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Superman
Original movie poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Produced by	Ilya Salkind Pierre Spengler
Written by	Comic Book: Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster Story: Mario Puzo Screenplay: David Newman Leslie Newman Robert Benton Mario Puzo Creative Consultant: Tom Mankiewicz
Starring	Christopher Reeve Gene Hackman Marlon Brando Margot Kidder
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Geoffrey Unsworth
Editing by	Stuart Baird
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 15, 1978
Running time	143 min.
Country	United Kingdom  United States
Language	English
Budget	$55,000,000
Followed by	Superman II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Superman (also known as Superman: The Movie), is a popular and critically acclaimed superhero film. It was the first major motion picture to feature the popular DC Comics character of Superman, who had previously appeared throughout the 1940s into the mid 1970s in a radio adventure series, two movie serials (including 17 animated shorts), a live action television series, two animated television series, and even a Broadway musical. It was also the first blockbuster film adaptation of a comic book superhero. The film was released by Warner Bros. in 1978. It was directed by Richard Donner and executive produced by Ilya Salkind, with music by John Williams. It starred top-billed Marlon Brando as Jor-El, and Gene Hackman as arch villan Lex Luthor. The film also introduces Christopher Reeve as the title character in what would become his most famous role.

The movie was filmed and produced at the same time as its sequel, Superman II (1980), although this arrangement was beset by production difficulties, and the sequel was not completed until two years later. There were two further installments in the series: Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), as well as several cancelled sequel attempts after 1987. Superman and Superman II are treated as a loose precursor for the 2006 film Superman Returns.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Development 3.1 Casting of Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman 3.2 Richard Donner 3.3 Casting Superman 3.3.1 Final casting 4 Filming 4.1 Visual effects 5 Reaction 6 Awards 6.1 Religious references 7 Different versions 7.1 The restoration 8 References 9 External links

On the planet Krypton, three criminals (Non, Ursa and General Zod) are put on trial for treason and sedition by scientist Jor-El and the ruling council. Found guilty, Zod swears vengeance on Jor-El before he and his companions are sent to the phantom zone, an alternate dimension of eternal living death. Having gained the council's respect by his actions, Jor-El attempts to persuade them, for a second time, that Krypton will explode within 30 days. His theory dismissed as "outlandish", he is quickly marginalised and forbben to speak of it to others, from fear of a widespread panic. Knowing he and his wife, Lara, have no chance of survival (they will be sent to the phantom zone if they attempt escape) Jor-El arranges to send their infant son Kal-El, along with a green crystal containing the sum of all Kryptonian knowledge, to Earth. Barely completing his escape ship in time, Kal-El escapes Krypton just before it is destroyed. Over the next three years, it travels through space to Earth, with Kal-El sustained and nurtured by the crystals in the ship, which impart information to him from Jor-El. Eventually, Kal-El's spaceship crash-lands on Earth near the town of Smallville, Kansas. The (now three-year-old) boy is found and adopted by a couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark Kent after Martha's maiden name.

Clark develops incredible superhuman powers on Earth as he grows, but he keeps his abilities hidden. Maintaining a shy disposition and avoiding sports lest he give himself away, he is ridiculed and scorned by his peers. One day, after subtly showing off to impress a girl, Jonathan Kent chastises him for his impatience, knowing there is a higher purpose for Clark being on Earth than popularity. Almost immediately afterwards, Jonathan has a fatal heart attack and dies, after which a grieving Clark expresses helplessness, saying "all [these] powers and I couldn't even save him".

One night soon afterwards, Clark wakes to a peculiar sound only he can hear, and is drawn to find it. Going to the barn, he finds a secret trapdoor, covering part of the ship that carried him. Inside, he discovers the green crystal, which has begun to glow. Finding himself with an unexplainable, insatiable desire to head north, he bids farewell to his Earth mother. His journey finally leads him to the Arctic, to a place where he instinctively throws the crystal, causing it to build the Fortress of Solitude, a majestic crystal palace in the architectural style of Krypton. Inside, Kal-El activates holographic recordings of Jor-El, who explains his purpose and origin. After an accelerated twelve years of education and training within the Fortress of Solitude, he emerges garbed in a red cape and blue suit with the El family symbol (resembling a stylised S) on the chest and flies off.

