Noticias

Arguably the most iconic superhero in the world is Superman, the flagship character of DC Comics created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938. A smash success with readers upon his debut, the Man of Steel was immediately adapted into other mediums, from radio and movie serials and among the earliest superhero television series. With that in mind, there have been a lot of actors to play Superman in live-action, beyond small cameos and one-off appearances. And just like the many live-action Batman actors, everyone has their own favorite who played the legendary superhero.

From the franchise's black-and-white days on film and television to its big-budget Hollywood blockbuster era, the coming of a live-action Superman still feels like an event. But as beloved as many of these interpretations of the classic characters are, some just clearly stand as superior compared to their counterparts. Without further ado, here is every live-action Superman actor ranked,...

At the very top of his review for Richard Donner's 1978 film adaptation of the iconic American hero Superman, The Hollywood Report critic Ron Pennington addressed the bar set for the film by its own tagline.

"First things first: The wires don’t show and the special effects are truly spectacular in Superman, an Alexander and Ilya Salkind production of a Richard Donner film," Pennington wrote. "And the promotional line, 'You’ll believe a man can fly,' that is being used by Warner Bros. in the advertising is not that far-fetched."

Clearing that bar — in a single bound, no less — earned the special effects team of Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys N. Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, and Zoran Perisic a special Academy Awards in 1979, the only Oscar ever given to a Superman film.

But what made their work so worthy of recognition? The otherworldly visuals, of which a...

Superman III was supposed to be a family friendly movie – right up to the part involving Annie Ross and a massive computer.

Spoilers lie ahead for Superman III.

As much as the first two Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve were huge hits and regarded as classics of superhero cinema, they were also massive gambles at a time when the comic book film was still a relative stranger to the big screen. As the first expensive superhero feature, the original Superman The Movie is rightly held up as an influence and a kitemark, affecting everything from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy to even James Gunn’s new Superman.

Superman II, in larger part made back-to-back with that original, kept the standard up.

Yet film historians, with some justification, suggest that the Superman boxset took something of a wrong turn with 1983’s Superman III. But then hindsight is nice and easy,...

Superman star Christopher Reeve played a much darker kind of journalist in 1987’s Street Smart – a fascinating thriller based on a pack of lies.

In 1969, the May edition of New York magazine ran a feature about a chap named Lamont: a 19 year-old African American who happened to be one of the city’s “most successful pimps.”

Making a then-huge $48,000 a year, Lamont lived like a king in a four-room Harlem apartment. The place was kitted out with a gigantic bed, expensive rugs and paintings. His Cadillac – with its leopard skin seats and booming speaker system – sat in the street outside, closely guarded by Lamont’s assistant and driver, a 15 year-old kid named Reggie.

The four-page piece, written by David Freeman, went into considerable detail about Lamont’s lifestyle, musical tastes and ways of doing business – the $750 per night he made from the five sex workers under his control, and...

On June 17, 1983, Warner Bros. unveiled Superman III, which added Richard Pryor to the mix along with Christopher Reeve. The film ended up falling short of its predecessors at the box office, grossing $80 million worldwide. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

The first three minutes of Superman III set a tone that is impossible to resist, and a pace that’s just as impossible to maintain. Even before the credits start to unspool, Star Wars fashion, director Richard Lester lets fly with a series of slapstick sight gags that pile disaster on disaster until only Superman himself can untangle the mess. (The credits come on while all this is happening, but the action is so hilarious that you couldn’t care less who directed, photographed or stars in the movie. You keep wanting to see what’s happening behind the large print.)

Whatever happens thereafter in David and Leslie Newman...

On June 19, 1981, Christopher Reeve returned as Warner Bros. unspooled Superman II in theaters in the U.S., months after critics appraised the sequel. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review of the film, which ultimately grossed more than $215 million worldwide, is below:

With the upcoming arrival of the Alexander and Ilya Salkind production of Superman II, it looks as though the Man of Steel is going to grace the silver screen for a long time to come. As proven by the new sequel, which opens today in South Africa, with U.S. release scheduled for next summer, every subsequent Superman story will be able to stand on its own as an individual adventure featuring many of the same characters in each film. The film’s creators have come up with a winning combination of fantasy, romance, thrills, together with great special effects, and this chemistry will keep Superman alive on the screen for many years.

Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... Neil Diamond? Admittedly, "Sweet Lois Lane" does have a nice ring to it. But sorry, I just don't see the singer behind "Solitary Man" playing Superman. Yet according to Pierre Spengler, one of the producers of "Superman: The Movie," quoted in "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story," Diamond's name was one of many thrown thrown around, albeit briefly. Diamond's bizarre inclusion just goes to show -- everybody was being considered to play Superman.

