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Superman had been flying on movie screens for decades when SUPERMAN, starring Christopher Reeve, opened in New York Dec. 11, 1978.

The comic book superhero first landed in theatres in a 1941 series of animated shorts and went live action in a 1948 movie serial. The 1951 feature film SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN, starring George Reeves, helped promote his now classic ABC-TV series THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, which aired from 1952-58.

It was Warner Bros.’ 1978 feature SUPERMAN, from executive producers Alexander & Ilya Salkind and director Richard Donner (THE OMEN), that sent the Man of Steel into the movie universe. It cost $55M to make and did $300.5M worldwide, sparking a new genre of mega-grossing superhero epics based on comic book stars like BATMAN, SPIDER-MAN & THE AVENGERS.

What now seems the ideal combination of director & casting could easily have gone in other directions. Steven Spielberg was asked to direct, but reportedly was too expensive. The Salkinds waited to see how Spielberg’s next film JAWS did. After it went into the record books as Hollywood’s first summer blockbuster, Spielberg decided to focus instead on his own projects.

Guy Hamilton, who directed 007 classics like GOLDFINGER & LIVE AND  LET DIE, was hired when SUPERMAN was going to shoot in Italy. But when finance issues moved filming to England, Hamilton had to exit since as a tax exile he could only spend 30 days a year in the U.K.

Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin & Sam Peckinpah were among those approached to direct, but they all had prior commitments or didn’t feel it was their kind of movie. Donner was going to do DAMIEN: OMEN II, but agreed to direct SUPERMAN for $1M. He then hired Tom Mankiewicz, who wrote LIVE AND LET DIE, to write a new SUPERMAN screenplay.

The Salkinds intended to shoot SUPERMAN & SUPERMAN II simultaneously to save money. But as shooting took longer and budget issues multiplied, Donner and the Salkinds were increasingly at odds. Richard Lester (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT) agreed to mediate, reportedly because the Salkinds still owed him money for directing THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1973) and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS: MILADY’S REVENGE (1974).

By the time the Salkinds finally fired Donner, he’d shot nearly 75% of SUPERMAN II. When Lester took over he wiped out any savings by reshooting most of what Donner had filmed in order for Lester to be credited as the sequel’s director.

New York doubled for Metropolis and the NY Daily News Building doubled for the Daily Planet’s offices. SUPERMAN was shooting there the night of New York’s 1977 blackout. Since Donner had generators for filming, he let the News borrow them to print the next morning’s paper.