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All superheroes being taken over by British?

As Man of Steel soars to $125 million-plus debut, Brits become new studio favourites. But is it because they're cheap?

"All our superheroes are being taken over by the British," claims 'Fox News' presenter, Brian Kilmeade.

In the week that old Etonian actor Henry Cavill made his debut as Superman in 'Man of Steel', Hollywood producers are now acknowledging that Brits can play Hollywood heroes as well as villains.



Early Friday box office numbers show big returns for Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan's 'Superman' origin pic, starring British-born Cavill and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

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The movie, produced by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures is the second-best opening of summer 2013 to date (after 'Iron Man 3' which took $174.6 million).

'Man of Steel' is estimated to take $125m  this weekend as it starts rolling out in North America, including $12 million from special screenings hosted by retail giant Walmart and $9 million from midnight runs.

Studio chefs have realised that British actors are not only accepted by filmgoers in traditionally American rolls, they are often better trained and demand less money, leading to a British dominance of Hollywood's most revered "Men in Tights" roles.

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We now have a hat trick of Brits in spandex. Alongside Cavill, Batman is played by Welsh-born actor Christian Bale; while 'Spiderman' has been rebooted by Andrew Garfield, who, though born in LA, was raised in Surrey by his Essex-born mother and American father.

The Buckinghamshire-born Aaron Taylor-Johnson has also been tipped this week to play the role of Quicksilver, the speedy superhero in 'Avengers 2'.

According to veteran film critic Barry Norman: "Brits are getting much better at American accents. They used to be rubbish at doing them but now look at Damian Lewis in 'Homeland' and you would believe he was a US marine sergeant not an old Etonian."

Kilmeade notes the arrival of Brits as supergeroes conceded with a "dark" reinvention of the classic superhero tales.

David S. Goyer penned the 'Man of Steel' script based on a story he crafted with Nolan. Warners and Legendary turned to Nolan as a producer on the project after he successfully revived the 'Batman' franchise with his 'Dark Knight' trilogy. In the summer of 2005, Nolan's 'Batman Begins' opened to $48.7 million and had incredible staying power.

But Kilmeade sounds note of warning about the so-called Brit invasion: "I would imagine all these guys came cheaper. Even Christian Bale was probably cheaper than his American rivals when he first got the role."