No, I don't actually think Neil Diamond was seriously being considered, but plenty of other serious actors were. Before the filmmakers landed on the unknown yet incomparable Christopher Reeve to sport the "S," some of the biggest names in Hollywood were being pursued to wear the red, yellow, and blue. Some of them I can kinda support, while others would have suffered the effects of career kryptonite.

Steven Spielberg is a man who needs no introduction. With his career spanning six decades, his films' impact on the industry and in modern popular culture cannot be overstated. From the biggest blockbusters such as "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park" to the smaller character-driven films such as "The Color Purple" and most recently, "The Fabelmans," fewer filmmakers have accomplished his level of influence in so many genres of cinema. With 23 Oscar nominations and 3 wins, and a filmography that has grossed $10.7 billion at the global box office making him the highest-grossing film director of all-time, there is almost nothing he cannot accomplish.

In his decorated career, Steven Spielberg has also had his share of unrealized projects. One of those projects includes an adaptation of the sci-fi novel "Robopocalypse," which was to be written by "Cabin in the Woods" co-writer/director Drew Goddard and had Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway attached to star.

Quick LinksHow Richard Donner Made Superman a Cinematic IconThings Went Downhill Richard Donner Was Fired from Superman IIGene Hackman Refused to Return, and Margot Kidder Defended Donner

When Superman made his feature film debut in 1978, the character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was already over 40 years old. Starring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, the film spawned three sequels. Additionally, the late Gene Hackman was the iconic star who played Lex Luthor, and his presence alone elevated the film. It also stands to reason that his absence from one also spoke volumes.

When Lex Luthor didn't appear in Superman III, it was a subtle rebuke of the franchise's producers for their mistreatment of Richard Donner. Even though the third installment of the Superman franchise featured another superstar, comedian Richard Pryor, the film marked the beginning of the end for Christopher Reeve's tenure in the tights and cape.

Movie Legend: Tony Danza nearly replaced Christopher Reeve as Superman for Superman III.

One of the easiest Movie Legends to create is the classic "Actor X was almost cast as Character Y," since there is really so little to it that you need to get it into the popular consciousness. For instance, for the old legend about whether Oj Simpson was nearly cast as the Terminator, losing the gig only because no one bought him as a killer, a lot of that Is true, which is that James Cameron noted that, "This was when everybody loved him, and ironically that was part of the problem—he was this likable, goofy, kind of innocent guy. Plus, frankly I wasn’t interested in an African-American man chasing around a white girl with a knife. It just felt wrong." However, that's the reason why Cameron never even really Considered Simpson for the role,...

When Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson ceded all creative control of James Bond to Amazon MGM Studios, eras ended.

Half-siblings Broccoli and Wilson had extraordinary control over the Bond franchise, personally steering the films after they inherited the company Eon Productions from Broccoli’s father and Wilson’s stepfather, Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli in 1995. More than any director, they were the arbiters of “what is a James Bond film,” navigating Bond’s post-Cold War reinvention with Pierce Brosnan in the ’90s and selecting Daniel Craig as his replacement in 2005.

Reports in Deadline on February 20 say that Amazon bought out the pair for $1 billion — but that the vibe in Broccoli and Wilson’s orbit is “of a death in the family.”

Not long ago, a Bond fan might expect a 007 film to feature a Jeff Bezos-style villain. He shares a bald pate with Blofeld, as well as his own personal rocket fleet.

French director Jeannot Szwarc has died, it’s been announced. He was 85 years old.

Understandably, the film world is mourning the loss overnight of one of its true greats, David Lynch. Lost a little though is that a fine genre director also passed away.

French director Jeannot Szwarc died on Wednesday 15th January, it was announced, at the age of 85.

Born in Paris, Swarc moved to America and cut his teeth on popular television shows such as Kojak and The Rockford Files. But for the movie-going generation of the 1970s and 1980s, it was his feature films that drew the most attention.

His big break was arguably 1978’s Jaws 2 (pictured), getting the nod when Steven Spielberg declined the opportunity to return to the sequel (and after original director John Hancock was fired). Perhaps his most acclaimed American film followed, 1980’s Somewhere In Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.

Late director Richard Donner will always be known as the man who created the superhero movie to triumph over all others. Even after more than 25 years, his 1978 Superman is still hailed as the perfect archetype from which future filmmakers draw inspiration.

Christopher Reeve and Marlon Brando in Superman II: Richard Donner Cut | Credit: Warner Bros.

