Superman (Salkind films) adopted a high protein diet. He added of muscle to his thin frame. He later made even higher gains for "Superman III" (1983), though for "" (1987), he decided it would be healthier to focus more on cardiovascular workouts. One of the reasons Reeve could not work out as much for "" was an emergency appendectomy he had in June 1986. Reeve was never a Superman or comic book fan, though he had watched "Adventures of Superman" starring George Reeves. Reeve found the role offered a suitable challenge because it was a dual role. He said, "there must be some
Superman in film Jimmy Olsen. Even though the film performed poorly at the box office, Helen Slater was nominated for a Saturn Award. Cannon Films picked up an option for a fourth Superman/Reeve film, with Reeve reprising the role due to his interest in the film's topic regarding nuclear weapons. However, Cannon decided to cut the budget of "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" from $35 million to $15 million, with poor special effects and heavy re-editing, which contributed to the film's poor reception. Warner Bros. decided to give the series a break following the negative reception of the last two Superman films.