Superman II as a SE?

[retroboy]

As I attempted to survive a rainy weekend alone (my girlfriend is busy helping a friend plan a wedding), I found solace in a one-two punch of DVD fun: Superman (1978) and its first sequel, Superman II (1980) (I would never own the two abominations that follow the first sequel). I could rave on about all aspects of the former's DVD release, but I was disappointed with the latter's merely adequate transfer and no extra features.

I know of the tawdry behind-the-scenes events related to Superman II and the firing of Richard Donner. I've also heard rumblings of a possible SE of II with Donner as consultant. Does anybody think Warner will go ahead and make a snazzier edition? I can understand not giving special attention to numbers III and IV--very few admire the last two sequels--but Superman II was a critical and financial success, so I can see the logic of offering another edition with a superior transfer, sound, extras, etc.

They'll get to a Superman IV SE after Lucas releases his original trilogy on DVD.

[BWilliams]

There are a lot of people like you, including me, who would give anything for a Superman II SE. With the arrival last year of the Superman SE on DVD and the complete international extended version of Superman II from overseas, many fans have been clamoring for a much better version with many more features. It had been initially reported in Widescreen Review magazine that Superman II would be a SE, but we got the bare bones version of all the sequels instead.

After watching both the theatrical and complete international extended versions, there's about 55 percent of Richard Donner's footage that made it into the sequel - this includes all of the various telecasts of the extended version around the world. And since Donner filmed around 70-75 percent of the sequel, this leaves 15-20 percent that has been unseen to date. This includes all of Marlon Brando's scenes for the sequel (which the Salkinds and replacement director Richard Lester scrapped and either rewrote for Susannah York or left out altogether), as well as additional scenes at the Daily Planet and Niagara Falls amd portions of the original battle in Metropolis (many still photographs can verify their existence which can be viewed at Superman Cinema and CapedWonder.com). We know this for a fact, citing the Tom Mankiewicz script and the Superman SE DVD as additional references (the DVD contains the screen tests which form the basis of one of the lost scenes at Niagara Falls in which Lois tricks Clark into becoming Superman).

Currently there is a fan project at work called the Superman II Green Cut, which will restore most of the Donner footage back into the film, remove portions of Lester's junk footage, and restore the vision that Richard Donner had originally intended. This fan project is still in development, and the quality of some of the restored scenes is quite good, almost rivaling the original film. However, because many of the scenes found in the extended versions are only in pan-scan, the Green Cut will most likely be presented in a pan-scan format. The Green Cut, once it's completed, will serve as a projected impetus for Warner Bros. to consider a full restoration of Superman II for a SE DVD.

However, because of the final theatrical product and the usage of certain scenes from the extended version, the best we could possibly hope for would be something similar to the international extended version, with the additional scenes presented in a deleted scenes section on the DVD. Also, further supplemental materials could be utilized including both theatrical trailers, any TV spots, a music-only track, and original featurettes for the DVD.

I happen to know a lot of this information on the sequel because I wrote a series of articles for both Superman Cinema and the now-pulled Superman Web Central that clearly explored the sequel's development, including images from the various extended versions.

For more information on the Superman II extended version and still photos from the lost scenes, check out the following sites:

Superman Cinema: http://www.deceptions.net/superman

CapedWonder.com: http://www.capedwonder.com

As for a restored Superman IV, the chances of that happening are very slim indeed. 15 years after its theatrical release, the original 134-minute version of the film remains lost, and according to some reports Warner Bros. ordered the master print to be destroyed after a disastrous sneak preview in June 1987 before the film's release. This was because Cannon Films ran out of money during the production. What we got was a 90-minute edited version in the U.S. A vicious rumor surfaced during the late 90's that the 134-minute version was shown on the now-defunct SFM Holiday Network, and the continuing story was that someone's friend/brother/uncle/parents taped the film and later erased it/couldn't find the tape/threw it out, and all of these rumors centered around the midwestern states. Also, someone started a rumor that he'd found the 134-minute cut dubbed into Korean, but this proved to be false as well. The only version of the film that played in Korea was the 90-minute U.S. version - I know because I have the tape of that Korean video release.

