Good for you. I’m 40 and I still regret not seeing superman the movie on an outdoor showing two years ago. I’ve only seen the movie on video and I just want the theatrical experience before I die LOL
Marc McClure was right. If Donner had complete control, we would have had a more epic Superman II and we would not be where we are today with sh*tty Superman movies.
And I know they tried getting Donner and Mank for Superman IV and they considered it. They could have saved the movie, because Donner knew how to stand up for his actors and the story. He would have led a huge walk out when budget got slashed. Chris wanted IV to be like the earlier ones but what was missing was Donner. Donner is not a "hired gun director:" as opposed to Lester or Furie. Donner takes over a production, does it his was and clearly based on Superman: The Movie he new what he was doing.
The theatrical cut is definitely problematic, and I don't like how they treated Lex as a character. But the Ultimate Edition corrected several (though not all) of that film's issues.
Great documentary. And since then, some others have left us too. But this film has left a legacy and always will. It's a generational film that will be loved by so many more generations to come.
CANNON had the distribution rights and they used Superman IV budget to make Masters of the Universe. Which was a major loss for them. The budget for Superman IV was 17 million original budget 35 million. Box office 16 million.
I missed that fact. From Annette's interview, it seemed like the Salkinds wanted Lana in it from the start, due to Margot's comments about them firing Donner. I actually have an easier time with IV than III, because even though both suck, it seemed like Chris & Co. were having more fun with the latter.
Annette O'Toole and Margot Kidder would later share the screen together in Smallville, where Reeve would also guest star. You got to admire that show for starting the tradition of using actors from past related series/shows in later re-adaptations of the story like Supergirl.
And of course Crisis on Infinite Earths also brought back some of the other Supermans (interesting with Routh since he was already another character too).
@@johngray5826 It was great to see Routh get another chance and proof how great he could've been had he continued in the role. And yeah, the Smallville scene wasn't perfect, but I applaud them for succeeding in getting Tom back in the role. That's already a major achievement.
Ilya said it made 100 million dollars in another documentary but I don't know if he meant in theatres or in rentals combined with the theatrical take. I know Superman 3 did very well on rentals likely because people felt it might not be worth seeing in theatres this time around. It's hard to find the overseas take for Superman 2 as well but Superman The Movie made a lot of money overseas 166 mil and 300 mil World-Wide.
I agree with Ilya talking about finding a new love interest because after 2 there really was no place to go with Clark and Lois. Clark going back to Smallville and reconnecting with Lana was a cute idea but they only went half way with it, never really establishing an actual romance between them. Chris Reeve said he toned down the goofy Clark for Superman 3 because Lana is supposed to be interested in him and not Superman. But the script never flushed out the romance.
Your kidding right? Haven't you noticed that 3 and 4 and Supergirl FAILED? Louis and Clark got married in the comics, they could've gone in that path damn it.
@@johnsonwaite9865 The Salkinds were ignorant idiot's especially the son. They threw all the money at the first film then turned into who whores on the sequels after 2. I truly felt sorry for Reeve. But I guess anyone with half a brain would take 2 million bucks to do a sequel. Yes its art but its also a business
@@johnsonwaite9865 Even though the first film is all "Old School" effects I can't help but wonder how amazingly fabulous they could have made the flying stuff if done today. Not to take away what they did with the first film, which I entirely love, but combining Reeve's classical training with the CGI flying techniques of today? Would have been mind boggling. But Donner was such a good director he knew how to shoot "old school" techniques and make them look good. The helicopter sequence is a classic. I still get chills watching it today. The hair on my arms goes up. Just the slow build up to the big reveal. The music. The editing. The very gradual realization for Superman. John Williams music . Nothing after this came remotely close.
According to IMDB, it made about $56.9 million in the USA, $6.7 million in the UK, and $1.6 million in Germany. That's a rough total of $65.2 million grossed.
I. Skulding says it was not a flop? Maybe money wise it wasn't but it goes to show that they didn't care about us.. the fans of Superman and the 1st 2 movies. Firing Donner was a huge mistake and we had to pay for it.
7:55 I really hope that you are satisfied with how she was portrayed on Smallville and on the current series Helen probably do since you were cast as her adopted mother, which was a brilliant decision.
