What happened to Christopher Reeve’s career?

[Schmo]

It seems to me that Christopher Reeve’s acting career went into a slump between his “Superman” movies and his life-altering accident. Had he become typecast? Did he make bad choices in his roles? Was he wealthy enough to not need to work full-time? Or some combination of reasons?

[RetroGuy2000]

I think it was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That movie was a box office bomb, Christopher Reeve was no longer a bankable star, and after that fiasco, he mainly did TV movies and guest appearances on TV shows.

[Schmo]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I think it was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That movie was a box office bomb, Christopher Reeve was no longer a bankable star, and after that fiasco, he mainly did TV movies and guest appearances on TV shows.

“Superman III” was also a stinker, despite being profitable.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by Schmo

“Superman III” was also a stinker, despite being profitable.

Oh, yeah. It was bad. But that film was hugely profitable: it made $100 million on a $39 million budget. People watched it based on the success of the first two films. They weren't willing to pay for the fourth film after that.

Kind of reminds me of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin (#3 and #4 in the Batman franchise), although those films were more lucrative.

[Schmo]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I think it was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That movie was a box office bomb, Christopher Reeve was no longer a bankable star, and after that fiasco, he mainly did TV movies and guest appearances on TV shows.

Reeve turned down roles in quite a number of hit movies that were made after “Super IV”.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...ristopherReeve

One can argue that some of those were no good and wouldn’t have given him a chance to shine as an actor. Maybe he was also reticent to act in R-rated films.

[Hawkee]

When you think of Christopher Reeve the first movie that comes to mind is Superman and truly when you think about it when you get the general picture the Superman movies truly made Christopher Reeve a household name in Hollywood just as Rocky was a hit movie for Sylvester Stallone and if it wasn't for Superman Christopher Reeve would not go on to stardom in films such as Somewhere In Time. But what I think happened to Christopher Reeve's career after his accident he felt that he would not get another movie role and become a Comeback Kid in Hollywood because people now saw him as different. But if it wasn't for the support and love of his late wife Dana Christopher would've never overcome the obstacles he had to face. It was shocking that Dana Reeve passed away a month after Christopher did but they were a superb power couple. But what I can't figure out is why Christopher Reeve decided to go horseback riding in the first place that caused his accident? As a fan of horses and reader of books about horses I know that accidents with horses can happen and Christopher should've known that the horse he was riding was spooky and had he gotten a nice calm horse the accident could've been prevented. I wonder what happened to the horse after the accident could it have been sold or was it put to sleep? But if Christopher Reeve was still alive today I bet he would be making money doing commercials hoping to have a comeback to Hollywood stardom
Bestie

[Coffeecup]

I didn't realize the Dana died a month or so after Chris. I thought it maybe 12 - 18 months after Chris's death. Sometimes I think of children of actors who lose their parents young, cope? Phil Hartman another actors children come to mind.

[Cbalducc]

Dana died about two years after Chris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Reeve

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Schmo

Reeve turned down roles in quite a number of hit movies that were made after “Super IV”.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...ristopherReeve

One can argue that some of those were no good and wouldn’t have given him a chance to shine as an actor. Maybe he was also reticent to act in R-rated films.

Christopher Reeve did act in Street Smart alongside Morgan Freeman, which was a gritty, R-rated film about prostitution. One of the conditions for Reeve to make a fourth Superman movie was for Cannon Films, who at the time, held the film Superman rights, to fund this long time pet project of his.

[Cbalducc]

Originally Posted by TMC

Christopher Reeve did act in Street Smart alongside Morgan Freeman, which was a gritty, R-rated film about prostitution. One of the conditions for Reeve to make a fourth Superman movie was for Cannon Films, who at the time, held the film Superman rights, to fund this long time pet project of his.

From what I read about Street Smart, it boosted Freeman’s career, but didn’t help Reeve. Maybe Reeve should have quit making movies after the Superman franchise and returned to the stage.

[TVShowAddict]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I think it was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That movie was a box office bomb, Christopher Reeve was no longer a bankable star, and after that fiasco, he mainly did TV movies and guest appearances on TV shows.

You are right, Christopher said the movie was a huge blow to his career and he regretted being involved in the film

[Cbalducc]

When an unknown actor becomes famous playing the lead in a blockbuster film, it’s a lot easier to go down than to stay at the top.

[TMC]

Based on some of the comments regarding this retrospective/review of Street Smart, Christopher Reeve in no small part, thanks to Superman, got typecast and pigeonholed as a bland "goody-two shoes". Even in something like Street Smart, sure his character does sketchy things, but his still comes off as nice at core.

Maybe Chris should've grown some facial hair to take him away from looking so much visually like Superman. That role undoubtedly defined him and it was very hard to see him as anybody else but Superman. Even in Street Smart, like Clark Kent, Christopher Reeve is playing clean-cut looking a journalist/news reporter.

Others have noted that, he simply had a lot of bad luck with the roles that he had outside of Superman. He had hard time finding scripts he really liked, but when he did like them (such as Street Smart), the movies were usually financially unsuccessful. Interestingly, he turned down a lot of movies which became well known because he felt he wasn't right for them like Romancing The Stone, Lethal Weapon, American Gigolo, Fatal Attraction, Splash, and Body Heat.

More to the point, Chris' self-serious theater instincts often got the better of him. As I previously said, he turned down so many potentially great blockbusters because he wanted to be taken very seriously as an actor. While that's admirable from an artistic standpoint, it wasn't very good from a business or financial box office standpoint.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I think it was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. That movie was a box office bomb, Christopher Reeve was no longer a bankable star, and after that fiasco, he mainly did TV movies and guest appearances on TV shows.

If I'm not mistaken, he also blamed Switching Channels for in effect, kicking him off of the A-list (and having to go back to auditioning for roles). He initially took the role because he wanted to work with Michael Caine (after working with him in Death Trap), and maybe doing a comedy would help him deal with breakup with the mother of his two youngest kids, Gae Exton. But instead, Christopher Reeve had to act as a referee between his feuding co-stars Burt Reynolds (who came in after Michael Caine dropped out) and Kathleen Turner. And Switching Channels, like Superman IV and Street Smart, turned out to be a bomb.

Then again, Superman IV in all likelihood, hurt his career as a leading man more, because that was his "bread and butter". If Christopher Reeve could no longer make Superman work then what's the point?

[Schmo]

At least the “Superman” movies made Reeve wealthy enough that he wouldn’t have to work unless he wanted to. And pay for the care he received in the years following his accident.