It seemed like he was box office poison when he wasn't wearing the Superman cape.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoxOfficeBomb
https://www.datalounge.com/thread/29856944-julia-roberts-and-garry-marshall-humiliated-christopher-reeve
Not much different to todays superhero actors then
But Reeve did make the mistake of turning down certain films that went on to varying degrees of huge success and helped make the likes of Gere (American Gigolo, Pretty Woman), Gibson (The Bounty, Lethal Weapon?), Michael Douglas (Romancing the Stone) and Arnold (Running Man, Total Recall - although was early on and wont have been anything like the final Verhovan/Arnie version). instead he chose to do less prolific smaller movies and theatre between Supermans
Honestly, probably the most notable thing that Christopher Reeve did after Superman was Speechless. They don't share a lot of screentime, but the fact that Batman (Michael Keaton) and Superman (Christopher Reeve) were in the same motion picture really geeked me out, and still does.
https://www.facebook.com/batmannrobinonfilm/videos/micheal-keaton-scene-with-chris-reeve-in-1994-speechless-89-bats-meets-donner-su/520229355775782/
I wonder why he turned down Lethal Weapon since it would've given him an opportunity to work with Richard Donner again.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/135b30f/christopher_reeve_turned_down_roles/
I mean, you ever seen Street Smart? It's weird growing up seeing him play Superman and then as an adult seeing that movie. I like that movie but his character is a jerk. I also don't know it did his career much good.
shareChristopher Reeve did this made for TV movie back in 1991 called Bump in the Night. It was practically the most "un-Superman" type of role that he could ever play, which was a pedophile-kidnapper.
https://www.quora.com/How-was-Christopher-Reeve-unlikeable-during-the-peak-of-his-Hollywood-career/answer/Matt-Vogel-8
Glad I never saw it.
shareWhat's even crazier is that in 1995, Christopher Reeve starred in this made for TV movie for HBO called Above Suspicion. In it, plays a paralyzed cop, who plots to murder his wife. That film litereally aired a week before Reeve's horrific horseback riding accident that left him a quadriplegic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_Suspicion_(1995_film)
I don't think there was much appeal to begin with. He was quite wooden in the Superman role already (I understand the role required certain amount of that). Just look at the other Superman actor, Henry Cavill. He is a handsome blockhead, but nothing more. And then some people dream of him as the next James Bond... I just don't understand some people.
shareI also think that he wrote in his autobiography that he was still seen in Hollywood as an A-lister (i.e. a person whose name is above the marquee and in front of the movie's title) until a string of box office flops in the span of 1987-88 like Superman IV, Street Smart, The Aviator, and Switching Channels. After this at least up until his accident, he was reduced to having to audition for roles instead of the roles being offered to him or written with him in mind.
shareI disagree, I think that Reeve was the one actor who completely *nailed* the role of Superman! The power, the loneliness, the desire to love and belong, the kind of complete honesty you never see in humans, , the innate decency and caring...
And that was the only role I ever saw him nail. Which explains everything about his subsequent career.
This role opened doors for him . He was working consistently until he had his accident.
shareHe was good as Superman, but in other roles he was bland.
shareThat's it. As an unknown , he rather shocked everybody with how intelligent, sexy and witty he made the Man of Steel.
But he never really had the edge or danger or whatever that magic element is that makes for a lasting star. His looks WERE bland.
Personality wise, compare Reeve to Clint Eastwood. Or Burt Reynolds in his prime. Or Steve McQueen when he was alive. Not to mention the "method men" like DeNiro and Pacino. Reeve just couldn't get a movie star persona to "stick."
The nadir was when he was put in Switching Channels, a remake of "His Girl Friday" with Burt Reynolds(admittedly "past it" himself") in the Cary Grant part and Chris Reeve in...the RALPH BELLAMY part! That was a nail in the coffin for Reeve as a leading man.
It didn't help that a year prior, he got blown off of the screen by Morgan Freeman in Street Smart, which was a pet project of Reeve's. Leonard Maltin in his review said that Morgan Freeman's performance as a scary, intense pimp helped make up for Christopher Reeve's blandness as the lead.
And when Superman IV bombed and killed the film franchise for the next 20 years, it was very damning for his career. I mean Superman was his big meal ticket and the one thing that still justified his case for being considered an A-lister. When Reeve couldn't make Superman work anymore, he had nothing else to fall back on. Basically, he never really gave a legitimate reason to put "asses in the seats" when he wasn't wearing the red and blue costume.
He's good in Somewhere in Time.
sharelose his appeal? I guess that never made it to my area of the country.
He never lost his appeal to me.
Loved Reeve, and such a sad story.
I do sometimes wonder had he not gotten into his accident and not passed away so young, would Christopher Reeve have eventually found a way to play Superman again? I'm immediately reminded of how Michael Keaton is going to play Batman again in the upcoming Flash movie or how we saw Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective incarnations of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Far From Home?
shareyes most definitely , i have a Superman Returns magazine from 2006 that has an interview with Bryan Singer and he talked about how ideally youd want Reeve back in the role for the movie but since that wasnt possible he had to get a new Reeve-esque actor do a semi sequel/reboot. so had Reeve not had his accident and gone on to do more tv movies and proper movie roles throughout the rest of the 90s/00s maybe hed have ended up doing Superman Returns in 06 - i guess theyd have had to create a new love interest for Clark like Cat Grant (an age appropriate actress like Rene Russo, Sharon Stone etc). Lois/Margot Kidder couldve cameoed like in Superman III, Jimmy/Marc McClure couldve been in charge of the Daily Planet (having taken over from a retired Perry White), Hackman cameoing as Lex as his final film, maybe even Terence Stamp returning as Zod somehow. Or since legacy sequels wernt the norm back then maybe the studio wouldve insisted on a reboot with young actors as was (would a 54y old Reeve SR lead to sequels? and little/no involvement from iconic Superman characters like Lois, Perry, Lex? etc)
thered have been no opportunity for him to be in any DCEU movies (bar a fun cameo as some other character) so if therd been no Reeve SR or even if there had , hed no doubt be appearing in The Flash with Keaton (Speechless reunion!)
I admit I don't like Superman Returns and I don't get why Brian Singer just redid scenes and premises from the first one. I also hate that he had Superman get Lois pregnant and left her to deal with it by herself. That was a jerk move. He should've done Braniac or some other villain than having Lex do a similar plan to the original just with Krypyonian technology.
share