddenly, and some of the cast and crew were not happy about it, and openly expressed their disgust. In order to get credit as director, Lester re-shot most of the movie. Gene Hackman, who portrayed Lex Luthor, declined to appear for reshoots due to the Donner incident. Lester also undid Donner’s signature style for the movie and replaced it with his own, in the scenes that he added. Christopher Reeve also had reservations about the new script after Donner left, and demanded more artistic control. Lester also caused tensions with the actors due to his filming style, as he used three cameras, and the actors didn’t know which camera was getting them in their close-up scenes. These problems all led to the cast being disgruntled with the new direction the production of the Superman movies was going in, and Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) and Gene Hackman made their opinions heard. This led to Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane having a minimal presence in Superman 3 and Lex Luthor being completely absent from it and replaced by a business mogul who hates Superman and wants to destroy him. The addition of a new villain for the movie and the absence of Lois Lane were two of the biggest complaints that people had about Superman 3, aside from the campy humour and directing style used by Lester. Richard Pryor’s casting was also among the problems, as it is said that Lester wanted a lot of humour and Pryor was a good fit for it. His performances was panned by critics.
2. X-Men: The Last Stand
Building up from the critical success and overall impact of X2 was already a challenge on its own, and it is wise to let one person oversee the continuation of a story that was left on a cliff-hanger because that individual’s vision is the only one that could pay off everything that had been previously set up. This was a lesson that 20th Century Fox’s executives had not yet learned. Bryan Singer directed both X-Men and X2, and both movies were hits, with X2 becoming one of the best superhero movies of all time at that point. The time had come for X3 to enter production and continue the story, and Bryan Singer needed enough time to put together a script that would match the quality that the previous instalments had shown, and he was not given enough time to compile a good enough script, which led to him working on Superman Returns and taking Cyclops actor James Marsden with him. Cyclops (at least, according to fan speculation and the comic on which the movie was based on) would have been the main character of the movie. After going through a list of directors, who each left for different reasons, which included the tight production schedule, the studio finally settled with Brett Ratner, who made the Rush Hour movies, and was known for his fast production. At the point in which they had secured Ratner, the movie was already over a year behind production and the release date had already been set. Ratner was hired in 2005 and the release date had already been announced. Two scripts were worked on for the movie, and the two writers joined forces. Their script accidentally leaked and received a negative review. The studio did not want the Dark Phoenix storyline. They wanted only the storyline involving the cure, which led to Jean Grey not having much to do in the movie. They also deemed the Dark Phoenix story to be too dark for a superhero summer blockbuster. The studio also stated that Cyclops should be killed off due to James Marsden being in Superman Returns. The studio called for Charles Xavier to be killed off as well. Since X-Men: Origins was being worked on at the time, the studio prohibited Gambit’s appearance as well, and opted to leave Nightcrawler out, stating that he would be too similar to Beast. With two main characters dead and other fan favourites being removed, as well as a rushed story that was almost inconsistent with what was set up before, X-Men: The Last Stand left a lot to be desired.
3. Spider-Man 3
It seems that third time’s not the charm when it comes to a lot of these superhero sagas. Although it was the most commercially successful movie in the trilogy, Spider-Man 3 is universally agreed on to be the worst of the three. It is not a bad movie, but it doesn’t match the quality of the first two. Sam Raimi had a story in mind for the third installment of the trilogy, and he wanted to make it a movie about forgiveness, and learning that not all bad guys are pure evil, that they have good in them as well. Raimi included Harry Osborn and Sandman as villains, and wanted the Vulture as the third villain. Avi Arad, a producer, convinced Raimi to add Venom. It has been reported that Raimi didn’t want to include Venom because he didn’t know the character very well, nor did he like him. Avi countered with the fact that Raimi was only putting his personal favourite villains in the movies, and not something that the fans wanted, and so Raimi included Venom in order to please the fans. The producers also made Raimi include Gwen Stacy, a classic love interest of Peter’s in the comics, and perhaps the only one who could compete (and win) against Mary-Jane for Peter’s affection. The script had become too crowded and complex, but there was no way around it, and the movie suffered because of it.