In one of his last interviews, the man narrated what it was like to direct that movie. Moreover, he also talked about a bold stunt he pulled off, going against all norms to make it happen. And if anything, that stunt speaks of his dedication to his craft, and how his instincts ended up saving the savior of the world himself.

Richard Donner pulled off a bold stunt to save Superman

Richard Donner has spent his entire childhood reading the Superman comics. As a result, when it came to identifying what would depict his story best,...

The New Hollywood era -- which began with the release of the true story-based "Bonnie and Clyde" in 1967 before breathing its last in 1981 with Michael Cimino's notorious bomb "Heaven's Gate" -- was one of the most exhilarating artistic movements of the 20th century. It came after a fallow creative period for the major studios, which were mostly run by old moguls who'd lost the pulse of the moviegoing public. They didn't get the Baby Boomer generation, so when a younger, hipper group of executives and producers demonstrated a knack for packing the nation's theaters with movies like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Exorcist," and "The Godfather," there was a sudden changing of the guard (and mindset).

This mindset had nothing to do with the types of films being made. It was just as the great screenwriter William Goldman once quipped: when it came to what worked, nobody knew anything. What they did know,...

We've finally reached the time of the year when everyone dedicates an unnecessary amount of time to arguing over the same, cyclical topics ad nauseam — like whether or not "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie or what film deserves the biggest gift under the tree as the best Christmas movie of all time. Just as hotly debated is what constitutes the "worst" Christmas movie of all time, which is a lot harder to determine depending on what you deem "bad." One film that is frequently in the running for the dishonor is 1985's "Santa Claus: The Movie," directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who also gave us "Supergirl" and the equally polarizing "Jaws 2."

On paper, "Santa Claus: The Movie" has a lot going for it. It's about a man named Claus (David Huddleston) who delivers toys in his small village, eventually becoming Santa Claus after crossing paths with an elf toy-maker,...

Quick Links Helen Slater Is the Only Saving Grace of 'Supergirl' The 1984 'Supergirl' Needed Christopher Reeve's Superman The 1984 'Supergirl' Nearly Doomed Female-Driven Superhero Movies

When the controllers of the original Superman film series, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, acquired the screen rights to the Superman character in the 1970s, they also bought the rights to the character of Supermans cousin, Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl, who was originally supposed to be featured in Superman III, as Supermans love interest.

However, in the spring of 1982, before Superman III went into production, the Salkinds announced that, instead of introducing Supergirl in the film, they intended to produce a Supergirl movie as a way of revitalizing the overall series, which was weakened by the relative commercial and critical failure of Superman III. Just as the Salkinds had cast the previously unknown Christopher Reeve in the role of Superman, they selected then-unknown 19-year-old...

Unlike Superman and Superman II, Superman III didn’t even bother teasing the next installment in the franchise. Really, by the time that movie’s end credits hit, did anyone even want another entry? Hadn’t the Salkinds done enough damage to the Man of Steel? And yet, as we all know, a fourth installment in the Superman series did indeed hit theaters…with a nearly unmatched thud.

If you remember from our previous instalment of What Happened to This Movie?!, Superman III was plagued with all sorts of problems both on and off the screen. So what happened this time around? Turns out, the series would be facing its greatest battles yet, with the rights being passed to another studio, its star only signing on so he could finance another movie altogether and the budget getting chopped in more than half!

And so, let’s suit up one more...

Considering the first two Superman movies made over $500 million at the worldwide box office, it was absolutely no surprise that a Superman III would take flight. Besides, it was promised in the closing credits of Superman II!

With the success of Superman and its sequel, superhero movies were in the earliest iteration of franchise mode. In short: strong box office numbers guaranteed another movie, no matter how bad it could possibly turn out. And Superman III is just about as bad as it could possibly turn out, generally ranking among the worst superhero sequels ever and a prime example of what happens to a series’ reputation when things go wrong with the script, cast and, hell, even the opening credits sequence!

So, let’s go from Superman to Super-Mean to Super-Machine as we find out: What Happened to This Movie?!

Superman III was announced at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, well...

In a career reaching back to the 1960s, Steven Spielberg has made a string of classics, but the projects that didn't materialize are just as interesting. Ultimately, it's hard to look back on Spielberg's glittering career so far and suggest that he should have done anything differently. Still, it's a shame to see some of the exciting projects that fell through, and fans can only imagine how they would have looked.

Steven Spielberg's best movies include Jurassic Park, Jaws and the Indiana Jones franchise. Had things played out differently, he might have some other classics to his name. Spielberg has worked in a variety of genres, and he has always shown a willingness to experiment with new ideas. Some of the most interesting movies he almost made include sci-fi thrillers, animated video game adaptations, and biopics about historical figures.

