Superman (1978 film) finish writing duties. George MacDonald Fraser was later hired to do some work on the script, but he says he did little. Their script was submitted in July 1976, and carried a camp tone, including a cameo appearance by Telly Savalas as his "Kojak" character. The scripts for "Superman" and "Superman II" were now at over 400 pages combined. Pre-production started at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, with sets starting construction and flying tests being unsuccessfully experimented. "In Italy," producer Ilya Salkind remembered, "we lost about $2 million [on flying tests]." Marlon Brando found out he could not film in Italy
Superman (1978 film) and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (November 1977), some observers credit the three films collectively for launching the reemergence of a large market for science fiction films in the 1980s. This is certainly the view of "Superman" producer Ilya Salkind and some who have interviewed him, as well as of film production assistant Brad Lohan. Other observers of film history tend to credit the resurgence of science fiction films simply to the Lucas and Spielberg productions, and see "Superman" as the first of the new cycle of films launched by the first two. Ilya Salkind denies any connection between