HISTORY OF THE PRODUCTION

1986 saw Christopher Reeve return to the leotard for the final time. After being persuaded by the Cannon Group to join their new creative team, Reeve insisted that he would only do the sequel if he could return the tone of the films to that of the original.

He then announced that he wished to direct the film. He began phasing the script with writers Mark Rosenthal and Larry Konner. Pinewood studios was booked for the Forth time around, and all looked promising.

A few weeks later it was announced that Cannon had purchased Elstree studios in Hertfordshire, England. Elstree had been the home of many international blockbusters, including the 'Star Wars' trilogy, 'Indiana Jones', 'Never Say Never Again' and 'Return To Oz'. Elstree was as respected as Pinewood, and the available British craftsmanship was a favourite with highly acclaimed filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Plans to shoot at Pinewood were discarded.

Not satisfied with Reeve's over ambitious movie making plans, Golan Globus favoured a quickly made cheap action flick that could also be a blockbuster. Aware of the franchises built in audience, the producers smelt an immediate fool-proof formula, one in line with their own characteristic brand of cheap filmmaking. 1986 had produced that type of film, a 'Top Gun' clone that was filmed on a tiny budget, yet became the sleeper hit of the year. 'Iron Eagle' was a triumph for penny pinching producers, so it's director, Sidney J Furie was an asset to Superman part IV. With Furie directing, the team came to a compromise, Reeve relegated to heading 2nd unit.

Inexperienced with special effects films, Furie consulted with 'Superman' director Richard Donner and 'Supergirl's Jeannot Szwarc for flying advice. David Lane was recommended by both. Signed on to direct the background plate photography, Lane and pilot Marc Wolff returned to the series once more.

Derek Meddings, Roy Field, Zoran Perisic and Paul Wilson were developing and testing visual effects and flying for Superman IV. By this point flying was perfected, and there was also talk of electronic compositing for flying scenes using a green screen. Also of note were the advances in Zoptic front projection that had been made on Perisic's 1986 film 'Gunbus'. The control and flexibility of Zoptic had now made it the most advanced form of front projection in the world. Optical Film Effects Ltd. returned, and under the supervision of Field, animatics and planning were underway.

Cannon suddenly announced a $60M loss since 1986. It was crucial for reasons of economy to reduce the budget size for Superman IV.

The original Salkind crews were dismissed as being too expensive, and replacements were being discussed. Replacing Roy Field and Derek Meddings was Harrison Ellenshaw, the founder of George Lucas company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)'s matte painting department. Ellenshaw had just completed the Michael Jackson Disney theme park ride 'Captain Eo', a 3-D adventure for which he supervised the special effects at ILM. Ellenshaw had known Furie from before, as both were involved in a visual effects spectacular to have been developed at Fox some years back. First of all, Ellenshaw recruited a plethora of effects artists from all over Hollywood, taking many animators, rotoscope artists and motion control cameramen from Richard Edlund's BOSS FILM (responsible for the imagery of 'Ghostbusters' and '2010') and of course allot of technical talent from ILM. They came together to create Cannon's in-house company, OLW (Olsen Lane and White).

David Lane, still committed to filming the aerial work in the USA began his work for part IV. The footage was so good that Warner Brothers bought the footage to be used later on for the aerial work of 'Gremlins 2' and 'Delirious'.

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