Its a little-known fact that the final chapter of the classic Superman Movie series was shot entirely in the UK. A great proportion of exterior scenes were shot in MIlton Keynes as the new town with its modernist architecture was considered to be a reasonable representation of a US city of the era.
Naturally the prospect of Hollywood coming to town was a considerable coup and the world’s press were out in force to cover the filming. From the top, a never-before published shot of Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent outside Milton Keynes train station shot on 17/11/1986 by Ian Blackmore, an article from the Financial Times discussing the location and headline from the MIlton Keynes Citizen declaring Superman was in town. These archive clippings were discovered in the archive on Milton Keynes public library on a trip to visit filming locations years later…
The quest for global box-office domination through promotion – Daniel Goozee’s definitive original painting for the marketing of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace was adapted for overseas markets with wildly varying results (and replaced altogether in France). Translations of the title would also yield some interesting interpretations of the theme – In Germany ‘The Quest For Peace’ would become ‘World On The Brink’ and ‘The Strongest Enemy’ for the Japanese campaign.
From the top; German poster (‘artist’ unknown) alternative artwork for the French poster (artist unknown) a magazine ad for the Brazillian home video release and the Japanese one-sheet. Despite the customarily glossy marketing the movie would go on to gross $15,681,020 worldwide and would be considered the flop that ended the franchise…
These awesome Japanese Movie flyers or ‘Chirashi’ (measuring approx. 25 1/2 x 18 1/2cm) are notable for their unique compositions, often differing greatly from their western counterparts. They are double-sided and exhibit more images and movie synopses and/or cast information on the rear. This is a rare and very collectable set from all four movies from my collection…
Welcome to SUPERMANIA’78!
Please go here for an introduction and mission statement for this website!
Here you will find some of the very best and most obscure items of Superman Movie Memorabilia from all over the globe, starting with a world first below –
Behind the scenes on the final major gag on Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. These never-before-published stills depict Director Sidney J. Furie & crew setting up for the shot where Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor is apprehended by air as Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel boosts his Marquee from below. This complex stunt was performed on the last stretch of London’s M25 orbital Motorway before being opened, so the production could populate it with American cars.
A crane would hoist both Hackman and co-star Jon Cryer while Reeve would be harnessed beneath to give the impression of lift-off with his bare hands. While the live-action looks impressive here (even with the visible cables) the shot as edited into the final film would have a distracting strobe effect added in post-production and would last for mere seconds…