Clark arrives in the city of Metropolis and is hired as a reporter for Daily Planet newspaper by its editor-in-chief, Perry White. He meets the paper's star journalist, Lois Lane, with whom he becomes infatuated, but the sentiment is not returned. At the end of his first day, while attempting to walk Lois home, Clark's true nature is almost unveiled when, during a mugging, he literally catches a bullet meant for Lois, then describes the exact contents of her purse. Fortunately, he is able to convince Lois nothing is amiss.

Meanwhile, super criminal mastermind Lex Luthor is intent on committing "the greatest real-estate swindle of all time." To accomplish this, Luthor hopes to cause a major earthquake in California by using the U.S. government's test launching of two missiles. Already wanted by the police, he has hidden in an underground lair. He has a number of lethal devices in place to ensure no one can enter except his henchman Otis and girlfriend Eve Teschmacher. A cop who attempts to follow Otis is thrown under a train by one of these.

As time passes, Clark continues to get to know Lois. Finally asking her on a date, he finds she is busy, due to meet Air Force One to interview the President. Crestfallen, he slowly makes his way to the street. Lois heads to the roof of the Daily Planet building, to catch a helicopter transfer to the airport. On takeoff, an electrical cable catches one of the aircraft's skids, sending the chopper into a flat spin which leaves it perched on the side of the skyscraper. Attempting to climb over the unconscious pilot, she causes the chopper to shift and she falls out, barely hanging on by a cable. Clark finally reaches the street and sees the situation. Knowing he is Lois' only chance, he quietly transforms into his suit and cape, then flies up to catch Lois and the chopper, in full view of the public and TV cameras. Knowing his existence is no longer secret, the red-caped hero chooses to spend the night helping others, also stopping a heist from an enterprising burglar scaling the Solow Building via suction cups attached to his body, thwarting a gang of bank robbers attempting to escape via a cabin cruiser (depositing the vessel in the middle of Wall Street), rescuing Air Force One after an electrical storm destroys one of their jet engines, and even finding time to save a cat from a tree in Brooklyn Heights, delivering it back to the pet's owner.

The next day, Perry White directs all his reporters to find out as much information as possible about this mysterious hero. He decides to grant Lois an exclusive interview and even obliges her a flight over Metropolis. After their romantic flight, the costumed hero flies off and Lois says to herself, "What a super man", thus giving the mysterious rescuer his name, "Superman." Clark shows up moments later to take Lois out. He takes his glasses off and attempts to muster the courage to tell Lois the truth, but falters, retaining his disguise as the awkward Clark Kent.

Luthor perceives Superman to be a serious threat, luring him to his lair with a threat of a poisonous gas pellet that will decimate the population of Metropolis. After easily passing through Luthor's defenses, Superman confronts Luthor, who reveals the gas threat to be a hoax. He then reveals his true plans, knowing this will keep Superman distracted. He has reprogrammed one of the missles to hit the San Andreas Fault. The California quake will cause all of California to slide into the ocean, making the vast tracts of desert land that Luthor has quietly purchased skyrocket in value when it becomes the new West Coast of the United States. The other missle, originally intended as a fail safe, was mis-programmed by Otis. However, fortuitously for Luthor, it is now headed for Hackensack, New Jersey, the opposite side of the country, meaning even Superman can not stop both of them. He then traps the superhero with kryptonite — the only thing to which he is vulnerable. However, Superman escapes with the help of Miss Teschmacher, whom is frightened for the fate of her mother, who happens to live in Hackensack.

Superman, after promising Teschmacher to save her mother's life, diverts the path of the Hackensack missile, forcing it into space, but meanwhile, the other missile hits the San Andreas Fault in California, triggering a massive earthquake along the length of the fault. Superman plunges deep into the earth to shore up the fault line, preventing the loss of the West Coast. However, the quake's violent aftershocks still cause the breaching of the Hoover Dam and other disasters. Lois Lane happens to be in California, covering the story of Luthor's suspicious land purchase. With her car out of gas during the quake, Lois' car falls into a crevasse, and is buried by tons of dirt, trapping her inside and crushing and smothering her to death.

