Successful Movie Reboots

Yesterday it was announced that director Andy Muschetti dropped out of being a part of 'The Mummy' reboot. I actually totally forgot that this franchise was being brought back to life by Universal. I have no problem with studios remaking certain series. I like seeing what a new director and cast can bring to a movie. Also, as time goes on, technology improves. It's cool watching how new and improved visual effects can add to familiar story. Let's take a look at popular movie reboots.

'Batman Begins' (2005)

Christopher Nolan is the superstar director that he is today because of how he successfully rebooted the Batman franchise for Warner Brothers. Tim Burton directed two movies about the caped crusader: 'Batman' (1989) and 'Batman Returns' (1992). Joel Schumacher was then hired to reboot the story of the masked vigilante. Val Kilmer played Bruce Wayne in the 1995 film 'Batman Forever.' George Clooney replaced Kilmer in 'Batman and Robin,' the 1997 sequel.  Nolan however was the first to make a trilogy out of the franchise. His three movies were not only financial hits, but they were critically acclaimed.

'The Amazing Spider-Man' (2012)

I remember being a little surprised when Sony Pictures announced in 2010 that they were rebooting Spider-Man with a completely different director, cast and crew. After all, 'Spider-Man 3' had only come out in 2007. However, Sony's decision to start a new franchise of the comic book hero made sense. First off, Tobey Maguire was getting a little too old to continue playing Peter Parker. The original plan was to make a fourth movie that would film in 2009, but Maguire would have been 34 years old during production. Second, Sam Raimi, who directed the original trilogy, didn't have a strong script to validate moving forward with the planned sequel. It really was time to put a close in that chapter of Spider-Man. But why did Sony rush to reboot the series? Well, money is obviously the biggest factor. There have been rumors that Sony made the new movie so quickly because they didn't want to lose the rights to Spider-Man.' I can't find an article to prove this, so it's merely speculation, but it's possible that if Sony didn't put out another Spider-Man movie within a certain time frame, the rights would go to Marvel.  Whatever the real reason for the rush to reboot Spider-Man, it was definitely not a bad decision. 'The Amazing-Spider Man' (2012) grossed $752, 216,557 worldwide. The sequel, 'The Amazing-Spiderman 2,' which came out just last Friday, has already made $380, 512, 318 worldwide. The third movie will be released in 2016.

'Man of Steel' (2013)

God did I fall in love with Henry Cavill when I saw this movie. The British actor does a great job playing Clark Kent. I also really loved watching Russell Crowe play Jor-El. Michael Shannon was also awesome as the villain. You know what, the whole cast is fantastic. It's not exactly hard for a studio to get top actors to be in a superhero movie. After all, it's a big paycheck and probably a lot of fun to shoot a comic book movie. 'Man of Steel' was a reboot after Warner Brothers decided not to make a sequel of  the 2006 movie 'Superman Returns.' 'Superman Returns' made a little over $391 million worldwide. Studio heads were not thrilled with this return, especially because the movie's production budget was a whopping $270 million. Also, the timing just never worked out for a follow-up. The original writers left, director Bryan Singer went on to direct 'Valkyrie,' and then the writers strike of 2007-2008 happened, further delaying a possible sequel. In the end, Warner Brothers decided to reboot the franchise with a whole new cast and director. The decision to do that paid off, because 'Man of Steel' grossed $668, 045,518 worldwide. Its sequel, 'Batman vs. Superman,' is currently in production.