Superman: The New Movie

Back in the late 1980's the Salkinds were developing a new big-budget Superman film altogether, and it was called SUPERMAN: THE NEW MOVIE. What does this have to do with Superboy you might ask? Well, it would not star the famed Christopher Reeve but the lead actor of the Superboy TV show, Gerard Christopher! It was mentioned by Gerard Christopher himself (in an audio tape interview with him by Dan Recchia) that the Salkinds were always more interested in doing major motion pictures rather than television (which could have been another reason why Ilya Salkind was rarely seen on the Superboy set, if ever at all, as mentioned once again by Gerard in the same audio tape interview). And so once they regained the option rights back from Cannon Pictures (who produced Superman IV), they estimated a budget of $35-$40 million to produce the picture under the label of Kandor Productions. There is some speculation that by March of 1993 it was called Great Krypton Productions. Filmming would begin in the summer for a mid-1994 release. Oddly enough, it would tie-in with the Christopher Reeve movies, though it had been said earlier in the producing stages the film would tie-in with the Superboy TV show. However, in the eyes of the Salkinds, television was merely their stepping stool back to the big screen. Superboy the TV series proved to be a hit, and in retrospect, Gerard Christopher gained a loyal fan-base. So the possiblity of reviving a movie series through their successful Superboy show was there -- now all they needed was a screenplay...

Cary Bates, executive story consultant of the Superboy TV show, and Mark Jones were hired to write the script for SUPERMAN: THE NEW MOVIE. The story involved Brainiac as the villain and it centered around the bottled city of Kandor. Kandorians were characters in the script and the spirit of Jor-El would pay a visit. You can read clips of the script below.

Clips from Superman: The New Movie screenplay

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'Superman: The New Movie' wasn't the first time a Superboy actor was said to possibly star in a Superman/Boy movie. In 1989, probably due to the success of both the first 'Batman' film and the climbing ratings of the 'Superboy' series, it was said there had been talks of a Superman film project by the Salkinds unformly titled (by the fans) as "Young Superman". It would have starred the first Superboy star John Haymes Newton (as very briefly mentioned in an interview by John Haymes Newton himself). It had been a "strong possiblity", he claimed. But information on this was scarce, and no longer heard of by the time he was replaced by Gerard Christopher. Virtually nothing is known about the story of this (possible movie) Newton speaks of -- more than likely it was mere chatter on the set.

'Superman: The New Movie' was the closest possiblity of reviving the series with a Superboy star. Unfortunately for the Salkinds, by mid-1994 the option on the movie rights to Superman met an untimely end and it was reverted back to Warner Brothers.

Often called "the evil Jon Peters" by the fans, he stepped in to begin work on 'Superman Reborn/Lives' . By 1996, pre-production plans were laid out for the next Superman movie (the first in nine years) called "Superman Reborn" (based on the "Death and Life Of Superman" storyline), with Nicholas Cage as the Man of Steel, and it would be directed by Tim Burton. Concerns about the quality of the screenplay and the rising production costs (which was speculated would be over $100 million) immediately put this film into development hell. This left the Superman franchise in limbo for many years, whereby WB passed it on to many possible directors like Tim Burton, McG and Brett Ratner, not to mention a whacky casting choice for Nic Cage as Superman. Thanks to Tim Burton, a good laugh to remember.

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