Superman II: Restored International Cut
Details of this fan restoration have been removed because Warner Bros. have contacted me. I think as a collective group,
we've achieved what we set out to do, that is to raise awareness of Donner's work on Superman 2; it imperative that the wider audience
learns about Donner's work on Superman 2, and they will; Entertainment Weekly...check it next week! :)
Warner Bros. knows the fans will buy it, but this needs to reach the wide audience who do not read these types of sites.
I think it's a great achievement that this will be in Entertainment Weekly.
We await a legit version of Superman 2 featuring Donner's lost work.
Well, you must be wondering whatever happened to this project, huh? Well, it's been a long road to get to this point but it's finally finished. Over to the editor to explain all:
In 2001 work began on a fan film project for "Superman II."
The ultimate goal was to raise awareness about the lost footage from that
film, and hopefully convince anyone with influence that the work of original
"Superman II" director Richard Donner should see the light of
day. If you have no idea about the long odd history of this film, please
refer to the Superman II section.
You'll learn all you need to know, and more.
This project began as a fan edit. The hope was to recut the film to make
it feel more like Donner's "Superman The Movie." Before work
could seriously begin, the extended TV broadcasts needed to be acquired
to include some of those great Donner moments that didn't make it into
the theatrical cut.
There would always be those hard-core fans that would want to see everything.
So with the support of fans and friends from around the globe, the fan
edit was put aside, and the business of restoring the entire film began.
It took about 2 years to acquire the footage, and make it watchable, but
the results were less than satisfying. The word once again went out for
extended broadcasts, and both Bill Williams and Jonathan Hoyle answered
the call. The choice wasn't easy, but after a lot of scrutiny, Bill's
footage was the actual source chosen to improve RIC. But special thanks
to Jonathan for sending his original master as well.
It's been said many times, this film will never win any quality awards.
The footage supplied came from home recordings. So anyone expecting amazing
detail and clarity will be sorely disappointed. But if you've seen any
version of the extended broadcasts, you'll probably appreciate the way
it's presented here. Great care has been taken to make the film as watchable
as possible, no commercials, no subtitles, no station ID's. Thanks to
the generous help of a very talented individual, even the audio got a
polishing as well.
The final two disc RIC DVD set contains:
- The complete two hour, twenty-six minute version of the film.
- On-screen commentary track, detailing what footage Donner shot, and other RIC trivia.
- Long out of print documentary "The Making of Superman II."
- Long out of print "Superman II Soundtrack."
- "Lost Scene Gallery" featuring pictures of Donner's unreleased work on Superman II.
- "Restoration Demonstration" showing before and after footage examples.
- Complete RIC artwork folder. All the artwork, from the cover to the disc art, it's all included in TIFF file format.
So how do you get a copy? This question has been incredibly difficult
to answer. The most reasonable solution seems to be a trading "tree"
idea. DVD's have already been sent out to all the contributors, as well
as a handful of others. Simply make a request on
Superman CINEMA's message
board in the Trader's Forum.
RIC was mastered in both NTSC and PAL. There's no guarantee someone will
help provide a copy, but people have already shown interest in trading
it.
"Restored International Cut" is strictly non-profit. It's become
a worldwide effort created by the fans, for the fans. If you would like
to contribute to the project, please help spread the word about the real
"Superman II." With enough fan support, maybe Warner Brothers,
or even the Salkinds themselves will someday make available the lost work
of Richard Donner, Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Geoffrey Unsworth,
and many many others. If you get your hands on a copy of RIC, please share
it with others.
Visit his website
Want Warner Brothers to officially release the lost footage?
Let them know here What is the International cut?
Find out here
