Why does Bryan Singer get to keep directing movies?

Bryan Singer has mutilated each X-Men movie and Superman Returns (which should have been what Man of Steel is.) and he keeps getting deals to return to X-Men after messing them up. Why does this happen?

Because he's a good director. His first X movie (X1) was good, and his second X film (X2) is one of the best CBMs of all time.

It has nothing to do with the quality of movies, it is the fact that every movie he has made (even Superman Returns) has MADE money. He's sort of a sure bet as of now. But Days of Future Past will make or break him, imo.

Because he made The Usual Suspects, one of the very best films of all time?

And Superman Returns, aside from the stupid child-subplot, is hideously underrated. '

The direction of Superman as a gentle god was beautifully done.

Right now he's trying too hard to be the next "CBM God"...

The only logical explanation is that the studio execs and every one at Marvel and DC hasn't seen X1, X2 or Superman Returns. His X movies are watchable at least. Superman Returns is just crap from beginning to end. The scene with the plane and ship are cool but that is literally it.

• Casting was Horrible. Routh was just OK.
• Characterization of that cast was absolute crap. Superman peeps into peoples homes now I guess.
• The plot was decent but that's only because it was USED ALREADY in the first Reeve movie.
• Sub-plot was god awful and not thought out at all.
• His costume. Mainly the maroon and the 3D plastic/rubber emblem.
• Consistency was non-existent. Can barely move when exposed to Kryptonite by Lex but then when it's frickin raining that $h!t he lifts the land mass Lex created which no one is going to want to live on anyways! GTFO!

I personally like the first two x-men movies, and considering what happened with Last Stand, I'd say him returning is a godsend. Yt yes, what he did with Superman Returns was disgusting. Not because I. Hated it, but because he took something amazing (the original Donner/Reeve Superman) and bastardised it because he was too lazy to be original.

Well so far its a wash. X Men good, Superman bad. DOFP will be the defining moment for my opinion on Singer.

the question is, why does he keep doing comicbook movies? He did make the Usual Suspects, which is a pretty good movie, you'd think he would have larger endeavors in mind, I thought it was the most bizarre thing when he left Fox to make Superman Returns, then they do things to spite him, but he still came back to produce and now direct again, I guess he's just in it for the money.

That's what I think but everyone just shuts me down for that... I mean seriously, I knew Fox was desperate after the failure of Origins and I remember Lauren Schuler-Donner saying on many occasions how Fox continued to ask Singer to direct more X-films but he just turned them down - what happened for Days of Future Past? Singer decides to return. Why? Because Marvel Studios got everyone shitting their pants after Avengers and all of a sudden Singer is all-smiles to be back to milk the X-Men franchise.

@fadetoblackbolt said:

Not really. It sucked hard. Superman doesn't even throw 1 punch the entire film, which is hideously stupid for just about any comic hero.

Hell, the only time he actually gets into a fight is when he fights Lex and in that fight he kicks his ass kicked.

The climax of the movie for crying out loud was Superman lifting a giant rock...AWESOME (and we're ignoring the plot hole of the island being made of kryptonite for the sake of time). But at least the film sticks to its theme of steadily increasing heavy objects Superman is lifting. Yanno, the Daily Planet Globe, then a Boat and finally an Island! (Technically he lifted a Plane after the boat - perhaps it was a heavy plane?)

Not to mention out of the whole cast, no one had a positive performance. Routh, Spacey and Langella were okay...but everyone else sucked hard. This more than anything (imo) is what separates Returns from MoS...the latter has an exceptional cast with almost everyone having a very positive performance with the exception of one or two people (notably Amy Adams who was just okay).

The direction of "gentle god" might have succeeded, but that's a terrible direction for a hero in a CBM movie to go in. The result is an entire film devoid of any meaningful action whatsoever. And the main plot of the movie was mediocre and not able to make up for the fact that the action sucked so hard (See: The Wolverine). Obviously you can't sacrifice all story for mindless action (See: Pacific Rim) but its imperative to strike a balance between the two with a CBM as the characters by nature are always engaging in some kind of action.

Not true. Superman returns grossed 391 million.

About 1/3 of that automatically goes to the theaters. Which leaves us about 260 million. The budget for the film was 204 million - but that is production only, not marketing. Marketing costly can easily cost 50-75 million or even more sometimes. Most comic book movies spend AT LEAST 50 or 60 million in marketing.

In short, any profit made would have been minimal (sub 10 million dollars) and its more likely they just broke even or lost money.

He's not a bad director. He's just made a few bad choices.

X-Men 1 and 2 were good. He also did good work on House (yes, he did House).

Who was he supposed to punch? Everyone in the film would be killed in one hit.

@jedixman said:

Which is part of the problem ;). It had a horrible plot with not even any opportunities to get any action.

Disagree with me if you want, but I'm not going to enjoy a Superhero movie where the hero isn't doing any fighting. Maybe its adolescent (it IS) but when I see a superhero movie, I want to see the good guy kick the bad guy's ass.

Must have hated Watchmen, then...

