Superman Lives

Superman Lives is a cancelled superhero film directed by Tim Burton based on the 1992 comic book The Death of Superman, which was planned for a release in Summer 1998. The film was an attempt to reboot the Superman franchise.

Plot
Braniac sends the Kryptonian monster Doomsday to kill Superman, as well as blocking out the sun to make Superman powerless, as Superman is fueled by sunlight. Braniac and Lex Luthor team up, but Superman is resurrected by a Kryptonian robot called "The Eradicator".

Cast

 * Nicolas Cage as Superman/Kal-El.
 * Sandra Bullock as Lois Lane (refused to star)
 * Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor
 * Christopher Walken as Brainiac

Production
Production for Superman Lives began around 1996 or 1997 with the titles for a script titled Superman V: Reborn and Warner Brothers hired Tim Burton (who previously directed Batman and Batman Returns) to direct the film.

Why It Was Cancelled

 * 1) Warner Bros. couldn't afford the monetary risk of producing it.
 * 2) Warner Brothers' previous films Batman & Robin, One Eight Seven, The Postman and Steel, were panned and were box office bombs/disappointments.
 * 3) The money that was going to be used in making this film went into making the 1999 film Wild Wild West, which ended up being a box office disappointment when it was released.
 * 4) Most people thought that Nicolas Cage would not be a good pick to play Superman.

Results

 * Warner Bros. cancelled the project and rebooted the Superman series in 2006 with the release of Superman Returns with Brandon Routh as Clark Kent/Superman. Kevin Spacey was the only cast member from the cancelled Superman film to star in the film as Lex Luthor. Bryan Singer, who would later do X-Men films directed the film.


 * In 2015, a documentary film titled The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happend? was released on DVD and Blu-Ray. The film was hosted by Jon Schnepp and featured interviews with various writers and producers who all explained different scripts, ideas for costumes and fan reaction to hearing that Nicolas Cage was casted as Superman. There were even behind the scenes footage showing Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel and storyboards.


 * The ninth episode of the second season of Supergirl was titled Supergirl Lives as an homage to Superman Lives.
 * There are talks of having the film be an animated film with Nicolas Cage voicing Superman. The rest of the cast for the animated adaptation are unknown as of right now.