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2ND JULY - 19TH DECEMBER 2000 19th DECEMBER 2000 DONNER ON THE CRAPPER? www.wizardworld.com - Taking Flight" is the title of the new one-hour documentary all about the making of "Superman: The Movie" on the "Superman" DVD re-release. It’s rather neat, and full of fascinating tidbits. F’r instance: Director Richard Donner was on the crapper when he got the original call asking him to direct the flick. Look for the remastered "Superman: The Movie" DVD on May 1, 2001. Thanks to Sammy for the link. 13th DECEMBER 2000 RELEASE DATE? Just to keep you guys and girls ticking over the holiday season, here
is a link to a DVD article (nothing knew but still rather exciting to
read): 8th DECEMBER 2000 RELEASE DATE? Reports on certain sites suggest that Region4 (Australia) will get the Superman DVD in the 1st QTR of 2001. We'll have to wait and see if this is true. I've been told that Superman will get a world-wide release, probably around the same time as the Region1 date. I have no other details on dates, if I do, I'll post it here. We are still looking at MAY 2001 (2nd QTR). 12th NOVEMBER 2000 STUDIO DAY DVD UPDATE DVDFILE has posted their report on Studio day, here is the Superman excerpt: First off, Superman will arrive in May, though now a theatrical release remains in question. Only the first disc will be a special edition (and 2-disc set at that), though the three sequels will be remastered. Expect this to be a big seller, and it will be great to finally see a restored print that Warner promises will blow everyone away. SEE! We are not making bullshit up, a theatrical release is not a rumour. WB are STILL thinking about it. More on studio day goto www.dvdfile.com Plenty of DVDs coming including Lawrence of Arabia, re-mastered Kubrick DVDS!!!!!! And much more. 27th OCTOBER 2000 DVD TIDBITS 2 scenes CONFIRMED for inclusion in the director's cut: Superman's green suit rectified in all scenes. You'll be AMAZED by the quality of the print and sound! Marlon Brando is not in the new documentary, nearly everbody else IS!! Donner is not involved with the Superman 2 DVD because it's not his finished film. 26th SEPTEMBER 2000 800 THEATERS??? Our site host has received this information: Some of you are aware that I am not only the host of this site, but a filmmaker. A "new" filmmaker yes and I should be behind the camera next Spring, but as things move along for me, I come into some terrific information from time to time. I talked with a guy who shall remain nameless who is in the know and he said Warner is using the results of the Exorcist re-release to gauge public readiness for more re-releases, SUPERMAN in particular. Warner's plan is to release SUPERMAN to 800 theaters this January, all DOLBY or DTS Digital screens, and follow that up with SUPES II in the fall if the first release is successful. SUPES II would be an extended cut. I do not know which cut or who would be involved. That information is closely guarded and again, based on the success of the first release. If it does not earn a ton of money, Warner will not spend what is needed to complete the extensive work on Part II. These are FACTS. Not rumors. My informant works at Warner. But the ultimate decision on STM will be made the week after October 13th, when Exorcist goes wide. So far Warner is jumping for joy at the free money Exorcist is giving them. So, now it looks like we will know the fate of the re-release in the latter half of October. Superman2 extended cut? Why next fall? Is Donner involved? Might have to start a page dedicated to Superman2 theatrical and DVD. Looks like we won't see S2 DVD until end of 2001 if I'm reading this correct. 25th SEPTEMBER 2000 JIMMY AND THE EXORCIST Marc McClure is the host of the new documentary on the STM DVD scheduled for May 2001 release. The Exorcist (the new cut) was released on Friday in 600+ theaters. Grossed just over 8million. This is very impressive, so good that the wide release will happen on Friday 13th October. Expect it to appear in some other countries around the world as well. Things are looking good for Superman, surely an announcement is only around the corner? 15th SEPTEMBER 2000 SUPERMAN RE-RELEASE CREDITS Two names which will be added to Superman: The Special Edition credits,
