Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

A version of Superman II rebuilt from the footage shot by Richard Donner, who made the first film. It is not a remake; it is an edit assembled from material shot twenty-seven years earlier and never used. The fight behind it went like this. Donner had shot roughly 80 percent of the sequel by October 1977 when production was suspended. After the first film's success in December 1978, tension between Donner and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind escalated, centred on Marlon Brando's contract demand, reported as 11.75 percent of the sequel's gross. Donner refused to cut Brando's footage and said he would make the film his way or not at all. On 15 March 1979 Richard Lester replaced him. Donner recalled it plainly: one day he got a telegram saying his services were no longer needed. The directing credit came down to arithmetic. Warner Bros. argued to the Directors Guild that Lester needed 40 percent of the filmed material to take the credit. About 30 percent of the theatrical Superman II is Donner's footage. The Brando material sat unusable for legal reasons for decades. The lock opened in 2006, when Brando's estate licensed archival footage to Warner Bros. for Superman Returns, and the same agreement made restoring his scenes here possible. Editor Michael Thau reassembled the film across 2005 and 2006, using less than 20 percent of Lester's material. For the Niagara Falls confession he used Christopher Reeve's screen tests with Holly Palance and with Margot Kidder; the differences in wardrobe and appearance are visible on screen. It was released on 28 November 2006 on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 90 percent. Who it is for: people who know Superman II and are curious how one film can become a different one. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a polished object. The audition footage is left in and the seams jolt.