As details slowly emerge regarding the arrival of the Superman Motion Picture Anthology on Blu-Ray in the coming months, many will remember that 2001 was a vintage year for Superfandom.
Warner Brothers had planned nothing less than a limited cinema release of the newly restored and remastered Superman: The Movie followed by a sparkling new DVD release resplendent with all-new extras. The anticipation was heightened to feverish proportions when the trailer was released online (still considered the best trailer for the movie to this day) but would finally disappoint many fans by not making it back onto the big screen outside of the US.
Debate still rages over many aspects of the Superman: Special Edition DVD over anything from the ‘remastered’ sound to the inclusion of deleted scenes, but few denied it was a spectacular presentation with fantastic documentaries (and even Christopher Reeve’s screentest, something I longed for but thought I’d never see) regardless of its cheap, fragile’Snapper’ case.
WB would later follow the Special Edition with The Complete Superman Collection as a gleaming box-set. The debut of the sequels on DVD was a more ‘vanilla’ affair but no less pleasing to have the entire series in the best format of the time…
From the top; Region 1 Boxset, contents, Promo for the Special Edition and Spanish ad for The Complete Collection…