Superman (1978 film) Superman (1978 film) Superman (informally titled Superman: The Movie in some listings and reference sources) is a 1978 superhero film directed by Richard Donner starring Christopher Reeve as Superman based on the DC Comics character of the same name. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Panama and the United States, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Jeff East, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford, Phyllis Thaxter, Jackie Cooper, Trevor Howard, Marc McClure, Terence Stamp, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty, Jack O'Halloran, Maria Schell, and Sarah Douglas. It depicts Superman's origin, including his infancy as
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Luthors. He places Lenny in Boys Town, telling the priest that Lenny has been under a bad influence, and returns Lex to prison. In 1983, following the mixed-to-negative reaction to "Superman III", Reeve and the producers, Alexander Salkind and his son Ilya, assumed that the "Superman" films had run their course. Reeve was slated to make a cameo in 1984's "Supergirl" but was unavailable; that film was a box-office failure. Two years later, Ilya Salkind sold the "Superman" franchise to Golan and Globus of Cannon Films. According to Jon Cryer, who played Luthor's nephew Lenny, Reeve had taken him aside