After dealing with all the disasters, Superman discovers Lois' lifeless body. Overcome with grief, an enraged Superman flies into the heavens. He hears Jor El's voice forbidding him to interfere in human history, but also hears Jonathan Kent's last words to him telling him that "you are here for a reason." Disregarding his biological father's words, Superman flies around the Earth until he surpasses the speed of light, going back in time.

In the past, he prevents the events leading up to Lois' death. When the earthquake begins, he flies back to Lois, who is alive and well. Superman bids farewell and flies off, with a task to finish. Superman captures Luthor and Otis and delivers them to prison. The film ends with the prison warden stating "This country is safe again, Superman, thanks to you." Superman demurs, claiming that "we're all on the same team", and flies into the stratosphere, witnessing the sunrise from outer space.

Actor	Role
Marlon Brando	Jor-El
Gene Hackman	Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve	Kal El / Clark Kent / Superman
Margot Kidder	Lois Lane
Ned Beatty	Otis
Jackie Cooper	Perry White
Marc McClure	Jimmy Olsen
Glenn Ford	Jonathan Kent
Phyllis Thaxter	Martha Kent
Valerie Perrine	Eve Teschmacher
Maria Schell	Vond-Ah
Susannah York	Lara
Terence Stamp	General Zod
Sarah Douglas	Ursa
Jack O'Halloran	Non
Jeff East	Young Clark Kent
Diane Sherry	Lana Lang

As a child, growing up in New York, Mexican-born Ilya Salkind learned to speak English by watching the Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, and reading Superman comic books from the 1950s. After the success of The Four Musketeers, Ilya met his father Alexander for dinner in Paris, where they discussed their next film project. Salkind was inspired to bring up Superman after seeing a billboard for The Mark of Zorro. ^[1]

Long time partner Pierre Spengler joined the producing team and the three purchased the rights to Superman. The contract gave them the right to produce Superman film and television properties for 25 years. Although Warner Brothers owned the rights to the Superman family of characters since they acquired DC Comics in the early 1970s, they had no interest in bringing the characters to life on film. The live-action Batman television show had left a taint on film depictions of comic book super-heroes. Even though the Salkinds owned the film rights, Warner Brothers still had the distribution rights, which gave them as much creative control over the project. ^[1]

Alexander and Ilya Salkind approached Julius Schwartz, then the editor of Superman for DC Comics, for suggestions on screenwriters. Schwartz recommended his close friend Leigh Brackett. Ilya was interested in hiring her, but changed his mind upon learning that she lived in California. The Salkinds wanted someone who was in New York so they could start immediately. As luck would have it, Brackett would help on the writing process for Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. ^[2]

Schwartz then suggested Alfred Bester, who Ilya personally asked to write a treatment for the film, though Alexander Salkind disliked the idea; the elder Salkind wanted a highly noticeable writer, and Mario Puzo was hired to write the script. Ilya told him to make the script serious but claims the Puzo script, which he finished his second draft in July of 1975, was deliberately campy. The Salkinds were inspired to shoot two films simultaneously after reading Puzo's 500-plus page script. ^[2]

As Puzo wrote the script, Salkind offered the director's position to Francis Ford Coppola, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Yates, and William Friedkin, all of whom turned it down, though Salkind claims that Yates was still very interested in directing. One director that caught Ilya Salkind's eye was Steven Spielberg, who was then unknown and working on Jaws. Spielberg also was interested and very much wanted to do it. Alexander Salkind was against the idea, wanting a well-known director, and thought it best to wait until that fish movie of his would be released, to see whether it would become successful or not. Jaws was an outstanding success, and Spielberg was offered the director's position. However, he had to decline due to his commitment on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ^[1]

Eventually, Guy Hamilton was hired as the director after Salkind was impressed with Goldfinger and Battle of Britain. Academy Award-winning writers Robert Benton, David Newman, and wife Leslie Newman were brought in to rewrite the script shortly after the hiring of Hamilton. ^[3] . Leslie Newman was to specifically "write Lois." The production was moved from Paris to Rome, and Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner was used as a model for flying tests as Superman; whom Salkind claims they wasted $2 million in Rome on the tests. ^[1]

