Superman sequel in trouble?

From syfyportal, "It looks like a sequel to "Superman Returns" isn't as automatic as many people might think.

Rumors are afloat that Warner Bros. -- which took more than a decade to put together its most recent installment of the franchise -- could be delaying, or even worse, shelving a followup to its 2006 film, Moviehole reported.

The original project had a number of directors and stars until Warner Bros. effectively lured away Bryan Singer from Marvel's X-Men movie franchise to direct. The film ended up costing some $270 million to make, but grossed just over $200 million at the North American box office, according to Internet Movie Database.

Chatter about at least a delay in a sequel picked up in recent weeks when Singer announced his next project would not be Superman but instead films such as "You Want Me To Kill Him?" and "The Mayor of Castro Street." That in of itself isn't very surprising, because those are films expected to be released in the next couple of years while a Superman sequel wasn't expected to hit theaters again until 2009.

Other reports have Warner Bros. simply moving Superman into a proposed Justice League movie, but there is a lot of skepticism that such a project would even get off the ground judging by the logistics of it. However, supporters of that project say a Justice League movie could be bigger than the X-Men franchise.

Don't start losing sleep over whether a Superman sequel is threatened just yet, however. Trade publication Variety reported on Monday that it was "unlikely" Warner Bros. would scrap such a project.