they are: Hmmm, re-release? Do we call a DVD a re-release? I don't think so. Theatrical re-release? Possibly. Wide or Limited? No idea YET. I'm still confident :) 6th SEPTEMBER 2000 SUPERMAN DVD PUSHED BACK AGAIN Before I posted the latest news on the DVD delay, I waited 24 hours for a super source to chime in and he did. The DVD is pushed back to May 2001. The DVD is coming along fine and it doesn't need another 7 months or so to finish it. This delay is to do with the theatrical release, folks, it's coming to theaters this December and/or January2001. As I've said before, we need WB to confirm or deny this, but I'm confident that it's coming to America first. January would seem the perfect window, not many films could really affect the re-release's box-office. Of course, I could be totally wrong but I don't think I am. 1st SEPTEMBER 2000 E-ONLINE ARTICLE Don't panic yet, WB should be still planning a theatrical re-release, but I don't know the latest: http://eonline.com/Reviews/Movies/Scoop/000901.html Superman: Still Flying High More than 20 years after we were first asked to believe a man could fly, Superman still has superpowers with movie fans. Just ask Margot Kidder. The actress, who brought Lois Lane to the big screen in the 1978 blockbuster and its two sequels, recently attended the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois, for the first time--and she was amazed. "This is obviously a movie that has lasted long after its release and will for a long time," Kidder told me from her home in Montana. "I expect my granddaughter to watch it, because it's a great movie." While Kidder always knew there was plenty of interest in the movie, she didn't realize how much until she went to Metropolis for the 22-year-old convention, which attracts as many as 50,000 fans each year. Just before leaving for the Superman Celebration (Marc McClure, aka Jimmy Olsen, also showed up), Kidder completed her portion of the special-edition Superman DVD, due in 2001. Kidder was mailed a copy of the movie on disc, which proved to be a slight problem. "I didn't know what a DVD was," Kidder laughs. "I thought you put the whole box in until some kid showed me how. I felt like I was 900 years old." Director Richard Donner is preparing the DVD, which, as I reported a few weeks ago, will include such fun bells and whistles as a 143-minute version, updated effects and lost scenes. Warner Bros. even considered rereleasing this new version to theaters, but got cold feet. On the DVD, Kidder talks about the joy of making a movie with people she still considers family. During the making of the movie, Christopher Reeve had his first child, and Kidder went through a divorce. "I remember how much I adored them all," she says. "It was a very loving time, and we were all stuck in a foreign country and were truly, truly family." And if there's ever a DVD for the troubled Superman II--Donner was fired as director halfway through production--Kidder knows exactly what to put on it. "Somewhere, there's half a movie that no one's ever seen," says Kidder, her voice rising. "The producers worked [Donner] to the bone and then fired him. It was just disgusting, and I sounded off. As a result, I had 12 lines--I counted them--in Superman III, and one of them was 'Oh, Clark.' It was scandalous." 28th AUGUST 2000 BOX-SET Thanks to the Wilson bros. Make of this what you will, folks : Heard a little piece of info about the DVD boxed set. Our regular import company told us that they will be selling the Superman box-set for a little over £50. They also said that the release date is confirmed for (we remember rightly) January 11th. Given that to buy an average Warner DVD is about £20, then it is a little worrying that the set can be knocked-out at such a low price. This would suggest that Warner haven't gone and remastered 2,3 & 4, but are using the masters from their previous laserdisc issues. They might re-jig the audio, but it is doubtful that the prints will zing. Also interesting is that the owner said that Superman the Movie is being sold separately, but 2 & 3 are not listed as having individual issues. No mention has been made at all about a separate issue of 4. Who knows, Warner might have an ace up their sleeve after all, and could be prepping an extended copy of it, as it would be a definite seller if it was a solo issue. 27th AUGUST 2000 NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE New York Times On-line have an article on the DVD. Looks like Superman is coming back with a vengenance. We need this publicity!!!! Thanks to Eplicon for heads-up. Non-Superman stuff has been edited out.