However, the most complete version of the film that has been released to theaters is a 93-minute version that played in overseas theaters including Britain, France, Turkey, and Japan, which was released by Cannon Films and not by Warner Bros. A Japanese laserdisc of the 93-minute version was released by Tohokushinshu Home Video and made its way to the U.S. as an import laserdisc. This 93-minute version is the same as the 93-minute version that currently plays in syndicated TV to this date. However, the U.S. and international theatrical trailers, the 1990 TV trailer from the Viacom telecast, and TV spots utilize footage from that 134-minute cut that verify the existence of the master cut. Should anyone happen to find the 134-minute version, it might be possible to restore the film, but I'm not holding my breath, so the best we could possibly hope for would be the 93-minute version on DVD, with all of the different spots collected as proof of more footage.

Whew! Hope that helps!

[BubbleGumUK]

If they re-issue any Supes film, I want the 2001 Superman The Movie theatrical trailer on there!

That was cool!

[The Limey]

Thanks for sharing all that info BWilliams.What a very interesting and informed read.

[George McFly]

I would love a Richard Donner cut of superman II it would be one of the few movies where I'd keep both the original theatrical and DC DVDs

wow..what a read! but very cool.

when I got the boxed set, I watched all four movies back-to-back. I noticed that a LOT of the footage from 1 was in 2. it was distracting, to say the least. It was also distracting to see the amount of work to make the first one look pretty, but then nothing was done to the other 3. made me want to return the set and just buy the first 2 movies alone.

[BWilliams]

The reason you noticed a considerable amount of the same footage from the first film in the second is this:

Because of the many problems between Richard Donner and the Salkinds and Pierre Spengler, the studio brought in Richard Lester as an unofficial "associate producer" to serve as a go-between to all parties involved. In fact, it was Lester who suggested halting the double production of the two Superman films (at that time, both Superman films were produced simultaneously from two separate scripts, to avoid any problems that resulted from the Salkinds' and Lester's work on The Three Musketeers and its "sequel" The Four Musketeers that was shot at the same time but was unannounced as a sequel during production) so filming could be completed on the first film to meet its December 1978 release date.

However, this forced the Salkinds into a delicate situation: if Superman bombed, they would have forced Donner to complete work on Superman II. If the film succeeded, they would fire him. As we know, Superman became a box office hit in 1978-79, and Donner was fired. Lester came in, rewrote all the scripts from Mario Puzo, the Newmans, and Tom Mankiewicz into his own draft, and restructed the scenes Donner filmed within the framework of his script. Lester was brought aboard and was given the directorial reins because of an outstanding compensation owed him by the Salkinds for his work on the "sequel" The Four Musketeers. (The Salkinds owed a lot of money to everyone, for that matter, especially Margot Kidder, which explains why she got four or five lines in Superman III.) Furthermore, Marlon Brando sued Warner Bros. and the Salkinds for percentage points and profits owed him from his work on both films and also for claiming his facial image should not have been used to promote the film. As a result, all his scenes in Superman II were completely scrapped and rewritten for Susannah York. Brando eventually got between $14-$15 million in an out-of-court settlement for his work on the films, but his scenes for the sequel remain unseen to date, not even in the extended television versions.

Like dominoes, everyone else cited displeasure at the stripped-down budget of the sequel, especially Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. Also, if you look at some of the visual effects, either in the theatrical cut or the extended versions, a lot of the effects are model shots, and you can tell the difference between Donner's Metropolis (the real New York City) and Lester's Metropolis (a large street set with background paintings for forced perspective at times, models of the city at other times). And a number of the shots that were used in the first film were repeated throughout the second film. Even the Fortress set was different in all of Lester's scenes - a trained eye can tell the difference between the sets in Donner's version and those reconstructed in Lester's version.

So the reason you see a number of the same shots in the sequel, and even in Superman III and IV, boils down to one thing - a lot of penny pinching.

[Tenacious B]

Excellent info. I too would be way interested in seeing an SE of Superman II. I'd also be interested in having my memory of ever seeing III or IV erased. Both of those movies were horrible; I reviewed the set for a website and accused the Batman series of taking its cue from Superman. The first one, excellent. The second one, pretty good. III and IV? Unwatchable. Whose idea was it to have Jon Cryer in IV? Why did the bad guy look like Siegfried on steroids? His big weapons were...his nails?!?! How scary!