Miscellaneous Movies That Spielberg Was Interested In Which Ended Up...

There is yet another Superman reboot on the horizon, this time courtesy of James Gunn and Peter Safran, and much of it is being kept under wraps. This is, dare I say, a good thing, because the last thing we need is yet another troubled Superman production. Despite the character's enduring cinematic legacy, almost none of his cinematic solo outings can be discussed without their lingering baggage: creative infighting, script leaks, casting rumor mills, and even the occasional director's cut long after release. For a hero that is seemingly impenetrable, the Man of Steel sure has taken a beating in development hell.

Part of the problem is that nobody can quite agree on who Superman is or should be. In the early days, Warner Bros. avoided bogging Superman down in comics lore. Then, when fans became outraged over creative liberties, the studio frantically tried to cater to them. Superman used to strive for a clean,...

Annette O'Toole's portrayal of Martha Kent in Smallville redeemed her from her role as Lana Lang in Superman III. Fans' intense affection for Superman has been evident throughout history, impacting adaptations like Smallville. Martha Kent served as the emotional anchor in Smallville, guiding Clark and Jonathan while embodying strength and compassion.

The iconic Superman-inspired series Smallville is a story of redemption, at least for one of its actors. Annette O'Toole is known by fans of a certain age as Martha Kent, Clark Kent's mother. However, O'Toole is known to an older generation of fans, not as Clark's mother, but his first-ever love, Lana Lang in Superman III. While nothing that went wrong with the Superman film franchise is her fault, the time O'Toole spent as Martha Kent helped redeem the actor's place in the legend of the world's most popular superhero.

With the failure of the later installments of...

Wes Craven almost directed Superman IV, but left due to creative differences with Christopher Reeve. Craven's dark sensibilities could have revitalized the Superman character and offered a unique take. If Craven had directed Superman IV, the film might have been darker or satirical in tone.

Wes Craven is widely revered as a horror auteur, but the Nightmare on Elm Street director could have once helmed a DC project like Superman in the 1980s. Even if he actually took on the project, this wouldnt have been Cravens first comic book film. Before being considered for a live-action Superman movie, Craven had already directed the 1982 cult classic Swamp Thing. Based on the DC comic series of the same name, Cravens superhero movie initially polarized critics but became a major success on home video and cable, and even spawned the 1989 sequel The Return of Swamp Thing.

But while Swamp Thing is a more niche character,...

Christopher Reeve’s Superman is most people’s definitive portrayal of the character. Richard Donner successfully balanced the superheroic aspects of the character along with the nerdy charm of his alter ego Clark Kent. The success of the first film led to Reeve returning for three sequels.

Christopher Reeve as Superman in 1978’s Superman

Donner’s Superman has been the benchmark that every other iteration of the character aims to achieve. However, Superman II did not see the return of Donner and many of his intended scenes did not feature in the theatrical film. An interesting but flawed deleted scene featuring Lois and Clark has fans relived that it did make it into the final cut.

Fans Find a Major Flaw in Deleted Scene from Superman II

This deleted scene from Superman II was used in Richard Donner’s cut of the film

The production of Superman II was a...

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has helmed one too many masterpieces throughout his five and a half decades old star-studded career. And for one who brought the dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park novel series from Michael Crichton to life in one of the most remarkable ways possible, he once intended to make a film on the superhero Superman as well.

Steven Spielberg. Credit: Elena Ternovaja | Wikimedia Commons.

This happened back in the late 1970s, when he was still one of the relatively unknown directors. But despite being one of the most brilliant up-and-coming masterminds of the time, his film on Clark Kent never came to be. And, well, thankfully so, for the brutally wild pitch for the fan-favorite character would’ve quite literally killed the Man of Steel forever!

Steven Spielberg Wanted to Helm 1978’s Superman

Superman (1978)

After Mario Puzo was done writing a 500-plus page script for Clark Kent in live-action,...

Christopher Reeve was initially unsure about landing the role of Superman when he heard that Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were going to appear in the movie. Since he was not as famous as these actors, he doubted his chances of getting the role. Working with Brando was a big deal at the time. However, in an interview, Reeve revealed that he did not enjoy working with him.

Christopher Reeve in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Christopher Reeve’s career quite literally went skywards with his appearance as the DC superhero Superman in the eponymous 1978 movie. His first professional screen appearance as an actor came with his role as Ben Harper in the 1974 CBS soap opera Love of Life. He did not appear in a Hollywood movie until 1978 when he starred in Gray Lady Down. He once told David Letterman the reason behind the hostility between him and Brando after working in Superman.

