You have to hand it to the late Alexander Salkind – Only an old-school producer of his calibre would reserve no less than seven pages of legendary trade paper Variety (four shown, the remaining 3 consisting of the crystal shield artwork) to announce Superman III was in pre-production.
Salkind’s gift for publicity and association with Variety goes back as early as 1976, when preliminary announcements for the acquisition of the property from DC Comics started appearing followed up by the unprecedented news that the legendary Marlon Brando himself had signed up for the project. These fragile ads on newspaper stock are now treasured records of film history and should be preserved as such…
…And the saga continues, with the addition of the ultra-rare poster from Bravo magazine (artist unknown) featuring the Superheroes of the seventies, including Adam West’s incarnation of Batman and Nicholas Hammond’s Amazing Spider-Man, with Reeve’s Superman soaring high above his small-screen comrades…
My thanks to Superfan Chris King for the poster restoration!!
Though forever American as Apple Pie, Superman’s cinematic seeds were sewn in Europe –
Having secured the rights from DC Comics, infamous producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind had originally planned to shoot the adventures of the Man Of Steel in Italy until a series of unfortunate events and shifting economy steered the production toward the UK. At once occupying large portions of both Pinewood and Shepperton studios, the Superman series was brought to life by the cream of British technical talent and craftsmen whose talent & dedication lives on through the finished picture…
From the top, more vintage full-page ads from Daily Variety and Screen International dedicated to the BFI and UK Box Office takings (The figure seems laughable now but in adjusted dollars is probably trillions), A personal thank you from the producers to the BFI for their support, a promo for Pinewood Studios in the form of a daily shooting schedule (notice the other ongoing shoots including Moonraker) and finally a dedication to gifted matte artist Les Bowie, one of a trio of irreplaceable British technicians (Geoffrey Unsworth/John Barry) who sadly passed within months of Superman’s release…
The first from a series of vintage full-page ads from Daily Variety starting with the initial artwork presented by the Salkinds when Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger) was in place as Director.
Its interesting to see the film as we know it evolve from these announcements highlighting additions to the cast. With Hamilton eventually replaced and after a well-publicised and lengthy search it was finally made official that Superman himself would be played by 24 year old ‘newcomer’ Christopher Reeve. Also of note is Peter Boyle’s casting as Otis in a role eventually filled by Ned Beatty. To date the reason for his replacement remains unknown.
As these prints play an important part in the documentation of the film’s genesis I have removed the yellowing with age in an effort to present them as they were originally intended…
