Superman II, III, IV: Where Are the BD's? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Steve Christou /forum/thread/298665/superman-ii-iii-iv-where-are-the-bd-s/60#post_3671990

Yeah I know, I was just playing along.

 

[Nelson Au]

I was watching a portion of the Making of Superman 2 featurette from the Ultimate box set today. Interesting to hear Lynch, er Lester talk about how he was approaching the film and reworking bits he felt he needed to change from the original script. That kind of comment has new meaning for me now.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

Regards,

Joe

 

[kemcha]

I'm with Joseph. I think if maybe Warner's had taken the time and tried to complete the Richard Donner cut on their own that it might have been more highly regarded.

However, most fans are familiar with the Lester version and they still broadcast the Lester version on various cable stations. I think the problem is that only the hardcore Superman fans care about the Richard Donner version and that most entertainment fans don't like unfinished movies.

 

[WillG]

I think the problem is that only the hardcore Superman fans care about the Richard Donner version and that most entertainment fans don't like unfinished movies.

Actually, the creation and release of the Donner cut was rather well publicized. There were plenty of news articles that made mainstream publications (major newspapers, magazines) there were stories about it on daily entertainment news shows. Friends of mine, knowing I'm into this stuff more then they are, were asking me about it because they had seen news of it. Now, it may not have made people forget about the official Lester version, but it's not like this was some obscure project.

I would venture that most entertainment fans probably don't realize that it's not a finished film.

 

[kemcha]

Truth be told, I bought the DVD and I can say that I really didn't care too much for it. I never did like watching movies that weren't completed and the Donner Cut just suffers as a movie because it's not a completed film.It works fine until about 3/4 through and then I get lost. I've never watched it again because it sorely lacks any cohesion.

I'm not complaining about the Donner Cut. I'm just disappointed that Warner Brothers chose not to release both versions of Superman II on Blu-ray at the same time. I mean they released both versions on DVD at the same time but decided to pass on Blu-ray? It just didn't make any sense.

 

[John Stuart]

If they did release and restore all 4 movies, do you think it's possible to digitally remove all wires holding Superman? I mean, you could spot those mistakes in countless scenes even on the DVD versions, but they were not that visible. In Blu-ray it looks much worse, and fake.

Is that going to be a problem in terms of image quality, or that will certainly not influence the results?

 

[WillG]

If they did release and restore all 4 movies, do you think it's possible to digitally remove all wires holding Superman?

You would think with today's technolgy, it would be relatively easy to digital remove some visible wires from some of those shots. When the Indiana Jones films were first released to DVD, Spielberg had some things fixed (most notibly the guide track for the runaway boulder and the reflection of the cobra on the pane of glass used to protect Ford in "Raiders) Of course, this is Spielberg/Lucas were talking about and they get to do whatever they want. It's much less likely the Superman films would get the same treatment (maybe they would do something like that for S:TM but as far as the others, much less likely)

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by kemcha
I'm just disappointed that Warner Brothers chose not to release both versions of Superman II on Blu-ray at the same time. I mean they released both versions on DVD at the same time but decided to pass on Blu-ray? It just didn't make any sense.

It made perfect financial sense. We're talking 2006, very early in the HD-DVD/Blu-ray landscape, and not only were they releasing dual format to very low sales, but they were releasing other non-Superman catalog films that they were hoping would entice people to buy into HD tech. Releasing more of the films (or the alternate versions) on HD-DVD & Blu-ray would have likely been financially impossible at the time.