UHD Superman, The Movie coming to 4K Blu-ray per TDBits (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

Eh, I like the bits where Supes survives Luthor's gauntlet and Dick Donner's cameo as the grumpy guy in front of the JVC tv display.

Also the extended version has that great audio commentary with Donner and Mankiewicz. Never could get through the Salkind/Spengler one. Such a bore.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Eh, I like the bits where Supes survives Luthor's gauntlet

That scene was rightfully cut. Earlier in the movie, Otis, who isn't the brightest bulb in the book, specifically says, "fire and bullets can't hurt this guy" and yet Lex decides to test him anyway with fire and bullets?

It's a wonderful deleted scene.

Neil

 

[Camper]

It's a great scene. Lex doesn't think the gauntlet will stop Superman. He wants Superman to think that he has been underestimated. When he pushes in the metal door he thinks Lex is beat and he presumes Lex is helpless -- "He thinks bullets will stop me?"
Superman had to suspect there would be a trap laid since he was lured to the hideout. The gauntlet satisfies that presumption. Then he blunders into rashly opening the lead safe thinking the destruct switch is inside. It's a great "comic book-y" scene that well deserves to be in the first big budget comic book movie.

No reason for it not to be included in some form. The UHD blurb proudly proclaims the lack of alternate versions as if that's a great thing. LOL. I admire their honesty at least in not making people guess right up until release day.

I would like to upgrade the movie to UHD but I am just not rich enough to buy it just to have it on my shelf considering I will only be watching the 151 cut going forward.

They probably rightly assumed it wouldn't affect sales too much and wasn't worth the effort.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Per the Bits...

"First, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just officially announced the long-expected 4K Ultra HD release of Richard Donner’s original Superman: The Movie on 11/6. The 4K release will include the theatrical version of the film only on 4K and on the newly-remastered Blu-ray included in the package as well. The 4K version will feature both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos object-based audio. Our information is that, in addition to Atmos, the 4K release will include 5.1 audio mixed from the original 1978 6-track 70mm as well."

Now THAT is interesting.

 

[Robert Harris]

Eh, I don’t think anything in the extended cut hurts the movie so I would have liked to see that cut included in UHD as well.

AFAIK, there is no high quality element suitable for 4k.

 

[Lord Dalek]

AFAIK, there is no high quality element suitable for 4k.

Well in this case how do you define "high quality"? The film is lacking in definition by design.

 

[WillG]

AFAIK, there is no high quality element suitable for 4k.

I kind of alluded before to the idea that this is a ST:TMP situation. But I again ask does this mean that the green suit in the composite shots can be expected.

 

[WillG]

It's a great scene. Lex doesn't think the gauntlet will stop Superman. He wants Superman to think that he has been underestimated. When he pushes in the metal door he thinks Lex is beat and he presumes Lex is helpless -- "He thinks bullets will stop me?"
Superman had to suspect there would be a trap laid since he was lured to the hideout. The gauntlet satisfies that presumption. Then he blunders into rashly opening the lead safe thinking the destruct switch is inside. It's a great "comic book-y" scene that well deserves to be in the first big budget comic book movie.

No reason for it not to be included in some form. The UHD blurb proudly proclaims the lack of alternate versions as if that's a great thing. LOL. I admire their honesty at least in not making people guess right up until release day.

I would like to upgrade the movie to UHD but I am just not rich enough to buy it just to have it on my shelf considering I will only be watching the 151 cut going forward.

They probably rightly assumed it wouldn't affect sales too much and wasn't worth the effort.

Good point. Also fits in with Jor-El’s warning about Vanity in the other additional scene

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

 

[Lord Dalek]

Good point. Also fits in with Jor-El’s warning about Vanity in the other additional scene

Also ties into Miss Tessmacher's subsquent betrayal of Lex

 

[deepscan]

AFAIK, there is no high quality element suitable for 4k.

Yes, RAH, I can agree on that issue, given that what last year's blu ray of the TV cut was derived from an IP found in WB's archives and was pieced together from every scrap of negative the Salkinds could find, and that was color corrected and restored in 2K. The camera negative to the theatrical cut is the best element available for SUPERMAN and surely that version is the one that deserves the 4K treatment. But remember, this was 1978, and the cinematography techniques on this film are different than say, GONE WITH THE WIND, so while we won't see a perfect 4K picture, we will no doubt see the best that can be achieved with 4K, and I am sure it will be even better than the blu ray of the TV cut, which I might add here must be seen as a work of its own, as is the 2000 SE.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I kind of alluded before to the idea that this is a ST:TMP situation. But I again ask does this mean that the green suit in the composite shots can be expected.

