Superman in film that in his absence Lois Lane has given birth to a son and become engaged. Singer chose to follow Donner's lead by casting relatively unknown Brandon Routh as Superman, who resembled Christopher Reeve somewhat, and more high-profile actors in supporting roles, such as Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Singer brought his entire crew from "X2" to work on the film. Via digitally-enhanced archive footage, the late Marlon Brando appeared in the film as Jor-El. "Superman Returns" received positive reviews and grossed approximately $391 million worldwide. In February 2006, four months before the release of "Superman Returns", Warner Bros. announced a
Superman (1978 film) father on Earth. "Superman" was originally scheduled to be released in June 1978, the 40th anniversary of "Action Comics 1", which first introduced Superman, but the problems during filming pushed the film back by six months. Editor Stuart Baird reflected, "Filming was finished in October 1978 and it is a miracle we had the film released two months later. Big-budgeted films today tend to take six to eight months." Donner, for his part, wished that he had "had another six months; I would have perfected a lot of things. But at some point, you've gotta turn the picture over." Warner