Paul Newman was offered all three roles of Jor-El, Lex Luthor, and Superman, but declined all of them. In May of 1975 acclaimed actors Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman signed on as Jor-El and Lex Luthor respectively. ^[1] The Salkinds wanted the public to know they were doing a serious adaptation of a comic book, thus actors like Brando and Hackman were sought after. Brando signed on for the role with heavy precautions. He demanded $3.7 million up front. He also was to receive 11.75% of the box office gross with the entire total racking up to $19 million. ^[1] Brando also refused to memorize his lines, so his blocking and dialog had to be presented on cue cards, or written somewhere on the set. In the scene where Jor-El places baby Kal-El in the rocket, his lines were written on the diaper of the baby. ^[4] Hackman earned $2 million for his role. ^[2]

Newman found out about Brando's salary and Salkind joked that he nearly had a heart attack, knowing that he could have earned as much money as Brando. Despite earning $19 million for his roughly 20 minutes of screen time, Brando claimed he wasn't paid all of his money, and sued the Salkinds. The lawsuit prevented the Salkinds from using more footage of Brando in Superman II. Eventually, some of the brief footage was restored for Superman Returns. ^[1]

Unfortunately or fortunately, Brando couldn't shoot in Italy, due to a lawsuit from a previous film Last Tango in Paris, because of "sexual obscenity." Ilya Salkind found out that moving the production to England would save them a lot of money. Guy Hamilton had to drop out because he was a tax exile in the UK, ^[1] which only let him spend 30 days a year in the country. ^[3]

To replace Hamilton, Salkind went to Mark Robson, after being impressed with Earthquake. Robson was excited for the opportunity, though Salkind changed his mind after seeing The Omen, directed by Richard Donner. Robert Benton and David Newman had written the Broadway musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, and Donner felt that the script rewrite by Benton and both Newmans was too jokey and cynical. Donner brought in Tom Mankiewicz to further rewrite the script.^[5].

When Donner called Mankiewicz, Mankiewicz turned down the offer claiming that he had enough with rewriting scripts for Hollywood. Donner told Mankiewicz he would meet him at his house and hung up. When Donner showed up, he was in a full Superman costume, and sprinted across Mankiewicz' lawn. Donner told him that with enough commitment, they could perform a serious, well-written superhero movie, being the first of its kind to take comic books seriously.^[3] Salkind remarked of the rewrite, "If you compare [earlier scripts] to the Mankiewicz script, frankly, it's surprising how little changes there were to the dialogue. Things have to be said true the way they are. I had forgotten myself and re-read the Newman script. [A]ll that stuff [on Krypton] was the same, the entire Lex Luthor thing. Tom did some great, great stuff but there was a lot of great stuff [already]".^[1] The Writers Guild gave screenwriting credit to Puzo, Benton, and the Newmans. Donner credited Mankiewicz as "Creative Consultant", while Donner went uncredited.^[4]

For the role of Superman Salkind claims that Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, and Jon Voight were all considered. Both Neil Diamond and Arnold Schwarzenegger lobbied hard for the role, but were ignored. ^[1] Donner claims that the Salkinds offered Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, and other famous actors the leading role, but all of them turned it down. As soon as Donner came in, he came up with the idea of casting an unknown, claiming he couldn't take a serious and famous actor seriously if he were to wear the Superman suit. ^[3]

Various unknowns were tested. Tom Mankiewicz claims that there were many great strong brutes who couldn't act, and many great actors who weren't physically right for the role. Casting director Lynn Stalmaster introduced Salkind and Donner to Christopher Reeve. Salkind and Donner met Reeve in New York five months before filming, though the two thought he was extremely skinny, thus they went back and looked for more people. Casting became so desperate that a full screen test was arranged for Salkind's wife's dentist. Portions of the dentist's test can be seen on Look, Up In The Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman. ^[3]

The filmmakers decided to give Reeve a chance, and flew him out to London for a February 1977 screen test. Within 10 minutes, Richard Donner called Ilya Salkind saying, "We have our Superman!" Portions of Reeve's London screen test are included on the DVD special features. ^[1] Filming was to begin in one month, and the filmmakers were to have Reeve wear a muscle suit, thinking that he couldn't possibly obtain the muscular physique. Reeve refused to do so,^[6] and decided to go through a strict workout regime with bodybuilder David Prowse to bulk up his muscular tone. Prowse had recently sported the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. Reeve worked out so much during filming that some his scenes had to be re-shot because the differences in his physique were clearly obvious. ^[4]

