Superman

[Ben]

Yeah, that’s been the old joke since even when reviews of the first film came out!

Would have been quite cool if that image had been the pic used there in the steelbook, although the set does have a lenticular card that supposedly will recreate that very same vinyl album sleeve experience.

[Daniel]

Further details:

Superman: The Movie:
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spangler
The Making of Superman – vintage featurette
Superman and the Mole-Men – vintage featurette
Super-Rabbit – 1943 WB cartoon
Snafuperman – 1944 WB cartoon
Stupor Duck – 1956 WB cartoon
TV Spot
Teaser Trailer
Theatrical Trailer

Superman II (Theatrical Version):
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler
The Making of Superman II – 1980 TV Special
Superman's Soufflé – Deleted scene
Fleischer Studios' Superman vintage cartoons
First Flight
The Mechanical Monster
Billion Dollar Limited
The Arctic Giant
The Bulleteers
The Magnetic Telescope
Electric Earthquake
Volcano
Terror on the Midway
Theatrical trailer

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut:
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz
Introduction by Richard Donner – featurette
Superman II: Restoring the Vision – featurette
Deleted scenes
Lex and Ms. Teschmacher head north
Lex and Ms. Teschmacher head south
The villains enter the fortress
He's all yours, boys
Clarke and Jimmy
Lex's gateway
Famous Studios vintage cartoons
Japoteurs
Showdown
Eleventh Hour
Destruction, Inc.
The Mummy Strikes
Jungle Drums
The Underground World
Secret Agent

Superman III:
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Commentary by Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler
The Making of Superman III – 1983 TV special
Deleted scenes
Save my baby
To the rescue
Making up
Going to see the boss
Hatching the plan
The con
Rooftop ski
Boss wants this to go
Superman honored
Gus' speech
Hanging up on Brad
Theatrical trailer

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace:
4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
Commentary by Mark Rosenthal
Superman 50th anniversary special – 1988 TV special
Deleted scenes
Clark's morning
Jeremy's letter
Superman's visit
Nuclear Man's prototype
Metropolis after hours
Lex ponders
Flying sequence (extended scene)
Battle in Smallville
Battle in the U.S.S.R.
Nuclear arms race
Superman's sickness
Red alert
By my side
Lark and Lacy say goodbye
No borders
Theatrical trailer

[Ben]

Pooh…by all accounts the newly restored version of The Movie, which was widely expected to debut here, is not going to, instead it being a reprise of the botched 2018 4K. Worse, they seem to have dropped the stellar original 70mm six-track stereo surround audio track which is worth sitting through the substandard image for.

And still no details on SII and if it’s just an upscale or a 4K redo. Nevertheless, I have orders open with three different places to make sure I get those original poster steelbooks, natch, even if I half expect another edition to come for the actual anniversary at the end of the year…!

[Randall]

The Bits does say that the "original" audio will now be on the 4K disc, but we'll see what that means.

The Fleischer/Famous cartoons are now appearing on their own Blu-ray set as well. It's not clear if the new HD versions will be on the Blus in this set, but I doubt it. Anyway, the Blu set has a new featurette as well. Nice cover, even if the images don't quite match up (I had to say that for Ben's sake).

[Ben]

Well it’s true! I’m really not sure what those "soldiers"(?) are doing there, in a completely different drawing style and perspective (or even representing…er…what cartoon particularly? Japoteurs? Or is that the US army shooting on Supes and a US human civilian!?), but the overall feel is great.

"Original audio" on STM is confirmed as being 2.0, so who knows what that means. Just hoping it’s not the crummy 35mm release soundtrack that we’ve had for years, or a mixdown of the also crummy SE remix. There is some hope that the six-track 70mm has been used as a bed for the "new" Atmos, but we'll see. This release seems botched and ripe for replacement with a standalone STM release at the end of the year even before it’s been released!

The animated featurette does seem exclusive to the standalone, though the extras on the 4K indicate "HD extras", so that’s up in the air (see what I did there?) as far as the shirts go too. We won’t know what we have until the sets are in our hands.

[Randall]

Given that I don't even have a 4K player yet, I am buying this set for the packaging. And that admittedly may be silly, so I reserve the right to cancel my preorder.

But STM is my favourite movie! This is hard to pass up.

[Ben]

I am becoming more and more convinced that we are getting a megaset for the first film at the end of the year, with remastered theatrical, special edition and extended cuts, with the WB100 branding. This one is more about getting the sequels the sequels out there to match the 2018 disc.

[Daniel]

The Fleischer set is out today but it sounds like a botched job. Pity.

[Ben]

Yes, apparently after a lovely ckean-up job by Warners' MPI unit, the home video bunch DVNR'd the heck and compressed them…on to ONE disc. I was too late to cancel my already on the way import, but it’s likely I stick with running the DVDs when I do a Superman run in September.

[Daniel]

Pretty good lengthy review:

[Ben]

I started this a few days ago and working my way in chunks. He gets pretty riled up, which is quite funny to see him trying to keep himself in check. It’s a little scary…!