I heard they wanted to use Bizarro, and Reeve would have played that role to but they couldn't get the rights. Which I'm glad cause it give us Mark Pillow as my favorite villain in Nuclear Man. The movie should have been epic, but those damn Cannon Studio guys really fucked it up. They not only cut the budget big time, but used that money for their other projects. They changed directors, cut the FX, props, scenes and the script. They even reused old scenes of Superman flying and used it instead of shooting new scenes. I heard that Mark said that they didn't tell him or Gene they were going to do that. And he said that they found out when they went to the premier or screening I think, and having see the final cut for the first time both him and Gene were shocked at what Cannon Studios did. Again I heard that he said this, I don't know if it was true though. I did see an original with his voice and it was much better, they should of left it be but keep the awesome metallic roar. They even made just poor Mark to the press tour and even meet Princess Diana in his Nuclear Man costume.
According to BoxOfficemojo part 3 grossed nearly 60 Million in US alone. Are you saying that it only brought in another 5.3 Million, from the rest of the world??
I would trust Boxmojo over IMDB, because the former gets their figures from Studios and Exhibitors and not ordinary online users.....But either way, the total of 65.3 which you mentioned is from US, UK, and Germany. What about all the other countries??? I estimate counting up all the totals from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America that the film grossed around 120 Million.
For me the untold story of Superman is Richard Leicester’s involvement in all this. All the voices are here but Leicester I don’t has have ever spoken about this. Leicester is seen as a bad guy in all this. Richard Donner’s first film is by far the best. It propelled many comic book films. The first film is very high risk film making.
Marc mcClure (Jimmy) said it best:. If only they'd have left Dick Donner at the helm...... And quite honestly not been so super cheap they'd have a a monster series of movies!!! Even after the success of the first movie that Spengler producer guy was talking about how "economically" it made sense to get rid of Brando... LOL THEY WERE JUST CHEAP! They made a literal fortune off of Superman the Movie. So...........?.............😁
And you are right certainly in no way was Superman 3 a hit in theatres at all. Even if you adjust the ticket sales to 2013 it still only makes 155 mil compared to Superman 2 which would make 317 mil today and STM 468 mil today. So it basically sold half the tickets that Superman 2 did..
I agree. It is a very weak film. But it still managed to bring in a sizable profit. If Donner had not been fired from II, he would have done III and IV. And I am sure they would have turned out to be something very special. By the way, did you know that the part of Lana Lang was written specifically for Annette O'Toole?? She never had to audition for the part. That is why she is so wonderful in it.
Superman 3 and 4 with supergirl were flop but it was very good worldwide success video sells DVD and television even at works today with fans of all ages
I wasn't aware it had opened in any other countries back then; I was just 3 myself at the time. BOM lists about $60 million domestic, but there's no cited sources I can find for a worldwide number. Either way, it still sucks as a film. The only watchable parts are with Annette O'Toole.
If grossing $65.3 million worldwide on a $39 million budget made the third film a "tremendous success", I'm the rightful owner of all the gold in the Federal Reserve. Even by 1983 standards, that result has "suck" written all over it.
Actually, at some point somebody's got to put Braniac in a live action Superman film. Man of Steel 2 if I had to guess will probably have Lex Luthor. Maybe at some point we'll finally get Braniac, one of Superman's greatest adversaries.
8:21 Why God why did you not use Bizaro?! This is a clone of Superman, so why couldn’t you go that route? Why couldn’t the money be available for that? This is why the fourth film was a bad decision because it was not enough in the budget and you sold the rights to a dying company that failed with the he-man franchise
I was 7 years old when 'Superman' was on the big screen. What a great time to be a kid!
Good for you. I’m 40 and I still regret not seeing superman the movie on an outdoor showing two years ago. I’ve only seen the movie on video and I just want the theatrical experience before I die LOL
I had just turned 9 when it opened. My dad took me to see it and I remember the scope of it all.
Superman The Movie was my first cinema experience as a 5 year old kid and it WAS magical.
Marc McClure was right. If Donner had complete control, we would have had a more epic Superman II and we would not be where we are today with sh*tty Superman movies.
I liked both "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman", but would still have loved to see Donner do proper sequels with Reeve and Kidder.
And I know they tried getting Donner and Mank for Superman IV and they considered it. They could have saved the movie, because Donner knew how to stand up for his actors and the story. He would have led a huge walk out when budget got slashed. Chris wanted IV to be like the earlier ones but what was missing was Donner. Donner is not a "hired gun director:" as opposed to Lester or Furie. Donner takes over a production, does it his was and clearly based on Superman: The Movie he new what he was doing.
The theatrical cut is definitely problematic, and I don't like how they treated Lex as a character. But the Ultimate Edition corrected several (though not all) of that film's issues.
@@Moviefan2k4 i agree with u on the lex character fiasco
Marc Mclure was perfect as Jimmy Olson. The First Superman is a total classic.
