It's been a pretty rocky year for the "Last Son of Krypton" and it doesn't appear that things will smooth out any time soon. In the wake of Superman Returns' dismal box office take ($200 million domestically from a production budget of $270 million), Warner Bros. has spent much of 2009 in court battling the families of Superman's original creators over rights to the character, not to mention letting Brandon Routh's contract expire, casting doubt into the possibility of a sequel.
It appears that there were still plans to make another Superman movie as recently as August, with Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov hinting that the franchise would receive a "darker" reboot along the lines of Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight. Now, however, it appears that the Superman franchise is grounded. The head of the newly formed DC Entertainment division, Diane Nelson, told MTV:
We actually don't have any current plans for Superman.
We've obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it's a key part of the family, but we don't have current plans behind Superman.