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) Bros. spent $7 million to market and promote the film. "Superman" premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. on December 10, 1978, with director Richard Donner and several cast members in attendance. Three days later, on December 13, it had a European Royal Charity Premiere at the Empire, Leicester Square in London in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew. The film set a new all-time U.S. industry record for business during a pre-Christmas week with $12,044,352 and set new records for Warner Bros. for their best opening day ($2,762,112) and three-day weekend ($7,465,343). In the