Superman (film) - Legacy

Legacy

Superman was nominated for three Academy Awards (Editing, Music (Original Score) and Sound - (Gordon K. McCallum, Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier and Roy Charman)), and received a Special Achievement Award for its visual effects. Donner publicly expressed disgust that production designer John Barry and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth had not been recognized.

Superman was successful at the 32nd British Academy Film Awards. Reeve won Best Newcomer, while Hackman, Unsworth, Barry and the sound designers earned nominations. The film won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. At The Saturn Awards Kidder, Barry, John Williams and the visual effects department received awards, and the film won Best Science Fiction Film. Reeve, Hackman, Donner, Valerie Perrine and costume designer Yvonne Blake were nominated for their work as well. In addition, Williams was given a nomination at the 36th Golden Globe Awards and won a Grammy Award. In 2007, the Visual Effects Society listed Superman as the 44th most influential use of visual effects of all time. In 2008, Empire named it the #174 greatest movie all-time on its list of 500. The film also received recognition from the American Film Institute. Superman was selected as the 26th greatest movie hero of all time. The film was considered for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, but didn't make it past the ballot. In 2009, Entertainment Weekly ranked Superman 3rd on their list of The All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.

With the success of the film, it was immediately decided to finish Superman II. Ilya and Alexander Salkind and Pierre Spengler did not ask Donner to return because Donner had criticized them during the movie's publicity phase. Donner commented in January 1979, "I'd work with Spengler again, but only on my terms. As long as he has nothing to say as the producer, and is just liaison between Alexander Salkind and his money, that's fine. If they don't want it on those terms, then they need to go out and find another director, it sure as shit ain't gonna be me." Kidder, who portrayed Lois Lane, was dissatisfied by the producers' decision, and also criticized the Salkinds during publicity. As a result, Kidder was only given a cameo appearance for Superman III, and not a main supporting role. Jack O'Halloran, who portrayed Non, stated, "It was great to work with Donner. Richard Lester was as big an asshole as the Salkinds." Two more films, Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), were produced. Superman Returns was released in 2006. Director Bryan Singer credited Superman: The Movie as an influence for Superman Returns, and even used restored footage of Brando as Jor-El. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut also was released in 2006.

The film's final sequence, which features Superman flying high above the Earth at sunrise, and breaking the fourth wall to smile briefly at the camera, featured at the end of every Superman film starring Reeve, and was re-shot with Brandon Routh for Superman Returns.

Because Superman went into production prior to Star Wars (May 1977) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (November 1977), some observers credit the three films collectively for launching the reemergence of a large market for science fiction films in the 1980s. This is certainly the view of Superman producer Ilya Salkind and some who have interviewed him, as well as of film production assistant Brad Lohan. Other observers of film history tend to credit the resurgence of science fiction films simply to the Lucas and Spielberg productions, and see Superman as the first of the new cycle of films launched by the first two. Ilya Salkind denies any connection between Superman—which began filming in March 1977—and the other films, stating that "I did not know about 'Star Wars'; 'Star Wars' did not know about 'Superman'; 'Close Encounters' did not know about 'Superman.' It really was completely independent — nobody knew anything about anybody." Superman also established the superhero film genre as viable outside the world of Saturday matinee serials, although it was a decade before the comparable success of the Batman series and two decades before that of X-Men and Spider-Man.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Superman - #26 Hero
  • Lex Luthor — Nominated Villain
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Can You Read My Mind — Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "I'm here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way." - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Fantasy Film