For the role of Lois Lane, Stalmaster said that just about every single available actress between the ages of 25 and 30, with most of them coming from casting agencies located in Los Angeles, New York, and southeastern Canada, read for the role. Among them were Stockard Channing, Lesley Ann Warren, Susan Blakely, Deborah Raffin, and Anne Archer.^[3]Shirley Maclaine was also in the running,^[2] with Holly Palance used for Christopher Reeve's screen test. Margot Kidder eventually tested for the role and won over the filmmakers. Warren had coincidentally portrayed Lois Lane in the TV special of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman. ^[3] Channing was Donner's second choice for Lois Lane. ^[4]

Keenan Wynn was originally cast as Perry White. When he arrived at the airport in England to start filming, he had a heart attack, and the role was recast with Jackie Cooper at the very last second. Both Goldie Hawn and Ann Margaret turned down the role of Miss Eve Teschmacher because they were asking for too much money, thus Valerie Perrine was cast. ^[4]

Superman started filming on March 24, 1977. It was shot simultaneously with Superman II, including eleven different units on location. The scenes of Krypton were shot at both Pinewood and Shepperton Studios. Other miniatures such as the Hoover Dam were constructed there as well. Smallville was shot on location in High River, Alberta while Metropolis was filmed in Calgary, Alberta. For scenes involving The Daily Planet, The New York Daily News was put in its place. ^[7]

According to many of those involved, the entire shoot was very stressful. Throughout the project, Richard Donner, who was just as stressed as the actors and the crew, was able to provide comedic efforts to pass the time. Margot Kidder says that the only motive that kept her going was knowing the fact that Donner was going through more traumas and less hours of sleep than anyone else. ^[7]

Tom Mankiewicz claims that Richard Donner was never given a budget or a schedule, and was constantly told by the Salkinds that he was either over budget or behind schedule. Of course whenever a film needs more money from the studio, the producers are always the one that gets blamed. Warner Brothers stepped up and provided more money for the film to get going. ^[7] Richard Lester, who directed the Salkind's previous films The Three Musketeers and its sequel The Four Musketeers, was brought in as an uncredited producer, setting a balance between Donner and the Salkinds. Mankiewicz claims the Salkinds brought in Lester because they were either waiting for Donner to quit, or having Donner go so over budget, that he would be fired. ^[7]

Warner Brothers finally had enough of all the production problems on trying to film two movies back-to-back, and decided to finish filming the first one after filming 80% of the sequel. Donner's longtime friend Stuart Baird was brought into help edit the film. Those closest involved in the film say that it was Donner's only escape from everything else that was going. The friendship between Donner and Baird was somewhat strange, with Baird claiming he either walked out or was fired by Donner three times. Whenever different editors were brought in as replacements, Baird would come back minutes later, yelling at them for touching his equipment. ^[7]

While filming the scene of Superman saving Lois Lane after falling out of the helicopter, Geoffrey Unsworth needed more lighting for a certain shot and illegally plugged a lamp into a street light. At the same moment the costly and destructive New York blackout struck the city, convincing Unsworth that he had caused the whole thing.^[4]

Superman is well-known for its large-scale special effects sequences, all of which were created without the benefit of computer generated imagery (CGI). The sets of Krypton were built at Pinewood Studios, with the Kryptonian Council Dome being designed as a miniature. The Golden Gate Bridge miniature stood 70 feet long, and 20 feet wide. The Hoover Dam was a miniature as well, with slow motion (over-cranked camera) used to simulate the vast amount of water. ^[8]

The Fortress of Solitude was a full-scale set, though some scenes required matte paintings. The Destruction of Krypton was also filmed on a full-scale set that was crushed to pieces. Young Clark Kent's long-distance football punt was executed courtesy of a cannon placed in the ground. Discarded footage exists of Superman literally flying in lava during the earthquake scene; portions of this footage can be seen on the DVD in the special features section. ^[8]

Of all the visual effects, the flying sequences were the hardest. The first test involved simply catapulting a dummy out of a cannon. Another technique was to have a remote control cast of the character flying around. Both were discarded due to lack of movement. High quality, realistic-looking animation was tried, with animated speed trails added to make the effect more convincing. Portions of these tests can be seen on the DVD in the special features section. ^[8]