Producing DVD's With Lavish Extras By PETER M. NICHOLS LOS ANGELES -- ON a sunny afternoon in the large library of a large house in Bel Air, the director Richard Donner, the writer Tom Mankiewicz and a group of production people from Warner Brothers are watching Mr. Donner's "Superman" on a 50-inch television screen. It is doomsday on the planet Krypton and the patriarch Jor-El, played by Marlon Brando, regards his infant son, whom he is about to send to Earth in an escape pod. "The kid's diapers are worth a fortune," Mr. Donner says. "Brando's dialogue is on them." A huge hit when it was released in 1978, "Superman," with Christopher Reeve as the man of steel and a superb cast including Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford and Ned Beatty, is still remembered as one of the more entertaining action fantasies. On the Internet, fans have been clamoring for a special edition on digital video disc and early next year Warner will oblige with a DVD packed with extras, including an alternate version of the movie with added scenes; two documentaries; screen tests; deleted scenes; the screenplay with the director's notations; music outtakes; trailers and myriad other items. The new, longer version will incorporate nine minutes Mr. Donner cut in 1978. "Usually there's closure with the films you make," he said, "but 'Superman' has hung on to me. A lot of it has to do with Christopher Reeve. I have a desire to see it fresh, to go back to some of the things I had taken out editorially way back then. For me, it's exciting to have my voice out there, to share how it was done, why." The disc gives him that chance. As DVD becomes more widespread, viewers are increasingly paying attention to extra features that illuminate and explain. Six months ago, according to an industry study, consumers ranked enhanced sound as DVD's leading attribute, followed by better picture quality, disc durability, no rewinding and the widescreen format, which flattens the image into the dimensions it had on the theater screen. The highest-ranking extra, the director's commentary, was far down the line. Now, though, supplements not only are more familiar, but they are also becoming attractions. Occupying two sides of a high-capacity disc called an 18 (for 18 gigabytes), "Superman" joins a fast-growing breed of fully loaded special editions that stand stacked up like jumbo jets on fall and winter release schedules. As demand increases, studios are taking more care to rummage their archives and, as is the case with "Superman," are putting a level of effort into producing their major DVD's that in some ways emulates the kind of attention directors themselves give to their films. What viewers get out of this depends on their degree of interest, of course, but even as amusements the supplements impart a good deal of information. This afternoon Mr. Donner is recording a director's commentary aided by Mr. Mankiewicz, who is listed in the credits as "creative consultant" but who also wrote the final screenplay, for which Mario Puzo and three others were credited. They are kidding about the diapers, but Mr. Brando, renowned for not memorizing lines, needed cue cards and other prompters spread around the set. It's the kind of anecdote made for DVD, and "Superman" benefits from having its principals still around to talk. Also, movies from decades ago frequently don't have as much of an archive to draw from. "Superman" had eight tons of it, including 1.25 million feet of film. Some was in France, but most was at Pinewood Studios in London, where the movie was made. Since February a team from Warner has been winnowing bits and pieces for the disc, overseen by Michael Thau, a film editor and Mr. Donner's DVD man. Directors get a chance to explain their work, and perhaps rework it. Projects this large emphasize the bifurcated position DVD finds itself in these days: disc as both tool and plaything. Supplements have been on laser discs since the early 1980's, but now studios are in competition to accumulate as many extras as possible (a new "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" DVD lists 40). In the early days of DVD, one dictum held that the movie and its extras should fit on one side of one disc -- and they still do for most movies. But the biggest DVD's are running over onto two discs or, like "Superman," onto the back side of one disc. Many DVD's, in fact, are spilling off the discs entirely and onto the Internet, offering, through DVD-ROM drives in personal computers, interactive, movie-related activities like games and chat rooms, live discussions with directors and, of course, links to the company store. Warner hasn't decided what "Superman" features, if any, will go on the Internet. The Web also makes a good repository for a screenplay or documentary that won't fit on the discs. One can consult the screenplay and storyboards on the Web, then jump to the exact spot in the film on the disc. That can be instructive, but it also can get silly. Toss in a game or two (there will be no games anywhere with "Superman") and DVD is pushed to the edge of arcade entertainment. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but at the studios serious efforts to illuminate films -- and they usually are relatively serious -- also recognize that supplements are pop diverions for many viewers. Mr. Donner is not averse to a Brando tale or two among other anecdotes or to taking a swipe at the secretive and famously tight-fisted "Superman" producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind [during the commentary], with whom the director had continual rows and legal difficulties. But the disc is mainly a tale of movie revival. Mr. Thau's first step was to make new prints from the camera negative, which had seen a lot of use. Then he color-timed the film, assigning colors and shading to each frame. "DVD is such a good transfer, the film itself has to look as good as possible," he said. Later the film was transferred to digital tape, from which the DVD is made. The tape has a higher resolution than disc and on studio screens has an amazingly clear look that approaches high definition. "So when you transfer to DVD, you aren't losing anything," he said. Directors value the enhanced quality and widescreen format of a DVD release, but some have their doubts about add-ons. At the same time, he was restoring John Williams's score -- one of the first to be recorded in Dolby stereo -- as well as the dialogue and the sound effects. A movie made in 1978 has a different sound. "There were distinctive, signature effects," he said. Identifying and preparing all the sound elements took several months. Remixing them into Dolby 5.1 surround sound took six weeks. Meanwhile, Mr. Thau was flying around the country gathering interviews for the two documentaries. One, about the making of the film, talks with principal actors -- including Mr. Reeve, Mr. Hackman and Ms. Kidder -- and production people. On a snippet of tape, Mr. Reeve describes his role as "temporary custodian of a past that was an essential piece of American mythology." The other documentary will describe the special effects, reveling in the demands of those antiquarian predigital times. (With no digital assist, Superman flew on a wire.) In a third feature -- or "featurette," in DVD lingo -- Anne Archer, Stockard Channing, Lesley Ann Warren and Deborah Raffin audition for the role of Lois Lane, won by Ms. Kidder. In the clips the "S" hasn't yet been sewn on Superman's cape. At Warner, 60 DVD projects might be in development at once. A special-effects blockbuster like "The Matrix" is the prize. "There are so many more layers of craftsmanship that you can explore and discuss as opposed to the standard drama," said Jonathan Gaines, founder of Acoustic Visions, an independent company that helps put together special editions for Warner and other studios. For big films, directors and movie companies are shooting behind the scenes with DVD in mind. "If they know it will be a hit, they'll bring me in before the movie comes out," Mr. Gaines said. "For 'The Matrix,' we got in touch with the producers before they started filming. Luckily they were very DVD-savvy." That's fine for "The Matrix," which is DVD's top seller. Older films, coming to DVD years after the fact, often have to scramble for material. Deleted scenes and outtakes have been lost. Families and estates have to be consulted, leading to delay and complication. There are no such problems with "Superman," thanks primarily to Mr. Donner. "It's unusual for an older production company to come in and revisit a film," said Ned Price, Warner's vice president of technical mastering operations. "Very few have survived from the 70's. Here we know we'll get something pleasing to the director and have a lot more artistic freedom. They can alter what they like." At some point all the "Superman" supplements will come together in a chilly room at a Warner company called CVC out by the Los Angeles airport. At CVC, computers churn 24 hours a day mixing elements of scores of DVD's. When the "multiplexing" is done, the package is sent to the replicator, who sends back the "glass," or test disc. One afternoon recently, several technicians were intently examining the glass of the moment: Mr. Stone's "Any Given Sunday." 15th AUGUST 2000 WIDESCREEN REVIEW ARTICLE SCAN The latest edition of Widescreen Review magazine has a long interview with Superman DVD producer, Jonthan Gaines. I can reveal that Gaines is a STM fan and seems a very cool guy to me. If you want to read the entire interview, you'll have to buy the magazine, but never fear, we have scans of the Superman tidbits for you. Thanks to Phil for this. CLICK HERE
