Now here’s an interesting piece of news about Superman, which aligns itself with previous rumors:
“Time Warner now owns all of the footage shot for 1978’s “Superman”, 1980’s “Superman II”, 1983’s “Superman III”, 1984’s “Supergirl”, and 1987’s “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” including distribution rights.” #
This is great news for a number of reasons, but the most important one is:
“The biggest revelation of the interview concerns plans for “Superman II”. Scenes shot by fired director Richard Donner (who directed “Superman: The Movie”), including all of Brando’s work for the second film, may finally see the light of day. “There will be a Donner cut [of “Superman II”] from what I hear,” Salkind said. “There will apparently be an original cut with the original music and more stuff.” Whether the extra footage will be presented as an alternative version of the film or included as a supplement has not yet been determined.” #
The problem with the extra Donner footage, including the Brando stuff, is:
“Obviously we will get something but sources at the studio mentioned awhile back that not everything has been accounted for and there are concerns about the quality.” #
I’ve got various bootlegs of the Superman movies, but the quality stinks as they’re old TV rips.
Incidently, the version I have, is the version which was once available for download, though sadly it’s not quite as easily obtainable any more. But I’m sure if you poke around a bit you might be able to find it.
Nonetheless, The Digital Bits (whose site is ancient and doesn’t have proper permalinks) seem to think that:
By far the best news in all this, is that it seems that Warner is FINALLY allowing Richard Donner to create his original director’s cut of Superman II! How damn cool is that?! As many of you know, Donner directed Superman: The Movie and most of Superman II back to back, but was eventually fired from the sequel. Director Richard Lester was hired to replace him, and it’s Lester’s cut of the film that we’ve seen all these years. What’s cool is that Lester’s theatrical cut of the film is being given special edition treatment as well, so you’ll be able to fully explore BOTH versions of Superman II on DVD this summer. #
This would definitely be great news if it turns out to be true.
After renewed Superman interest, seeing the teaser for Superman Returns, I managed to revisit Superman 1 and 2 the other day.
While they were definitely good superhero movies of the day, it’s not art, and while I’d love to see Donner finally getting his deserved credit, part of me doesn’t really care about Superman 2.
The be brutally honest, the best thing about Superman 1 and 2 is the music, and not all the music, mainly the Krypton theme (i.e. not the main theme, but the one used in the recent Returns trailer).
Yikes, now that is just harsh. How about the scene where Superman returns to the diner and kicks that guys ass? Or The Fortress of Solitude? Or the scene where the villain bitch goes “Hey Superman” and hurls a sewercover at Superman? Or the fight through downtown buildings?
The superman movies were for kids.. I like more serious artistic superhero movies like the original Batman. (Not the Adam West one though it had its moments, the Tim Burton one).
Yeah I remember loving that scene. But I guess it’s like revisiting some C64 games of yore… it’s just not the same.
Yeah that was pretty cool, though what was that about superman tearing off a plastic superman logo from his suit and throwing it towards that bearded guy? Seriously, I didn’t get that.
Yeah… yeah that’ just doesn’t excite me anymore :D
Not excited by superman being slapped through a building?… I don’t… How… WHAT THE HELL!?
Seriously, Superman standing on the pole, throws the crystal. The Fortress rising out of the ice. Classic!
Now I’m not saying the movies (and we’re mainly talking one and two here) don’t have their share of mistakes (like the transparent superman logo or the turning back time), but still… You’re just a mean old man you are!
Yeah, that’s classic… and trust me, it’s not all bad… hey, they’re all better movies (even Superman IV: The Quest for Peace) than House of the Dead, Catwoman and Lykkevej put together.
They’re just not Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars or Alien either.
Yeah, I get that a lot.
I can’t fail to get excited about anything Superman related.
I’m the process of downloading the fan edits and a load of making ofs from the original films. I adore the original films so much.
If people still want that Restored Internation Cut of Superman II then it’s definitely still on the net. I just downloaded it literally 2/3 days ago. Looking forward to watching it.
The Superman Returns had me sitting there with my mouth agape because of the wonderful way they’d used material from the original film. Fantastic effort.
Thanks for the interview link by the way.
I bet they ignore region 2, or at least release it a year later.
Sorry, im just a bit ‘meh’ about Superman.
The scene with the sliding down the building and the missiles and the big robot thing are quite funny though. The crystal base thing just seems a bit tacky nowadays imo.
How could no-one NOT see Clarke Kent and Superman are the same people? I found it hard to suspend belief.
I got the Superman DVD box-set for Christmas, and I’d say the first two films definitely stand the test of time (as well as showcase what a great comic actor Reeve was). They have some restored/deleted scenes in too, notably the first appearance of Lois Lane as the little girl on the train in the Smallville section, and Lex Luthor’s lair being a bit more lair-like. :)
Superman IV, on the other hand, is possibly the worst movie I’ve ever seen.
How could no-one NOT see Clarke Kent and Superman are the same people? I found it hard to suspend belief.
It’s one of his powers. You can read up about it on Wikipedia.
more from The Digital Bits:
We were actually shown a clip of the new Donner Cut at the event – the original opening to Superman II, in which Lois Lane notices a picture of Superman in a copy of The Daily Planet… and then she looks at Clark Kent standing nearby… and she begins drawing glasses, a suit and hat on the picture of Superman. She figures it out. Then she tells Clark she knows who she really is… and jumps out Perry White’s office window to prove she’s right. Clark runs at super-speed downstairs, and blows up at the falling Lois to slow her fall. She lands safely in a fruit stand, by which time Clark has already run back upstairs to preserve his identity. Someone asks him where Lois is, and he replies, “Uh… she just stepped out for a minute.”
An interesting thing to note however, is that it seems Richard Donner himself hasn’t yet been involved (and is not involved in cutting the new version of the film). During the event, I chatted with AICN‘s Drew McWeeny (well known as “Moriarty” over there) who told me that he’s been interviewing Donner recently (watch for that to be posted on AICN soon). The director has reportedly told Drew that he’s not really interested in revisiting the film. When asked during the event what Donner’s involvement was (whether or not he’d do commentary, etc), Warner execs said, “That’s still to be decided.” Our guess is that the studio is still negotiating with Donner to participate, and that it’s merely a matter of a dollar figure that everyone is happy with. Cross your fingers on this, because it’d be a real shame if he declined to be involved. FYI, IGN also has a brief interview with Donner that touches on this.
I hope that if we have 70% Donner footage they plugged the remain 30% with Lester Footage
They need to release this, for I must say that the editing in Superman 2, well it sucked as we all know. They need to release as much Donner footage as they can in a full film with a restored version of all the films.
I hope Warner learns a lesson on how they screw films on the remakes, look at what they did to the Batman series until Batman begins.
If you are going to to a Super hero movie, make a good job of it and do not cookie cut it. If it is a crappy movie “catwoman” then dont make it till you can make a good peice of work with a good cast.
Lets be real, super hero fans are not stupid.