I would say "no". It's frankly amazing what can be done with digital colour correction.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I kind of alluded before to the idea that this is a ST:TMP situation. But I again ask does this mean that the green suit in the composite shots can be expected.

I have no idea what shape the elements are in, but I don't think it's quite that. The "Director's Edition" of ST:TMP was finished on standard def video, but wasn't the 2001 expanded edition of Superman was finished on film? It was probably made with dupes, but I would think it could be scanned in 4K like any other pre-DI film element. But I guess, as others have implied, it may not yield the best results in 4K.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

The camera negative to the theatrical cut is the best element available for SUPERMAN and surely that version is the one that deserves the 4K treatment. But remember, this was 1978, and the cinematography techniques on this film are different than say, GONE WITH THE WIND, so while we won't see a perfect 4K picture, we will no doubt see the best that can be achieved with 4K, and I am sure it will be even better than the blu ray of the TV cut, which I might add here must be seen as a work of its own, as is the 2000 SE.

For a decent time period comparison, see the 4K rendition of Grease (1978). Should be interesting.

 

[Stephen PI]

There's two different issues at play. The film itself probably doesn't have more than 2K (if that) in effective resolution because of Geoffrey Unsworth's deliberately soft photography. But upscaling an imagine digitally leaves artifacts that don't exist when you blow up an image optically.

My memory of seeing Superman-the Movie (both during production in dailies and the finished product in the 70mm release which I saw at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood), I was never aware at the time that Geoffrey Unsworth's photographic style for the film was soft as being slightly out of focus, If I am correct, he uses diffusion, which is quite different and it still can yield as good a result as an image that is razor-sharp.

To explain diffusion as opposed to 'soft focus,' in the April 1934 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine, George H. Scheibe, Filter specialist, has this to say about diffusion:

"Without doubt the most universally used photographic filter today is the Diffusion Filter (or screen). Hardly a single scene is photographed today - either in the studio or on location - without the use of some type of diffusing screen. In fully half of these scenes, the diffusion is so delicate it is noticeable only to the trained technician; yet is is the presence of this all-but-imperceptible diffusion which is responsible for the charm, naturalness, and "quality" of modern studio photography. To discover the reason for this, we must examine - if only briefly - the tremendous disparity between the human eye and the perfected lenses now used for photography and cinematography. According to the statements of many famous oculists, the human eye is at best a most imperfect instrument; it is doubtful if a single perfect pair of eyes has ever existed. Even those of us with theoretically with normal vision do not perceive things with the microscopic sharpness of a modern anastigmat lens; there is always present a certain --- and usually subconscious --- degree of natural diffusion........."

 

[Stephen_J_H]

For another great example of Unsworth's use of diffusion, take a look at A Bridge Too Far. There's also a great anecdote from Margot Kidder in the special features of the original DVD release of Superman, in which she recalls that Unsworth would ask for complete silence when setting up shots with Kidder because, "I'm lighting a lady."

Fantastic stuff.

 

[dpippel]

https://ew.com/movies/2018/10/02/superman-the-movie-batman-mask-of-the-phantasm/

 

[TonyD]

EW is pretty much a worthless site to try to look at so here is what it says so no one has to click through.


Two classic incarnations of DC’s most famous titans are coming to theaters for a limited time later this year.

Superman: The Movie, the 1978 film with Christopher Reeve in the Man of Steel suit, will screen in more than 500 movie theaters across the U.S. on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time, and again on Tuesday, Nov. 27. The return comes in time for the 40th anniversary of the film’s premiere and the 80th anniversary of the character’s creation.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the animated film featuring Kevin Conroy as the voice of the Dark Knight, will screen in the same capacity for one night only on Monday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. local, timed to the 25th anniversary of its original release in 1993.

An added bonus for DC fans, Max Fleischer’s 10-minute-long animated Superman short “Mechanical Monsters” will screen before Superman: The Movie — its first time shown on the big screen since its debut in 1941. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm will also be getting the 2010 Looney Tunes animated short “Rabid Rider” with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

 

[Jason_V]

I'm gonna try to get to Superman; Batman is going to be tough since I get in from two weeks in Europe on the 10th. AMC does not have tickets on sale for either yet.

 

[Konstantinos]

Superman III is coming on 4K!
I just hope that means that both II and IV are coming too. II is a favourite of mine.
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