Great documentary. And since then, some others have left us too. But this film has left a legacy and always will. It's a generational film that will be loved by so many more generations to come.
I was 4 in 1986.... Superman made me want to fly. After watching it I got tea towel used it as my cape ha
The guy who played Jimmy Olsen now looks like Gene Hackman, who played Lex Luthor!
Helen Slater still looks pretty darn good.
The writers of Superman IV thought of Nuclear Man as a dark side of Superman, but the comics already had Bizzaro. Why didn't they use Bizzaro?
Probably because of the low budget; detailed makeup effects were still very expensive back then.
CANNON had the distribution rights and they used Superman IV budget to make Masters of the Universe. Which was a major loss for them. The budget for Superman IV was 17 million original budget 35 million.
Box office 16 million.
Unfortunately, they already had Reeve playing a good superman v. a bad superman in 3.
The only redeeming qualities of Superman 3 was seeing evil Superman, having a few laughs with Ricard Pryor, and getting to look at Annette O'Toole.
Shes a looker
I missed that fact. From Annette's interview, it seemed like the Salkinds wanted Lana in it from the start, due to Margot's comments about them firing Donner.
I actually have an easier time with IV than III, because even though both suck, it seemed like Chris & Co. were having more fun with the latter.
Annette O'Toole and Margot Kidder would later share the screen together in Smallville, where Reeve would also guest star. You got to admire that show for starting the tradition of using actors from past related series/shows in later re-adaptations of the story like Supergirl.
And of course Crisis on Infinite Earths also brought back some of the other Supermans (interesting with Routh since he was already another character too).
@@johngray5826 It was great to see Routh get another chance and proof how great he could've been had he continued in the role. And yeah, the Smallville scene wasn't perfect, but I applaud them for succeeding in getting Tom back in the role. That's already a major achievement.
And let's not forget that Terrence Stamp voiced Jor-El.
@@sha11235 Quite right.
I also liked when Tom Wopat was brought on to be reunited with John Schneider.
I also heard Donner was asked to direct "Returns" very early on, but he turned it down.
They were lucky that he was willing to even look at what Thau put together for the Donner cut.
Ilya said it made 100 million dollars in another documentary but I don't know if he meant in theatres or in rentals combined with the theatrical take. I know Superman 3 did very well on rentals likely because people felt it might not be worth seeing in theatres this time around. It's hard to find the overseas take for Superman 2 as well but Superman The Movie made a lot of money overseas 166 mil and 300 mil World-Wide.
I agree with Ilya talking about finding a new love interest because after 2 there really was no place to go with Clark and Lois. Clark going back to Smallville and reconnecting with Lana was a cute idea but they only went half way with it, never really establishing an actual romance between them. Chris Reeve said he toned down the goofy Clark for Superman 3 because Lana is supposed to be interested in him and not Superman. But the script never flushed out the romance.
Your kidding right? Haven't you noticed that 3 and 4 and Supergirl FAILED? Louis and Clark got married in the comics, they could've gone in that path damn it.
It would’ve been very hard for them to get married when it was already firmly established in 2 that she can’t handle knowing his secret.
The first film is an absolute classic. Dick did it right!!. By number 4 it looked so cheap on the screen I felt sorry for Reeve.
Firing Donner was the worst mistake the Salkinds made.
@@johnsonwaite9865 Cheapos who cant recognize talent. Donner had love for the material and it showed.
Christopher Reeve should've threatened to walk if the Salkinds didn't bring back Donner.
@@johnsonwaite9865 The Salkinds were ignorant idiot's especially the son. They threw all the money at the first film then turned into who whores on the sequels after 2. I truly felt sorry for Reeve. But I guess anyone with half a brain would take 2 million bucks to do a sequel. Yes its art but its also a business
@@johnsonwaite9865 Even though the first film is all "Old School" effects I can't help but wonder how amazingly fabulous they could have made the flying stuff if done today. Not to take away what they did with the first film, which I entirely love, but combining Reeve's classical training with the CGI flying techniques of today? Would have been mind boggling. But Donner was such a good director he knew how to shoot "old school" techniques and make them look good. The helicopter sequence is a classic. I still get chills watching it today. The hair on my arms goes up. Just the slow build up to the big reveal. The music. The editing. The very gradual realization for Superman. John Williams music . Nothing after this came remotely close.
I find it interesting that Hackman would even consider doing Superman 4.
According to IMDB, it made about $56.9 million in the USA, $6.7 million in the UK, and $1.6 million in Germany. That's a rough total of $65.2 million grossed.
I. Skulding says it was not a flop? Maybe money wise it wasn't but it goes to show that they didn't care about us.. the fans of Superman and the 1st 2 movies. Firing Donner was a huge mistake and we had to pay for it.
