Instead, we join Clark Kent as an adult as he’s already aware of what he can do. Snyder’s Superman goes in a bit of a different direction, showing his parental origins on Krypton but not his boyhood in Kansas as he learned his powers. Many superhero franchises in recent memory have begun at the beginning - that is, before or just as the hero is acquiring his superpowers. Though it should be noted that fan affection and filmmaker involvement are correlated: “Man of Steel” didn’t generate nearly the same level or unanimity of fan excitement as the Batman series that Nolan personally stewarded (to wit, the Superman movie’s A-minus CinemaScore).Įxpository powers. How much would godfathering a movie, that squishy process of setting it on its course and steering the director but not hanging out every day on set, work for Nolan? The popularity of “Man of Steel” this weekend proves that he’s got the gene too. It’s worked - sometimes - for Guillermo del Toro and J.J. Still, it makes sense why Snyder is on board to make a sequel, the first time in his career he’ll revisit his own material. The movie also garnered the highest reviews among Snyder’s last three efforts, though at a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score it’s hardly anything to hang on the mantle.

Snyder hadn’t had a mainstream hit in six years, a period of futility that included commercial misfires such as “Sucker Punch,” Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” and “Watchmen.” That changed this weekend, as “Man of Steel” grossed $116.7 million between Friday and Sunday - a hefty chunk above the expected $95 million and the best-ever opening for a film in June (helped by a super-wide 4,207 screens).

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