Finally, a technique was developed that combined front projection with specially designed zoom lenses. The illusion of movement was created by zooming in on Christopher Reeve while making the front projected image appear to recede. For scenes where Superman has to interact with other people or objects while in flight, Reeve and fellow actors were put in a variety of rigging equipment with careful lighting and photography to hide the equipment. The Superman costume was originally a much darker blue, but had to change to a more turquoise color in order to composite better. ^[8]

The film grossed $134,218,018 in the U.S., and $166,000,000 internationally.^{[citation needed]}.

Superman received a 93% positive rating from the critics-aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.^[9] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "good, clean, simple-minded fun",^[10] while Variety opined, "Magnify James Bond's extraordinary physical powers while curbing his sex drive and you have the essence of Superman, a wonderful, chuckling, preposterously exciting fantasy".^[11] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, called it "a pure delight, a wondrous combination of all the old-fashioned things we never really get tired of", and praised the then-unknown Christopher Reeve as "an engaging actor, open and funny in his big love scene with Lois Lane, and then correctly awesome in his showdown with the archvillain.... Reeve sells the role; wrong casting here would have sunk everything".^[12] In one of the few dissenting reviews, Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader found, "The tone, style, and point of view seem to change almost from shot to shot" and said, "Gene Hackman plays the arch-villain like a hairdresser left over from a TV skit".^[13]

Among retrospective reviews, Danny Graydon of the BBC said in 2001 that the film "remains a defining high point of Hollywood's tumultuous relationship with superheroes".^[14] Catharine Tunnacliffe of Toronto Star Newspapers' Eye Weekly said, "Superman has aged more gracefully than many '70s sci-fi films," and said that while "the film's drawn-out first act may make viewers long for the more modern wham-blam style of comic-book movies", that early part evoked "art-house elegance".^[15]

In his commentary for the movie, Ilya Salkind states that the end credits for the movie were the longest ever seen in motion picture history up to that point.

Superman received a "Special Achievement" Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, in one of the years when there was no such competition for the award. It was nominated for Best Film Editing, John Williams was nominated for Best Music, Original Score, and Best Sound.

Tom Mankiewicz theorizes the following religious references in the DVD audio commentary:

• Jor-El casting out Zod from Krypton parallels God casting out Satan from Heaven.
• The speech Jor-El gives as he and Lara say goodbye to Kal-El "...the son becomes the father and the father the son..."
• The ship that brings Kal-El to Earth is in the form of a star (the star of Bethlehem).
• Kal-El comes to a couple unable to have children, as Martha Kent quotes, "...how we prayed and prayed the good Lord see fit to give us a child."
• Just as there is not much known about Jesus during his middle years, Clark travels into the wilderness to find out who he really was and what he had to do.
• Jor-El quotes,"... you must live as one of them but always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people Kal-El, they wish to be, they only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son."
• Superman starts his work in his thirtieth year, the same age Jesus was when he left Nazareth to preach. ^[4]

Superman was originally released to theaters in December 1978 with a running time of 143 minutes, edited from Richard Donner's original three-hour director's rough cut. In 1981, the rights to the movie reverted from Warner Brothers to Alexander Salkind, which allowed him to re-edit the film for international television distribution, including over 45 minutes of previously deleted footage and even some of John Williams' original score that had been left out of the theatrical cut, both elements restored to the film.

This so-called "Salkind International Edit" runs 188 minutes. Due to a clause in the director's contract, Donner was excluded from the re-editing process. It was expanded in an attempt by the Salkinds to charge by the minute for television rights. ABC, which had U.S. broadcast rights to the Salkinds' library, first aired Superman domestically in February 1982 as a two-night event. ABC's 182-minute edit, which deleted a few short scenes deemed inappropriate for television, aired again in November of 1982. The ABC version was derived from the Salkind edit. Subsequently, both the theatrical and television versions were distributed in syndication by Warner Bros., which regained control of the film in 1985, but only the theatrical version was issued on home video until 2001, when the special edition DVD featured a 151-minute cut.

