SUPERMAN III (1983)

Franchisography

After the box office success of Superman II, the Salkinds wasted no time developing a story for the next entry in the cinematic saga of the Man of Steel. Ilya Salkind created an 8 page story outline for a third film that involved Brainiac and Supergirl, but it was ultimately rejected by Warner Bros for being too expensive and complex. It wasn’t until the producers saw Richard Pryor on a late night talk show talking about how much he’d like to be in a Superman movie that they chose a creative direction.

Offering Pryor $5 million to star in the film, they returned to Superman II reshoot director Richard Lester to make the Superman film of his dreams: a campy comedy for children. Christopher Reeve would return, but Margot Kidder’s role as Lois Lane would be drastically cut in retaliation for her public remarks about how the Salkinds’ treatment of Richard Donner. She would be replaced as Clark’s love interest in the film by Annette O’Toole as Smallville sweetheart Lana Lang.

The resulting is 1983’s SUPERMAN III, a film not entirely without merit (mostly in the form of Reeve and O’Toole) but to call it a “mixed bag” would be generous.

Join Nick & Scott as they continue the story of Superman’s silver screen journey with the sequel that forced fans and critics alike to rethink this whole superhero movie thing.

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