By Scott Mendelson, Contributor
With the sheer number of major trailers going online this week, it seems that the studios think that Oblivion is going to open with $400 million this weekend. At the risk of going all-geeky, this is the big summer movie I’m most excited about. I’m as much of a Superman fan as an inspirational idea as the next nerd. The marketing so far has been firing on all cylinders offering not just a ‘realistic’ super hero movie but a naturalistic one to boot, one rooted in the kind of Americana that the character of Superman basically invented back in the 1930’s. This final trailer offers more of a tease of the third act action without explicitly spoiling anything beyond a reveal of Michael Shannon’s General Zod. We also get what appears to be the first listen to Hans Zimmer‘s attempts to make a new iconic Superman theme, and it is every bit as powerful and aspirational as it arguably must be. Chris Nolan‘s influence, with character-driven humanism and soft humor combined with large-scale genre filmmaking, seems in full force (anyone who thinks Chris Nolan is all grim and grumpy needs to rewatch Batman Begins). Director Zack Snyder’s sure hand with large-scale action is also on display, promising the kind of large-scale set-pieces that the last son of Krypton deserves. The word at Warner is that this is the real deal, possibly the film to beat for summer 2013 if audiences can get past their relative indifference to Superman Returns. We’ll know soon enough, but this is another wonderfully grand trailer for a character who surely is the grandest of all superheroes. Man of Steel opens on June 14th, 2013 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D. As always, we’ll see.