In 1979, WCI Home Video (now Warner Home Video) issued Superman on VHS, Betamax and Laserdisc. However, only for the VHS and Betamax releases, the film was truncated to a length of 127 minutes by way of time compression, as most scenes without dialog were sped up, and a majority of the film's closing credits were deleted, instead replacing them with a truncated version consisting of the copyright notice, and a chyron of the credits taken from an 8mm release of selected scenes from the film. This time compression was necessary because of the technological limitations of videocassettes at the time and the unavailability of long-playing cassettes. The film would not be available in an uncompressed form until 1983, when Warner Bros. finally issued such a version on home video. This version was re-released to video in 1986. Another Laserdisc set of the film was released in 1990, which was color-corrected and in widescreen format, and in its original theatrical version.

In 1994, Los Angeles television station KCOP (at the time an independent station) aired the first U.S. broadcast of the complete Salkind edit (it was broadcast in Ireland and Australia as far back as 1982, this cut was originally prepared in 1981 before ABC's original telecast). The full expanded cut has unofficially been circulated on video among fans throughout the bootleg community, at conventions and, most recently, via Internet forums.

In 2000, director Richard Donner and film restoration producer Michael Thau prepared a new 151-minute "Special Edition" designed for theatrical re-release. Working from original film elements (which were beginning to deteriorate), the film went through a nine-month restoration, with both picture and sound rejuvenated (with many new audio effects added, such as a different-sounding "whooshes" used for the opening credits).

The restoration also involved thorough dirt cleaning, reassembling many optical effects from original negative and a new, modern color timing. Also, Donner selected eight of the 45-plus minutes that had been used for the television release to be incorporated into this new cut. This version was considered for theatrical re-issue, but was only released to video and, for the first time ever, on DVD, in the summer of 2001. This version has been seen on cable television and in revival film houses.

The audio for this presentation of the movie is not a simple restoration, but a complete re-mix. When inspecting materials for the restoration the original multi-channel soundtrack was deemed unusable for either theatrical or DVD release. The sound crew took on the job of re-creating or re-recording almost every sound effect. Re-recording mixers used these new effects, together with the recently found, original 1978 John Williams 6-track music recording, and cleaned up dialog tracks to create the new 5.1 channel mix.

Consequently, the soundtrack used for the DVD is an entirely new soundtrack. This caused a minor controversy in the DVD community as none of the original soundtrack mixes were made available until the 2006 4-disc DVD release (which utilized the original theatrical dolby 2.0 stereo mix). However, the initial pressing of the 2006 DVD accidentally omitted this audio track (and had a downmixed version of the 5.1 audio from the 2000 version in its place), but Warner Home Video offered replacement discs featuring the original audio track shortly after the DVD's release.

On November 28, 2006, Warner Home Video released The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection, an 8-disc box set featuring the DVD debut of the original 1978 theatrical version of this film, the 2000 restored edition, the original theatrical Superman II, and deluxe versions of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was not included in this set. In the UK this was released as a 9-disc box set additionally containing Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

A remastered version of the 143-minute theatrical cut was also prepared in 2000, and although this version had not been released on DVD, it had been seen on cable television. However, Warner Brothers issued the theatrical cut for the first time on DVD as part of the studio's 14-disc box set, The Ultimate Superman Collection, on November 28, 2006. There was also a "stand-alone" four-DVD set of the first film, which included all the material carried over from the 2001 disc except the storyboards. (see below) In addition to the theatrical cut and new supplements.

• Superman at the Internet Movie Database
• Superman: The Movie at RottenTomatoes.com
• Superman Cinema, a comprehensive authority for all the Superman movies
• Movie Reviews Superman: The Movie on the Christopher Reeve Homepage
• Why You Should Respect Christopher Reeve - an essay by Alan Kistler.
• MovieTourGuide.com - Maps and Directions to Superman: The Movie Filming Locations
• Superman Homepage: Superman: The Movie - Synopsis/Review/Critique
• Essay: The Themes of Superman (1978)

