Earlier today, the first full-length trailer for Jon Schnepp's documentary, "The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?" debuted at San Diego Comic-Con and now it has been released. The Kickstarter funded documentary will try to explain why Tim Burton's
Superman film never made it out of pre-production.
If you're not familiar with this tale, let me give you the gist. In 1993, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to Superman because of the renewed interest in the property following "The Death of Superman" comic book story arc. Jon Peters was the executive producer and he was focused on making a Superman film that was family-friendly as well as toy-friendly. Several writers were brough in, but in time their scripts were rejected. One of them was Kevin Smith, who tells a laugh-out-loud "Giant Spider" account of this moment in his life with Jon Peters. Smith was let go when Tim Burton was brought on to direct. Burton wanted to add his own unique elements to the script, so he hired Wesley Strick ("Cape Fear").
"The confirmed details of Wesley Strick's script indicate that, like the previous versions, it followed the "Death of Superman" story. A notable departure from that work is the fact that once Brainiac arrives on Earth, he and Lex Luthor eventually merge into a single entity dubbed "Luthiac". Thematically, Burton and Strick worked to underscore Superman's alienation by virtue of the fact that Superman (Kal-El) is -- literally -- an alien." - Superman Wiki
Burton's version would've had Nicolas Cage playing Superman. Kevin Spacey was approached for Lex Luthor, Chris Rock was set for Jimmy Olsen, Courtney Cox was up for Lois Lane, and Tim Allen claims he was negotiating with Warner Bros. for the Brainiac part. The film quickly went into pre-production with an expected release in the summer of 1998.