I'm not really defending Superman Returns. I didn't like it, but it's not the worst comic book movie.

zack snyder still gets work. so does nolan after the horrible bloated messes that were the dark knight rises and man of steel.

I liked Watchman but Watchman was actually trying to be original though and brings up things that most people don't like to think about, which is probably why it wasn't more successful at the box office. The notion of "there is no right or wrong" only "what you can justify and what you cannot" is not something that people like to think about. The film very much spends the entire time in a very grey area with no real black vs white, good vs wrong.

The film was trying to send an original message. (And there was some cool fighting - at least).

Superman Returns didn't have an original message and it wasn't trying to do anything unique. It was just...Superman saving the planet by, lifting things. (Also, even though I might get flamed for this, may I just say in this day and age, under wear on the outside looks stupid)

Its not the worst (I don't think I said it was) - that easily belongs to Catwomen, Elektra or X-Men Origins (we won't get into those) imo, but its not a good film either.

----

Given that I've ranted a bit in this topic and contributed nothing to the OP, I will say that DoFP is probably Singer's last chance for me, both in terms of his ability as well as the future of this current X-Men franchise. DoFP is either going to fix all the problems that have been caused by X3, Wolverine Origins and First Class. Specifically X3 and First Class with the two of them having so many conflicting plot elements its crazy. DoFP will either correct the ship or sink it and we will know without a doubt the franchise needs to be rebooted.

Luckily the amazing post-credits scene after The Wolverine currently has my attitude toward the film and Singer by extension, trending upwards instead of down.

DKR and MoS were far better than X3

@cheesesticks: sure it is.*wink wink*

I think most people liked his X-films.

We get it you hate DC

@flashknight: no, i hate bad movies that arent even funny bad. what i hate even more? when bad movies are glorified for *insert dumb reason here*. not my fault dc keeps f**king up.

@fallschirmjager: Hey, Pacific Rim wasn't just mindless action. PR was about love, and spirituality, a you know what? Fawk you you can't do what they do! ;-)

Why does Bryan Singer get to direct movies? Three words: The. Usual. Suspects.

Need two more words? Apt. Pupil.

And X-Men and X2 are two of the best superhero movies around, especially X2.

The original post makes it sound like Bryan Singer directs bad movie after bad movie. The only movie he's directed that I didn't like was Superman Returns.

god yeah, Watchmen hadnoaction in it.... what?

He said that he likes it when "the good guy kicks the bad guy's ass." The "villain" won in Watchmen.

What's with all the hate for Brian Singer on this site? X1, X2, and especially The Usual Suspects were all great movies. Sure Superman Returns kindof sucked, and you can make the arguement that his abandoning X3 for SR is what caused X3 to suck, but his overall batting average is still higher then most directors out there.

Ugh, I hate Singer.

Cause he's a great director,and is doing amazingly with the X-Men franchise.X1,X2,DoFP.Actions speak louder than words,and jf he was as bad as you all seem to think he simply wouldn't be making big franchise films for a studio like Fox.So he's winning,and you're whining.

Personally I think Bryan Singer is a decent director, I loved his X-Men films and I think Superman Returns gets a bad rep for the sake of it. While it wasn't the a great film it's not anywhere near as bad as people like to make out, it's another bandwagon film people go on about hating because it's so poor but half of them haven't seen it.

His last movie (DOFP) is the best comic film ever, and he's done plenty of good or great stuff before that. So why shouldn't he get to keep directing movies?

He's directed several great films with The Unusual Suspects, X Men, X2, and DoFP. The X Men films he's directed have made lots of money and X Men brought the cbm genre back to life after Batman and Robin killed it.

Singer's the man. There's a reason why X2 and Days of Future Past are two of the all time best CBMs.

Was X2 that good? Seems like I need to see it.

keep in mind this was made in 2013

Why does Bryan Singer get to keep directing movies?

One: Because hes good at what he does, and has directed hands down two of the greatest Comic Book movies of all time.

Two: None of his X-men movies have been failures both critically and or commercially.

What a ridiculous thread.

Lol I assumed this would be about the sex abuse scandal but instead it was just laughable geek-pouting.

He's a great director. Here are his really good films:

• The Usual Suspects
• X-Men
• X2
• X-Men: DoFP

Returns may have been bad, but that's just one mark in an otherwise impeccable career.

Cause he's good at it?

X-Men works because he gets them.

Superman, he doesn't.

Lot of hate for Superman Returns. I thought it was pretty ok.

I heard he was a pedophile too.

I don't think he gets the xmen at all... why is magneto working for appoc in the new movie? we better get an epic knock out drag out between the two....

@noone301994: Hopefully that isnt true.

I will take Singer over Bay.

@newecho: I don't care for a lot of the X-Men movies because they focus on Wolverine at the expense of other characters getting some story focus.

@suemorphplus209: I agree, you don't get the family aspect in the movies

They should rename the series Wolverine and Friends.

Its funny how the best movie in the franchise do not have Wolverine in them.

@theamazingspidey: A Jack the Giant Slayer fan huh? :P