15:51 I liked Terrance Stamp as general zod.
7:55 I really hope that you are satisfied with how she was portrayed on Smallville and on the current series Helen probably do since you were cast as her adopted mother, which was a brilliant decision.
I heard they wanted to use Bizarro, and Reeve would have played that role to but they couldn't get the rights. Which I'm glad cause it give us Mark Pillow as my favorite villain in Nuclear Man. The movie should have been epic, but those damn Cannon Studio guys really fucked it up. They not only cut the budget big time, but used that money for their other projects. They changed directors, cut the FX, props, scenes and the script. They even reused old scenes of Superman flying and used it instead of shooting new scenes. I heard that Mark said that they didn't tell him or Gene they were going to do that. And he said that they found out when they went to the premier or screening I think, and having see the final cut for the first time both him and Gene were shocked at what Cannon Studios did. Again I heard that he said this, I don't know if it was true though. I did see an original with his voice and it was much better, they should of left it be but keep the awesome metallic roar. They even made just poor Mark to the press tour and even meet Princess Diana in his Nuclear Man costume.
Supermans 1 & 2 were great, but sadly, Supermans 3 & 4 along with Supergirl were box office failures and disappointments.
According to BoxOfficemojo part 3 grossed nearly 60 Million in US alone. Are you saying that it only brought in another 5.3 Million, from the rest of the world??
I would trust Boxmojo over IMDB, because the former gets their figures from Studios and Exhibitors and not ordinary online users.....But either way, the total of 65.3 which you mentioned is from US, UK, and Germany. What about all the other countries??? I estimate counting up all the totals from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America that the film grossed around 120 Million.
For me the untold story of Superman is Richard Leicester’s involvement in all this. All the voices are here but Leicester I don’t has have ever spoken about this. Leicester is seen as a bad guy in all this. Richard Donner’s first film is by far the best. It propelled many comic book films. The first film is very high risk film making.
They tried to contact him, if you see in the end credits. Guess he didn't want to be interviewed.
*Lester
Marc mcClure (Jimmy) said it best:. If only they'd have left Dick Donner at the helm...... And quite honestly not been so super cheap they'd have a a monster series of movies!!!
Even after the success of the first movie that Spengler producer guy was talking about how "economically" it made sense to get rid of Brando... LOL
THEY WERE JUST CHEAP! They made a literal fortune off of Superman the Movie. So...........?.............😁
And you are right certainly in no way was Superman 3 a hit in theatres at all. Even if you adjust the ticket sales to 2013 it still only makes 155 mil compared to Superman 2 which would make 317 mil today and STM 468 mil today. So it basically sold half the tickets that Superman 2 did..
I don't think Superman 3 was a bomb in theaters, but the box office take was not as high as the first two.
Part 5: Redemption for Donner (or how cheap second-rate producers ruined a potentially great franchise and proved Jimmy Olson 100% right)
I agree. It is a very weak film. But it still managed to bring in a sizable profit. If Donner had not been fired from II, he would have done III and IV. And I am sure they would have turned out to be something very special. By the way, did you know that the part of Lana Lang was written specifically for Annette O'Toole?? She never had to audition for the part. That is why she is so wonderful in it.
Superman 3 and 4 with supergirl were flop but it was very good worldwide success video sells DVD and television even at works today with fans of all ages
I wasn't aware it had opened in any other countries back then; I was just 3 myself at the time. BOM lists about $60 million domestic, but there's no cited sources I can find for a worldwide number. Either way, it still sucks as a film. The only watchable parts are with Annette O'Toole.
If grossing $65.3 million worldwide on a $39 million budget made the third film a "tremendous success", I'm the rightful owner of all the gold in the Federal Reserve. Even by 1983 standards, that result has "suck" written all over it.
$65 was just the domestic intake. It made over $100 worldwide.
Actually, at some point somebody's got to put Braniac in a live action Superman film. Man of Steel 2 if I had to guess will probably have Lex Luthor. Maybe at some point we'll finally get Braniac, one of Superman's greatest adversaries.
8:21 Why God why did you not use Bizaro?! This is a clone of Superman, so why couldn’t you go that route? Why couldn’t the money be available for that? This is why the fourth film was a bad decision because it was not enough in the budget and you sold the rights to a dying company that failed with the he-man franchise
They already fucked it up - they had a good Superman/bad Superman in 3, so it would have been somewhat of a re-hash.
13:45
I like Superman 3 the best
Redemption? Bullshit. More like Lame Burnout.
Cc u. I'm i