Superman II (1980)

Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to marry Lois, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

Jerry Siegel (characters), Joe Shuster (characters),

Stars:

Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gene Hackman	...	Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve	...	Superman / Clark Kent
Ned Beatty	...	Otis
Jackie Cooper	...	Perry White
Sarah Douglas	...	Ursa
Margot Kidder	...	Lois Lane
Jack O'Halloran	...	Non
Valerie Perrine	...	Eve Teschmacher
Susannah York	...	Lara
Clifton James	...	Sheriff
E.G. Marshall	...	The President
Marc McClure	...	Jimmy Olsen
Terence Stamp	...	General Zod
Leueen Willoughby	...	Leueen
Robin Pappas	...	Alice

Storyline

Picking up where "Superman: The Movie" left off, three criminals from the planet Krypton are released from the Phantom Zone by a nuclear explosion in space. They descend upon Earth where they could finally rule. Superman, meanwhile, is in love with Lois Lane, who finds out who he really is. Lex Luthor escapes from prison and is determined to destroy Superman by joining forces with the three criminals.

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Plot Keywords:

criminal | bomb | phantom zone | prison | explosion | 

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Taglines:

Miraculously freed from eternal orbit, the three outlaws from Krypton descend to earth, for the ultimate confrontation.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

WB Home Entertainment - DVD site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English French Russian

Release Date:

19 June 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Superman 2

Filming Locations:

Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$54,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$108,200,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dovemead Films, Film Export A.G., International Film Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 116 min (Richard Donner Cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (MegaSound encoding) (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

US-born director Richard Lester, an American expatriate living in England, claimed he'd never heard of Superman before he was hired to replace original director Richard Donner. He said that comic books weren't allowed in his house when he was child.

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Goofs

The faceplates of the astronauts' space suits are transparent, with no glare shield to filter out cosmic rays, direct sunlight or radiation.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Krypton guard: Alert, alert, alert.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits incorporate an extensive amount of footage from the first Superman movie.

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Connections

Referenced in The Angry Video Game Nerd: Superman (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Pick Up the Pieces"
Written by Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart, and Average White Band (as The Average White Band)
Performed by Average White Band (as The Average White Band)
Courtesy of Atlantic Records

User Reviews

Great film

Simply put, Superman II is one of the best action/comic-oriented films of all time. I'd rank it second only to the original Superman: The Movie and only X-Men is right up there.

The thing about this movie that bugs me is that I grew up watching the ABC expanded version. That's the version my dad taped for me, so for years I thought the expanded version was the only version. It wasn't until the mid-80s when I saw SII on HBO that I realized what the theatrical cut was and how much of the expanded version added to the film.

So if you ask me about Superman II expanded edition, I'd definitely rank that as the best comic oriented film all time. Hopefully, Warner Bros. will put together an interesting DVD on the film with all the supplemental footage, including the never-before-seen Marlon Brando segment that was completely removed from the picture. The making of this film was a big time headache. All of Gene Hackman's scenes were filmed by Superman I director Richard Donner, and then he was fired, and Richard Lester was brought in. So it would be really cool and really insightful if a future DVD came out on the making of the film. But I digress.

The (theatrical version) film, while a bit aged, is still tremendous fun. Christopher Reeve remains the embodiment of the Man of Steel and remains a case for one example of perfect casting. He makes the whole Clark Kent/Superman thing plausible by making Kent an insecure, bumbling reporter. Terrence Stamp is also wonderfully cast as arch-villain General Zod.

The climax in Times Square is still exciting and funny. And the whole relationship between Lois and Clark/Superman is brought to the fore-front.

I'd definitely put this film as a supreme candidate for the full DVD red carpet treatment complete because the current DVD lacks big time.