FOR PAGE ONE 11th AUGUST 2000 DVD DELAYED???? The DVD is delayed till next year, that's been confirmed. I'm quietly confident that this paves way for a theatrical re-release. Fingers crossed. 10th AUGUST 2000 DVD DELAYED???? www.TheDigitalBits.com reported the following in their rumour mill section: We've got a few big pieces of information for you today - big mostly because these are titles you ask us about almost every day. The first is this... Warner has decided to delay the DVD release of Superman until next year. Before you get your red spandex underwear in a bunch however, keep in mind that this is a good thing. It's because there are so many cool features going into this release, that the studio needs the extra time to pull it all together in the quality we all want to see it in. They don't want to rush it out and have it be less than we expect. So the delay is for the right reasons. And keep in mind also that the title HAS NOT been officially announced. That's a point that often gets missed these days with schedule changes for upcoming titles. Frankly, I'm glad for the delay, because there are SO many other big titles coming out this fall and winter, it's one less thing for people to have to buy in such a short time. In any case, we at the Bits say cudos to Warner for putting quality first. I'm hoping for confirmation soon. I know this DVD will be worth waiting for, you won't be disappointed.Could this delay mean a theatrical run??
THEATRE RELEASE Folks, treat this as a rumour, but you never know : "My friend told me a rumour that Warner Bros. is planning to release Superman in theatres in December, to mark the 22nd anniversary of the release. It was released on December 15 1978, which this year is on a Friday. He said that they plan to release the dvd a couple of months after depending on how Superman does, it would play overseas." Thanks to a fan.
8th AUGUST 2000 MORE ON THE DVD SPECS Here's some news from the U.S. -- a magazine called "Video Business"
(a weekly that covers the industry for retailers), reports in the July
31, 2000 edition: "Superman The Movie...Original features: Thanks to Jim for the info. 28th JULY 2000 DVD SPECS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, we are much more the wiser, www.widescreenreview.com has posted SOME juicy details on the DVD specs. Also, the theatrical release is STILL being considered. Anyway, enjoy this: Producers Jonathan Gaines, Michael Thau and Warner Home Video are in post-production on a new DVD release of Richard Donner's comic book classic "Superman." The film has been remastered and remixed, and will include a plentiful amount of newly created supplements. The disc is scheduled to include the following: DVD-18 dual-side/dual-layer disc Release date and the suggested retail price have not been determined.
Widescreen Review's Michael Coate recently interviewed "Superman" DVD supplements producer Jonathan Gaines and the interview will appear in the September issue (due mid-August). "Superman" and the many other DVD projects. If anyone can get this maagzine, please send in a report. with are discussed in the interview. 24th JULY 2000 Director's cut of Superman submitted to the MPAA Superman: The Special Edition has been submitted to the MPAA and has received a PG rating!! Superman DVD version is also listed but they all point to 'The Special Edition' What does this mean? Well, it certainly DOESN'T mean that Supes will fly back into theatres, but if it did, the MPAA is happy with it. We are still no closer to finding out if the theatrical re-release will happen, the speculation continues. At least we know that the new cut is called The Special Edition. http://www.mpaa.org/movieratings/search/index.htm Thanks to Jacob for the alert! 2nd JULY 2000 Seamless branching confirmed Rob sent in this, confirming that seamless branching will be used on the DVD : I saw this in the June 2000 issue of POST Magazine, a publication for
the Film & Video industry, and don't know if you're aware of it yet.
The article is on DVD authoring, and includes an interview with Jonathan
Gaines of Acoustic Visions, in Los Angeles. The article focuses briefly
on his work on Superman: DVD CoverArt A very reliable source says that the classic silver 'S' on black will be used on the front DVD cover. Sounds good to me, although I do like the teaser poster art as well, but the chosen idea is a good one. My guess is that the cover will feature the word - WIDESCREEN at the top and the DVD logo in the left hand corner.
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