Superman II reedit, rerelease?

[Scourge]

I don't know how many of you care about the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve or what any of you know about the soap opera surrounding the filming of Superman II, so here's a quick rundown to get you up to speed before continuing:

• Superman The Movie and Superman II were being filmed concurrently in '77
• Richard Donner was directing both films
• 70% of Superman II was in the can (finished filming)
• After the success of Superman The Movie, Donner was fired by the producers because he didn't get along with them and would cost too much to keep around
• Because of the firing, Gene Hackman and John Williams left the Superman II project
• Donner was replaced by the guy who directed Hard Day's Night
• Only 30 to 40% of the finished Superman II is Donner's footage.
• Among things cut from the film were all of the scenes including Jor-El, played by Marlon Brando
• Gene Hackman's remaining scenes and dialogue were handled by a lookalike and soundalike

These are just a few things about it. There were some major scenes cut from the film that were shot by Donner that had to do with Lois and Superman, and others that had to do with Zod and his counterparts.

Here's a very detailed site for your perusal.

So what's this all about? Well, Richard Donner has been pretty vocal in the past about wanting to recut the movie and restore his footage for a re-release of the film. But until recently that was just a wet dream to the guys who run sites like www.supermancinema.net. But now the head of WB dvd distribution is considering it seriously.

Here's a pdf that's a bit gangly to read over : ARTICLE

Some highlights from that article:

"Warner Home Video is supportive of an extended version of Superman II on DVD," comments WB President Jim Cardwell ... "However, there are complex legal issues that need to be resolved before the film can be re-released. Warner Home Video is presently addressing those issues. ... You're talking hundreds or thousands of hours of research. There are issues relating to Brando, there are issues relating to Hackman, and there are issues relating to Lester, as you can't have two director credits on the same movie. There are also physical issues involved. We're still trying to figure out what footage we actually have. ... It's in the studio's best interests to satisfy consumers. That's what we do. We would like to do it, but we have a lot of homework to do, a lot of research to do, and a lot of legal work to do before we can make any commitment to say we can do it."

So it looks like Warner is at least trying to get the ball rolling. That would be really cool. Some of the footage cut from the movie was used in the televised version to beef the time alottment up.

Anyways, sounds good to me.

[Mzo]

Will the memory loss kiss still be in the movie? That was hella lame.

[Dolemite]

Wow, interesting. I never knew about any of this.

Will the memory loss kiss still be in the movie? That was hella lame.

They gave Supes lots of gay superpowers in the movies that he never had in the comics, like:

- His "S" symbol on his chest turning into a GIANT SURRAN-WRAP TRAP

- Being able to teleport at will

- Creating holograms and "ice clones" of himself

- Reparing the Great Wall of China with LASERS FROM HIS EYES

[Mzo]

- Reparing the Great Wall of China with LASERS FROM HIS EYES

HAHAHAHAHA

[Dolemite]

HAHAHAHAHA

Tell me about it.

[Mzo]

Yeah, I remember. That was from the Superman movie (4, I believe) where Lex steals Supes's hair from the museum and makes that solar powered evil clone out of him.

Just watched it again and LOL!!!!!!

[Scourge]

I actually mistated something up there. I said Lester cut 30 to 40% of Donner's work out of the film. What I actually meant was, the finished product was made up of 30 to 40% of Donner's work and the rest was Lester, meaning there was another 30 to 40% of Donner's work left unseen.

[Mzo]

I actually mistated something up there. I said Lester cut 30 to 40% of Donner's work out of the film. What I actually meant was, the finished product only retained 30 to 40% of Donner's work, meaning there was another 30 to 40% of Donner's work left unseen.

So the glass was half empty instead of half full.

[Scourge]

So the glass was half empty instead of half full.

Well, the way I said it first implied that of the 70% Donner shot, 40% of that was cut out. In actuality, of the 100% finished product, only 30 to 40% of the movie is Donner's footage. Semantics. Makes a little difference tho.

[Dolemite]

Wow, now I have to go back and watch Superman 2 to pick out the fake Hackmans.