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 in film Before the failure of "", Cannon Films considered producing a fifth film with Albert Pyun as director. Cannon's bankruptcy resulted in the film rights reverting to Ilya and Alexander Salkind. Ilya Salkind wrote the story for "Superman V" (also known as "Superman: The New Movie") with "Superboy" writers Cary Bates and Mark Jones in the early-1990s. The story had Superman dying and resurrecting in the shrunken, bottled Krypton city of Kandor. The premise of Superman's death and rebirth coincidentally predated "The Death of Superman". Salkind, Bates and Jones developed two drafts of the script, with Christopher Reeve set to reprise