Superman’s incredible 85-year history is defined with intricate detail and unique understanding by those who’ve known him best – the authors, artists, filmmakers, actors and experts tasked with propagating his legend through every medium – in the latest Edward Gross omnibus, Voices From Krypton, published by Nacelle Books. The hardcover book is now available via Amazon, online retailers and popular bookshops, with an e-book edition also available.

Hailed as the most comprehensive examination of Superman in history, Voices From Krypton begins in the mid 1930s with the character’s creation by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and concludes with the announcement of the next big screen adventure, Superman: Legacy. Topics range from Superman’s appearances in different mediums to the individual actors who’ve played the character, from Superman’s Silver Age to present day iterations, and from the subtleties of capturing the Man of Steel to the tentpole moments of his past 85+ years.

Exclusive: A collection of industry professionals are set to gather at the Skybar in LA’s Mondrian Hotel for what has been described as a fundraising “night of solidarity” organized by InfoList founder Jeff Gund in support of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

The fundraising event, which will see a portion of proceeds go to strike funds, will take place on September 14 and will aim to raise awareness and funds for striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members, organizers have said.

According to organizers, industry set to attend include SAG-AFTRA negotiation committee member Nicole Cyrille, Ilya Salkind (exec producer of the Superman franchise), film exec Richard Walters (Whiplash), Larry Namer (co-founder of E! Entertainment Television), and Michael Berk (creator of Baywatch).

Deadline has asked what percentage of the proceeds will go to the strike funds.

“I wanted to create an evening where writers, actors, and the whole industry can not only...

Many major DC Universe characters have been cut from the movies they were meant to appear in. The circumstances that can cause a character to be cut from a movie are as varied as the characters populating the DC Universe. Sometimes it is a simple question of budgeting, or perhaps the rights to the character are already attached to another project.

Sometimes a character is cut early in the script-writing process, when the story of the movie is still being worked out. On other occasions, the character was cut after an actor was cast, and their scenes were already filmed. Here is a rundown of 15 major DC Comics characters and why they were cut from the movies they were meant to appear in.

Related: "There's Too Many": James Gunn's Superhero Complaint Shows DC Will Avoid A Big MCU Problem

Brainiac in Superman III

The third Superman movie featuring...

Now that The Flash has hit theaters to reset the DC Universe, Awfully Good Movies is running back in time to watch the debut film for one of The Flash’s breakout characters, Helen Slater in 1984’s Supergirl!

In between the disappointment of Superman III and the catastrophe of Superman IV, original franchise producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided to switch focus from the Man of Steel to his female cousin Kara Zor-El with an in-universe spinoff that’d have a cameo from Christopher Reeve himself to mentor his fellow Kryptonian and star Helen Slater in the young actress’ debut role. But after Reeve turned the film down before filming, and Warner Bros. grew so fed up with the Salkinds that they sold the distribution rights back to them, Supergirl would instead flop so hard at the box office that the Salkinds just gave up on the Superman film rights altogether,...

Both Marvel and DC Comics have inspired some amazing superhero movies, yet many of these film franchises were ruined by their third films. It may seem astonishing that superhero movies were once seen risky ventures, given how they have grown to dominate the Hollywood landscape. Yet there were also considerable profits to be made in adapting a popular property into a movie in those days, even ignoring the potential for marketing toys, t-shirts and other merchandise to kids and collectors.

It was this desire for a continuing source of regular revenue that led to the production of the first superhero franchises, yet the number of franchises that survived past their third film and maintained a consistent level of quality is quite small. Sometimes the franchises failed due to a change in direction or the cast. On other occasions, it was due to a reduced budget or studio interference. In every case,...

All too often, sequels based on superhero films from Marvel and DC don't match up to the success of their predecessors. For decades, various production studios have developed feature films based on characters from both Marvel Comics and DC Comics, but while some films have had a massive cultural impact, others have been rather disappointing. This onus usually falls on sequels to some of the more popular superhero films, as sequels have the harder job of delivering a solid story while trying to live up to the success of the original film.

As the largest superhero film franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe perhaps has the most offenders when it comes to disappointing sequels. Even so, Fox's X-Men franchise, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (and previous Spider-Man adaptations), and DC's long cinematic history have produced some lackluster projects that are usually better left unmentioned. While it's often more appealing to discuss the...