Awards
Preceded by Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope	Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1978	Succeeded by Alien

v • d • e DC Comics films
The Serials	Batman (1943) • Hop Harrigan (1946) • The Vigilante (1947) • Superman (1948) • Congo Bill (1948) • Batman and Robin (1949) • Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950)
Single films	Superman and the Mole Men (1951) • Batman (1966) • Supergirl (1984) • Steel (1997) • Road to Perdition (2002) • Catwoman (2004) • A History of Violence (2005) • Constantine (2005) • V for Vendetta (2006) • Watchmen (2009)
Franchises	Batman (1989–1997): Batman (1989) • Batman Returns (1992) • Batman Forever (1995) • Batman & Robin (1997) Batman (2005 — ): Batman Begins (2005) • The Dark Knight (2008) Superman: Superman (1978) • Superman II (1980) • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006) • Superman III (1983) • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) • Superman Returns (2006) Swamp Thing: Swamp Thing (1982) • The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

v • d • e Films directed by Richard Donner
X-15 • Salt and Pepper • Twinky • The Omen • Superman • Inside Moves • The Toy • The Goonies • Ladyhawke • Lethal Weapon • Scrooged • Lethal Weapon 2 • Radio Flyer • Lethal Weapon 3 • Maverick • Assassins • Conspiracy Theory • Lethal Weapon 4 • Timeline • 16 Blocks • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

v • d • e Films starring Gene Hackman

Hawaii (1966) • Bonnie & Clyde (1967) • The Gypsy Moths (1969) • Downhill Racer (1969) • Marooned (1969) • I Never Sang for My Father (1970) • The Hunting Party (1971) • The French Connection (1971) • Prime Cut (1972) • The Poseidon Adventure (1972) • Scarecrow (1973) • The Conversation (1974) • French Connection II (1975) • Night Moves (1975) • Bite the Bullet (1975) • The Domino Principle (1977) • A Bridge Too Far (1977) • March or Die (1977) • Superman (1978) • Superman II (1980) • All Night Long (1981) • Reds (1981) • Under Fire (1983) • Uncommon Valor (1983) • Eureka (1984) • Misunderstood (1984) • Twice in a Lifetime (1985) • Target (1985) • Hoosiers (1986) • No Way Out (1987) • Superman IV (1987) • Bat*21 (1988) • Mississippi Burning (1988) • The Package (1989) • Loose Cannons (1990) • Postcards from the Edge (1990) • Narrow Margin (1990) • Class Action (1991) • Company Business (1991) • Unforgiven (1992) • The Firm (1993) • Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) • The Quick and the Dead (1995) • Crimson Tide (1995) • Get Shorty (1995) • The Birdcage (1996) • Extreme Measures (1996) • The Chamber (1996) • Absolute Power (1997) • Twilight (1998) • Enemy of the State (1998) • Antz (1998) • Under Suspicion (2000) • The Replacements (2000) • Heist (2001) • The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) • Behind Enemy Lines (2001) • Runaway Jury (2003) • Welcome to Mooseport (2004)

v • d • e Superman in popular media
Actors	Bud Collyer · Kirk Alyn · George Reeves · Bob Holiday · Danny Dark (v) · David Wilson · Christopher Reeve · Beau Weaver (v) · John Haymes Newton · Gerard Christopher · Dean Cain · Timothy Daly (v) · Christopher McDonald (v) · Tom Welling · George Newbern (v) · Brandon Routh · Yuri Lowenthal (v) · Adam Baldwin (v) · Kyle MacLachlan (v)
Film	Superman (1948) · Atom Man vs. Superman · Superman and the Mole Men · Superman (1978) · Superman II · Superman III · Supergirl · Superman IV: The Quest for Peace · Superman Returns · Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut · Superman: Man of Steel
Television	Adventures of Superman · Superboy · Lois & Clark · Smallville · Look, Up in the Sky!
Animation	1940s cartoons · The New Adventures of Superman · Super Friends · Superman (1988) · Superman: The Animated Series · Justice League · Justice League Unlimited · Legion of Super Heroes · Superman: Doomsday · Justice League: The New Frontier
Video games	Atari 2600 (1979) · Arcade game (1988) · NES (1988) · Sega Genesis (1992) · The Death and Return of Superman · Superman 64 · Shadow of Apokolips · Superman: The Man of Steel · Countdown to Apokolips · Superman Returns · Fortress of Solitude
Other media	Radio · Broadway Theater · Newspaper Strips
DVD	The Ultimate Superman Collection · The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection