STUDIOS love magazine stories that breathlessly hype their summer popcorn movies, so you would think that Warner Bros. might have been happy with Alonso Duralde's cover story about "Superman Returns," which gushed, "Superheroes -- let's face it -- are totally hot."
There was a twist: Duralde's "Superman Returns" story was not in Entertainment Weekly or Newsweek or Premiere. It ran in the May 23 issue of the Advocate, the prominent national gay magazine, next to the headline: "How Gay Is Superman?"
The Man of Steel has been missing from the movies for 19 years, and now that he's scheduled to fly into the multiplex on June 28, his worries may not be limited to Lex Luthor and kryptonite. Even at a time when moviegoers and awards organizations embraced the overtly gay love story "Brokeback Mountain," there may be a different challenge for a mainstream action movie that happens to be attracting a gay following.
No one suggests that Superman in "Superman Returns" is, in fact, gay. But, as several entertainment and cultural writers have noted, superheroes hold obvious -- and growing -- gay appeal. In addition to being strikingly good-looking, the characters often are portrayed as alienated outsiders, typically leading double lives. In the case of Superman, the beefcake character historically has struggled with romance, all the while running around in a skin-tight suit.
At issue now is whether that gay vibe will broaden the "Superman Returns" audience, or limit it.
Warners has a lot at stake with its long-delayed attempt to breathe life into the "Superman" franchise. The studio's schedule is dominated by pricey sequels, prequels and remakes, but its first such effort this summer, "Poseidon," sank faster than the boat. And "Superman Returns," which will cost about $300 million to release with marketing costs added in, faces formidable competition from the latest installment in the blockbuster franchise "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which opens nine days after "Superman" lands in theaters.
Beyond the Advocate cover, which features the film's star, Brandon Routh, in costume, industry blogs such as the Defamer website, which has become the online show business bible for many young industry executives, have been as obsessed with "Superman's" gay appeal as Britney Spears' parenting skills and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's new baby girl.