This past weekend, Wamg attended the annual TCM Film Festival (honestly this writer’s favorite event of the year) and as usual, it did not disappoint! There was a ton of great programming this year, with something for just about everyone.

Opening Night of the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival kicked off with a screening of Rio Bravo (1959) in celebration of Warner Bros.’ 100th anniversary, featuring a conversation with Wbd CEO David Zaslav and The Film Foundation Board members Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson about the mission of The Film Foundation as well as Rio Bravo star Angie Dickinson.

Hollywood, California – April 13: (L-r) TCM host Ben Mankiewicz; General Manager, Turner Classic Movies Pola Changnon; Steven Spielberg; Angie Dickinson; and President and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav attend the opening night gala and world premiere of the 4k restoration of “Rio Bravo” during the...

Science fiction TV shows have a shorter shelf life than cryptocurrencies and social media influencers. What gives? It's not that complicated: big budgets + low ratings = cancellation. Hey, those space-age sets and costumes, alien makeup, and CGI aren't cheap. Meanwhile, passionate fans may sign petitions by the thousands, but ratings are what matters, and those fanbases are too small to impress execs trying to court advertisers.

Given the economics of television, it's not shocking TV studios routinely dump pricey sci-fi shows in favor of the newest "Big City Cop Show" procedural. To be honest, it's surprising sci-fi shows get made at all. Yep, it sucks, but that's show business. While it's easy to explain why most sci-fi TV shows get canceled, the reasons for some cancellations are downright baffling. These include sci-fi shows that were dropped despite decent ratings, canned with fully completed seasons, or even dumped after inspiring hunger strikes!

Look, up in the sky! It's not a bird or a plane, but it's definitely one heck of a treat for fans of the big blue boy scout superhero. Superman may have experienced a bit of a rocky road in recent DC history on the big screen, despite an actor as capable and charismatic as Henry Cavill leading the action and even with James Gunn's promise that the immensely popular hero will be a "huge priority" moving forward. But even the biggest DC fans would have to admit that there's a certain ineffable charm to the original movies that first made audiences believe that a man could truly fly.

Christopher Reeve starred in four separate "Superman" movies, in addition to the special Richard Donner director's cut released for "Superman II," and now all 5 titles will be made available just in time for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros., the...

Burbank, Calif., March 1, 2023 – As part of the year-long centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Studio, five films featuring the iconic DC Super Hero Superman – Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, Superman III, and Superman IV – will be available for purchase in a five-film collection on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital on April 18.

Based on the DC character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the Superman films star Christopher Reeve as the legendary “Man of Steel.”

On April 18, the Superman 1978 – 1987 5-Film Collection will be available to purchase on Ultra HD Blu-ray™ Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and more.

The Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Packs will include an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the feature films in 4K with Hdr, a Blu-ray disc with the feature...

There's a reason why, despite decades of CGI advancements and new comic-book stories to adapt since, Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie is still largely considered to be the best Superman movie of all time. The beloved 1978 film starring Christopher Reeve's Superman, Margot Kidder's Lois Lane, Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, and Marlon Brando's Jor-El has captured imaginations for over 40 years. It's the first superhero blockbuster, and the benchmark for comic book movies that have followed. Superman influenced generations of filmmakers, and it's been the touchstone for every TV show and movie about the Man of Steel ever since. And yet, none of them have equaled the uplifting, sheer magic of Superman: The Movie.

As DC Studios restructures its content plan for the next decade, Henry Cavill's Superman has lost any future chances of topping Donner's '78 masterpiece. However, a new challenger has arrived: James Gunn's upcoming Superman movie,...

Richard Donner's 1978 film "Superman" changed how people thought of comic book films. Before this, we had silly superheroes like Adam West's "Batman" series. It was a blast, but it wasn't a serious take on comics or characters like this. "Superman" really started it all, nabbing three Oscar nominations and winning a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects. Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman in his breakout role and starred with the likes of Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Margot Kidder.

Both the 1978 film and 1980's "Superman II" were set to be filmed simultaneously, and after shooting a big chunk of the second film in addition to the first one, Donner ("Lethal Weapon," "The Goonies," "Scrooged") was fired from the production. He stated that he was never given a budget or a schedule for the film and was replaced by Richard Lester, who reshot a lot of...

After a decade-plus run as one of Hollywood's premiere television directors, Richard Donner successfully transitioned to filmmaking via the blockbuster horror classic "The Omen." Though he was much older than the industry's hottest helmers of big-budget entertainment, his reputation for knocking out high-quality TV on a tight schedule made him something of a safer bet than his young, boundary-pushing colleagues. He was also well-liked by his crews and a first-rate massager of movie star egos. He was basically a producer's dream.

