The trailer comes from animator Paul B. Frieling and his Lazy Droid Studio. On their YouTube page they state that this is the start of a series; we'll have to see if that is indeed the case. As one can imagine — and which is very much evidenced by the Jon Schnepp documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? — with Nicolas Cage combined with Tim Burton, this would have very much been a different take on Superman.
Back in 1998, Cage offered up his thoughts on his approach to the character: "I came on board the Superman project, because I wanted to say something to children. And I know Superman appeals to all age groups, but it comes from the child's universe. I remember what I felt like as a child in school being teased. And if there's one kid out there who's been called a weirdo or a freak or something, and he goes home and he's just not having a good day in his life, and his life at school is hell — if he sees Superman and he says, 'Well, Superman is a weirdo. He's considered different. Maybe I'm Superman,' that's enough for me to feel good about making the movie.
"That was the vision I got from it," he added. "And I think Tim Burton is the perfect diector to do that, because he's always been very sensitive about the outsider. Superman is a great story. it's one of those phenomenons that operates on so many different level that still haven't been explored. One of the things I like about Superman is the notion of nurture versus nature. Is he more Kryptonian or is he more the Kents, his adopted parents? Thesed are big issues that we're thinking about now."
The trailer adapts moments from the screenplays for Superman Lives written respectively by Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick and Dan Gilroy, with Lex Luthor sending out a signal to Brainiac in space, alerting him to the fact that there is a Kryptonian loose on Earth and inviting him to pay the planet a visit. Naturally this captures the android's attention and he accepts Luthor's invitation. Becoming aware of Brainiac's vessel, Superman (looking like Nicolas Cage) takes flight to confront him, peacefully at first.
Superman Lives could very well have been an oddity in the history of the Man of Steel's filmed adventures, but this trailer certainly does make the project seem intriguing.
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