This week marks the 26th anniversary of the worldwide release of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace on unsuspecting moviegoers everywhere –
Like it or loathe it, the closing chapter of the Reeve series remains as shrouded in controversy as its three preceding pictures but for all the wrong reasons. To date still unreleased in its entirety and tucked away embarrassingly in many a boxset collection, it remains today more a guilty pleasure than a Batman & Robin style disaster.
At a glance the images above would seem to represent a Movie of equal quality to the first two rather than the Corman-esque travesty it actually became. From the advertising campaign headed by veteran Bond poster artist Daniel Goozee’s painting (rare ‘clean’ version shown, top) to the supporting cast carried over a ten-year period (featuring Gene Hackman (bottom) and at its heart, the assured presence of Reeve himself with a story he co-wrote. What could possibly go wrong…?
IMO the Superman IV poster is possibly the best one of the 4 movies. and until now had no idea it had been done by a Bond artist (it does look abit like a Moore 007 poster)
it was also the first i knew of a superman IV (too young to know about Starlog or Starburst) – walking past a high street cinema in what must have been late summer 87 (according to imdb IV wasnt released in UK until Nov) and saw the ‘quad’ poster in those plastic cases outside (note the superior crystal font instead of the ‘cartoon’ font) with a ‘Coming soon’ sign underneath.
http://www.moviepostermem.com/images/products/square/52559.jpg
to say i was excited would be a mild understament! (although i mustve been pretty crushed to find out it would be 4 or 5 months away)
just imagine if SIV had been a hit despite the production problems, and made similar to SIII (which was still a hit) or even better
Cannon probably wouldve fast tracked a Superman V & VI back to back for 1989/90 BTTF style (wed have 2 Reeve Superman trilogys sitting on our shelves now – the Salkind trilogy and the Cannon trilogy) maybe even leading to a Burton/Keaton/Reeve Batman/Superman movie (after Batman Returns instead of ‘Forever’)
if only IV had been a damn hit!
heres a better image of the crystal font quad poster
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7678329200_bfa4d8747c_b.jpg
(wonder why they changed the font to the more cartoon style for the actual film and US posters? )
Hi there –
Thanks for your comments..!!
I shared a similar experience as my first contact with Superman IV was seeing that very same poster outside a cinema (in Weston Super-Mare, no less) and being elated but confused by the title “The Quest For Peace’. The UK quad plays havoc with Goozee’s painting by squishing it into landscape but the crystal title more than makes up for it. I believe that style title was only carried over to Australia whereas Stateside they had to endure the red&blue.
As wish fulfillment goes, while of course I would’ve wanted the series to continue (the unmade version of Superman V still fascinates me) I would rather the rot had not set in years earlier with the firing of Richard Donner. The most touching part of the Donner Cut extras is how both he and Marc McClure talk about the series continuing to this day…