So why did the production of 1978's "Superman" turn into such a nightmare? Four words: Alexander and Ilya Salkind.

The father-son producer duo had scored a major success with 1973's "The Three Musketeers," but quickly drew the ire of Hollywood's creative unions when they released "The Four Musketeers," a sequel comprised of footage from the initial production, the following year. While multiple lawsuits were filed, the Screen Actors Guild enacted the Salkind Clause,...

During a time in the early 1990s, it appears Christopher Reeve considered a return for Superman V. The original Superman made Reeve's career, but due to being such an iconic role, it also left him typecast. Reeve also disliked Superman III and IV, feeling they lacked the heart and - in the case of Superman IV - the budget of the first two. Following the fourth movie he essentially swore off playing Superman again in interviews, though during a 1994 Dixie Trek convention, he claimed a good story would have tempted him back. In a 2006 interview (via Superman Homepage), former franchise producer Ilya Salkind claimed he tried to do just that.

Salkind co-wrote a Superman V script that saw the titular hero die but be reborn inside the bottled Kryptonian city of Kandor. By all accounts, it was a solid screenplay that would have gone some way to undoing the...

"Kneel before Zod!" With these memorable words, Terrence Stamp established his "Superman II" character, the imperious General Zod, as one of the great comic book movie villains of all time. Zod made his first appearance in "Superman: The Movie" as one of three criminals on the planet Krypton who are banished to the Phantom Zone. The film was shot at the same time as "Superman II," and it was meant to set up the sequel and lead directly into it with the same director, Richard Donner, at the helm. Yet "Superman II" had a notoriously troubled production, and to hear Stamp tell it, his heart wasn't in it after Donner was unceremoniously fired and director Richard Lester was brought in to reshoot scenes and finish the film.

In 2013, Stamp spoke with Entertainment Weekly's radio channel ahead of the release of "Man of Steel," the first film in the new DC Universe,...

Established during the early heyday of motion pictures, the "star system" is an informal rule of thumb that most movie producers still swear by, even though the elements of a film's package deal in order to get a green light and raise funds have changed in the last 20-odd years. Nowadays, while having an actor with an established fanbase or persona is still a boon to getting a project off the ground, Hollywood is awash with risk-averse producers using an IP to get a movie made — and that IP is usually comic-book superhero material.

Arguably the film that started Hollywood on this superhero-saturated path, 1978's "Superman," was ironically far from a sure-fire hit when producers Pierre Spengler, Alexander Salkind, and Ilya Salkind were attempting to put it together. Since the Superman character himself wasn't enough to raise the money, the production needed an established star and a seasoned director.

As...

Over four decades before the current wave of superhero blockbusters, Richard Donner's "Superman" made audiences believe a man could fly in a way no other movie had before. At the time of its release, "Superman" was the most expensive film ever made. With a runtime pushing two and a half hours, the movie took its time telling the origin story of the Last Son of Krypton and his time in Smallville before his arrival as bumbling newspaper reporter Clark Kent on the streets of Metropolis. Among other things, "Superman" managed to parlay the spot-on casting of Christopher Reeve and an Oscar-nominated John Williams score into critical and commercial success, paving the way for your all your favorite DC and Marvel movies in the new millennium.

The film was not without its share of production problems, however. Tensions between Donner and executive producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind spilled over into his departure from "Superman II,...

On Dec. 10, 1978, Warner Bros. unveiled Richard Donner’s Superman at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for its premiere. The Christopher Reeve-starring film launched a big screen franchise and went on to be nominated for three Oscars (for film editing, original score and sound) at the 51st Academy Awards. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below.

First things first: The wires don’t show and the special effects are truly spectacular in Superman, an Alexander and Ilya Salkind production of a Richard Donner film. And the promotional line, “You’ll believe a man can fly,” that is being used by Warner Bros. in the advertising is not that far fetched.

One of the wonders of the film is the sense of reality that director Donner is able to create and sustain, despite the fact that the film changes styles about halfway through. The original story by Mario Puzo was scripted by Puzo,...

Updated with latest: Richard Donner, the director that launched Superman on the big screen and elevated the buddy movie to blockbuster status with Lethal Weapon as part of a five-decade film and TV directing and producing career, died Monday at age 91. His credits included helming such iconic movies across several genres from the horror pic The Omen to the kids adventure tale The Goonies to a Christmas classic Scrooged.

He was remembered in industry circles today for his booming laugh and kindness, with his Goonies co-star Sean Astin saying, “What I perceived in him, as a 12 year old kid, is that he cared. I love that he cared.”