4. Iron Man 2
Not many people talk about this movie, but it is historic in its own way. This was the first movie produced by Marvel Studios under Disney, and as such, did come with a lot of restrictions, as it was the first project by Disney, and everyone knows that the House of Mouse makes sure it delivers things everyone can enjoy. That was what the goal was with Iron Man 2. Jon Favreau broke new grounds with Iron Man (2008), as it was a hit and showed a different kind of superhero story; one in which we as the audience end up rooting for a character that we shouldn’t root for. There was also groundwork laid out for a larger interconnected universe of Marvel Comics characters in the first movie. Although there was set up for such, Favreau wanted to go for a more grounded, personal story for the sequel, which would deal with mature themes like alcoholism, and adapt arguably Iron Man’s best comic book story ever. It would show how alcohol was destroying Stark’s life, and the movie would showcase the two villains: Whiplash and Justin Hammer. The top executives at Disney did not like the idea of putting alcoholism front and centre, so they had the movie’s tone lightened, and made the story more grandiose than originally planned, with SHIELD being very prominent in the movie, as well as having the movie set up future instalments which focus on the other characters of the cinematic universe. The movie became crowded and was juggling too much at the same time. It ended up being commercially successful, but lacking in impact that the first one had.
5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Very few movies come to mind as often as Batman V Superman when talking about studio interference. The second instalment in the Worlds of DC (commonly referred to as the DCEU), was met with mixed to negative reviews when released in theatres. Already, the cinematic universe was in trouble. The consensus was that the story was muddled, crowded, and the character motivations were weak and barely explained. The character development was criticised as well, and the overall tone of the movie was seen as too dark. Most of these complaints are attributed to one thing: the studio cut the movie’s runtime and removed a number of important scenes. There are several scenes which are included in the ‘Ultimate Cut’ which are important to the story, which did not make it to the theatrical cut. The studio executives reportedly felt that the original movie was too long and needed to be trimmed down for a theatrical release. While the consensus among the viewers is that the Ultimate Cut is a good, solid movie, there has been no word from critics about the quality of the movie, and we are only left with their view of the theatrical release.
6. Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad was a very interesting take on the superhero genre. And this was because it wasn’t about superheroes at all. It was about supervillains and anti-heroes teaming up to save the world! Unfortunately, what should have been a simple concept became a very difficult project. David Ayer, director of Fury (2014), which was a similar movie to what a Suicide Squad movie was supposed to be like, was brought on board to helm the movie. He wrote the script in just six weeks and it was accepted. It can be argued that one of the reasons for such was that the release date for the movie had already been announced. Problems arose when reception to Batman V Superman was not as positive as the studio had hoped for, and WB started working on a different ‘cut’ of the movie. Ayer had a more somber version of the movie, and WB had a brighter, crazy, effects-driven version. Both versions were tested with audiences and the WB version won out. The studio’s version also introduced a lot of characters. There was also talk of finding common grounds between the two versions, and it had been reported that although it all seemed fine on the surface, Ayer had a really tough time with the movie, and it was reported that there was a lot of clash of egos rather than rational conversation. The end result was a missed opportunity for WB’s Worlds of DC, and now we have a quasi-reboot sequel coming up later this year.
7. Justice League
Last, and certainly not least important in the list, is Justice League. If there was any movie that deserved to be mentioned, it was this one. This movie suffered a massive blow when the original director: Zack Snyder, left the project due to a family tragedy, and was replaced by Joss Whedon: the man who directed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. It can be assumed that if he was able to bring together Marvel’s heroes in an epic movie that’s praised by critics and fans alike, the studio assumed he would be able to do the same with DC’s heroes, as their previous movies failed to hit the mark in the way that they had envisioned. Unwilling to delay the release of the movie, and wanting to implement a lot of changes to the work, WB didn’t give Snyder time to recover from his loss and went ahead with the movie. Whedon reshot a large portion of the movie but kept the general idea of it in the final cut. The end result was a movie that was hated by fans and critics alike. Recently, even WB executives spoke out about how much they didn’t like the movie. Luckily for those who feel cheated, there will be a Justice League movie released on March 18th, on HBO Max, and it will be based on Zack’s original vision, untampered with.
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