Superman (Salkind films) him to contradict Jor-El's orders to avoid altering human history, time traveling to save her from dying. Superman instead takes the advice of Jonathan Kent, his father on Earth. One of the most important aspects in the first and second films was the romantic relationship between the two main characters; Clark was hopelessly in love with Lois and even gave up his powers in order to be with her as depicted in "Superman II". The character and the portrayal by Christopher Reeve has garnered positive reviews by film critics and many other journalists. American Film Institute ranked Reeve's take on
Superman the most profitable movie serial in movie history. A sequel serial, "Atom Man vs. Superman", was released in 1950. For flying scenes, Superman was hand-drawn in animated form, composited onto live-action footage. The first feature film was "Superman and the Mole Men", a 58-minute B-movie released in 1951, produced on an estimated budget of $30,000 (AFI $). It starred George Reeves as Superman, and was intended to promote the subsequent television series. The first big-budget movie was "Superman" in 1978, starring Christopher Reeve and produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It was 143 minutes long and was made on a