Said Steven Spielberg: “Dick had such a powerful command of his movies, and was so gifted across so many genres. Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally,...

Richard Donner, the prolific director behind 1978’s “Superman” and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise has died, according to media reports. Donner was 91. Donner passed away on Monday, according to his wife, producer Lauren Schuler Donner.

Donner’s last film was 2006’s “16 Blocks.” Other classics directed by Donner include “The Omen,” “The Goonies,” “Ladyhawke,” “Scrooged” and “Conspiracy Theory.”

Born in 1930 in the Bronx, Donner started his career directing commercials for Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball’s Desilu banner. Donner then pivoted to directing television in the 50s and directed episodes of “Wanted: Dead or Alive” and “The Rifleman.” Donner would end up working on 25 television series which included “Have Gun Will Travel,” “The Fugitive,” “Combat!,” “Get Smart,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Wild Wild West,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Kojak, “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Twilight Zone.” Donner directed the classic “Twilight Zone” episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” which starred William Shatner...

Director-producer Richard Donner, best known for helming the “Lethal Weapon” film series, “The Goonies” and the original “Superman” film, died on Monday. He was 91.

Donner’s production company confirmed news of his death to Variety, though the cause was not disclosed.

Though not his first bigscreen effort, his big feature break came with 1976’s “The Omen,” starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. Thereafter, he brought his craftsmanship to the first “Superman.” He also branched out into producing, usually with his wife Lauren Shuler Donner — he executive produced the huge 2000 success “X-Men” and later the prequel “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” But his career was highlighted by the “Lethal Weapon” series, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, which elevated him to the ranks of directors generating more than a billion dollars in box office.

Born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx, he attended Parker Junior College and then NYU, where he majored in business and theater.

Skye Aubrey, a third-generation actress whose credits included the Blake Edwards-directed The Carey Treatment, The Phantom of Hollywood and a stint as a flower child opposite Milton Berle on Batman, has died. She was 74.

Aubrey died Nov. 27 of natural causes in DeBary, Florida, her family announced.

She was married to Ilya Salkind, a producer on the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, from 1976-79. Her mother was Phyllis Thaxter, who portrayed Ma Kent in the first installment of the series in 1978 after a solid career as a contract player at MGM and Warner Bros., and her father was James T. Aubrey, president of ...

Skye Aubrey, a third-generation actress whose credits included the Blake Edwards-directed The Carey Treatment, The Phantom of Hollywood and a stint as a flower child opposite Milton Berle on Batman, has died. She was 74.

Aubrey died Nov. 27 of natural causes in DeBary, Florida, her family announced.

She was married to Ilya Salkind, a producer on the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, from 1976-79. Her mother was Phyllis Thaxter, who portrayed Ma Kent in the first installment of the series in 1978 after a solid career as a contract player at MGM and Warner Bros., and her father was James T. Aubrey, president of ...

“Lighthouse Kirk And Pirate Yul”

By Raymond Benson

Spend eleven million dollars (that was a lot of money in 1970-1971), cast classic Hollywood stars like Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner, hire an international production crew from Spain, Italy, and France, appoint Alexander and Ilya Salkind as producers (with Douglas himself credited as producer), and adapt a little-known public domain novel by Jules Verne about pirates in the Cape Horn area in 1865, and you’ve got the ingredients for a rousing, epic action/adventure flick to rival Journey to the Center of the Earth or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, right?

Unfortunately, something went wrong. The Light at the Edge of the World flopped at the box office, and, while the picture has its fans—who will welcome this impressive new Blu-ray restoration from Kino Lorber—the movie is a dud.

Douglas plays Will Denton, a lighthouse keeper on an isolated island.

Jules Verne’s version of ‘Die Hard’ takes place not on Christmas Eve in Century City, but 160 years ago at a lonely lighthouse in Tierra Del Fuego. The mini-moguls the Salkinds rounded up a great cast — Kirk Douglas! Samantha Eggar! Yul Brynner! — but let them down severely in production details and particularly the edit. Most everything is here for a classic adventure-suspense picture, but somebody thought it had to be ultra-violent and nihilistic. The new Blu-ray restores it to good color and an uncut state.

The Light at the Edge of the World

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic 16:9 / 126 min. / La Luz del fin del mundo / 129 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, Samantha Eggar, Jean-Claude Drouot,

Fernando Rey, Renato Salvatori.

Cinematography: Henri Decae

Film Editor: Bert Bates

Original Music: Piero Piccioni

Written by Tom Rowe, Rachel Billington from a book by...