Director Bryan Singer has confirmed to Empire Online that work is under way on a sequel to "Superman Returns".

"I’m just getting back with writers after the strike. We’re just in the development phase. I’m starting to develop a sequel...with the intention of directing it" he tells the magazine.

Despite the film's near $400 million haul, 'Returns' remains seen as a disappointment both critically and financially. The former due to various story and casting issues, the later due to its massive budget and small final tally in comparison to "Spider-Man" and Singer's own "X-Men" films.

Singer plans to address the story problems it seems - "The first one was a romantic film and a nostalgic film. I’ll be the first person to own up to that without making any apologies for it. I knew it was going to be that from the outset. And now that the characters are established, there’s really an opportunity to up the threat levels...Clearly there’ll be a body count [laughs]. From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror! All those teenage girls who found the movie and mooned over James Marsden or Brandon? Well, I’m going to wake them up!"

One of the more criticised aspects of the first film was the script. It's been previously reported that original scribes Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris are no longer involved in the sequel, and yesterday word came through at IESB that "Transformers" and "Star Trek" scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzmann will be penning the screenplay.