VIDEO: Deleted Opening Sequence From SUPERMAN RETURNS

Included as an extra in the recent Superman Blu-ray set, the original opening sequence from Bryan Singer's Superman Returns has hit the internet.

It's a 5 minute plus sequence of Superman flying around in his crystal spaceship searching for evidence of Krypton (evidence fabricated as part of a trap by Lex Luthor).

 

 

I think that the filmmakers made the right call by pulling this opening. While it's visually impressive (The Hollywood Reporter says that it cost $10 million) and haunting and contains probably a better first reveal of Superman than what we got in the film, it would have probably been too obtuse a way to kick off the return of Superman to the big screen.

Comments

  1. I’m glad that didn’t make it into the movie.

  2. Stirring.

  3. THAT is something cool, exciting and not previously done in other Superman/comic movies. Too bad the rest of the film was so business-as-usual.

  4. @dangit  While it was very cool to see, I would have to agree. It is best that it didn’t make it into the movie.

  5. Geez…how do you just flush $10 million down the drain like that? really makes you consider the costs of movies and how much “waste” there is. 

  6. @wallythegreenmonster Considering the rest of this film, $10 million seems small.  How much do you think that gigantic model train set cost?

  7. @jonnyflash  –I think $10 million is still a lot of money regardless of the budget. Must have been a 12th hour cut since the VFX on that are pretty well done. 

  8. @wallythegreenmonster ~5% of the total budget.  

    Signifigant I guess, but it makes total sense why they cut it.  It seems like it must have been part of a whole cut sub-plot, since the rest of the film makes no mention of Lex plotting to lure Superman into space(I believe that was elaborated upon in the novelization).  Opening the movie with this sequence just confuses everyone and requires more explaniations later(Lex:”I can’t believe you really thought your people were alive because of a few doctored photos?”)

    There are a lot of things to like about this scene, notably the visual symetry with the kryptonite island that Lex creates at the end.   

  9. @jonnyflash  –i would be really happy if .5% of the film’s budget ended up in a duffle bag at my front door =)

  10. Man, I wish they had kept that in.  I would have walked out immediately instead of (still) being disappointed that I watched the film instead of something else.

  11. So spaceship flying isn’t in Superman’s power set.
    How do you not see a planet sized -iceberg- ?

    Furtherproof that this movie was a turd.  10 mil for that and they didn’t use it.
    Not anyone’s A game on this project when 10 mil ends up on the cutting room floor.

  12. I thought this was visually impressive, emotional without any dialogue, and very sci-fi – it really made me think about how alien Superman really is, despite his human appearance and socialization.

    However, I don’t think audiences would have bought in that this was a Luthor trap. Lex is brilliant, but even he has his technological limits. If Superman required a crystal Kryptonian ship to go that far out, and it took him 5 years, there is no way Lex would have the technology to get that elaborate of a trap in place in advance of Superman’s arrival. So, good call to remove it.

  13. I kinda like the idea of a big summer movie opening as obliquely and as confusingly as this, with us sneaking up, a bit, on the hero of the movie. Watching this reminds me of Superman’s trials in All Star Superman, with Superman focusing on what he needs to do, a personal quest, not protecting humanity from whatever. I always like those kinds of stories, where Superman is focusing on a mystery or a task that only he can take on, that only he can understand. 

    A sleepy way to open (reminds me of the end of Star Trek: The Motion Picture) but intriguing.

     

  14. This makes me think there is now no possibility of Stanley Kubrick directing a superhero movie. That makes me sad.

  15. @JNewcomb  You should have come to that realization a little over ten years ago.   😉

  16. Ok, wow. First impressions, this dude really is an alien. Second how did luthor plan such an elaborate trap? Thirdly this is freakin wesome. No dialogue opening?! Vii ya. What else was cutboo dude us

  17. @JNewcomb  He’s dead man

  18. This was really neat.  Thanks

  19. I have to say I’d rather have seen this than Lex’s model trains

  20. I’d rather have seen this than Lex’s model trains

  21. That pomade really holds well in space. it was alright

  22. You know those blokes over on fanedits.com are just going to love this scene.

  23. Matrix- This is exaclty what this looks like.

  24. How much of that money was spent on making Brandon Routh’s eyes that striking blue?

  25. That was very impressive.  Personally would have like to seen that as the opener.

    @TheGoddamnDeadpool – HA!

  26. You know what they say about those who fly in glass houses throwing stones at a giant S that’s hiding a massive amount of radioactive kryptonite.

  27. Why not have just made a whole movie of Superman in space?  Its like the Star Wars prequels… the parts you really WANTED to really see, they only gave you bits and pieces and focused on lame boring crap.

    Seriously… think about it… Luthor directs Superman to space…. Superman makes it out there only to get ambushed…
    Film 1:  Superman defeats alien threat to himself, but at the cost of this crystal ship
    Film 2:  Superman must make his way through space to get home, runs into another major threat… who he doesn’t defeat and the movie ends on a cliffhanger where said threat is HEADING TO EARTH
    Film 3:  Superman returns… Lex is president.  Lois  has a kid.  Superman has to stop the threat to Earth. yadda yadda yadda

    Superman’s adventures in space could have been a whole trilogy upon themselves.  Enough of Lex Luthor already.
     

  28. Yes I know Kubrick is dead. I just realize now he would have made an incredible superhero flick!

  29. How would Lex Luthor gotten out there to set that all up? It makes no sense, which is why they took it out. Plus it came across like a 2001: A Space Odyssey version of Superman, which doesn’t match with the rest of the movie.

  30. So we learned nothing new and get to see a HUGE “S” shield that just serves to enable Superman thinking of himself as a savior in this movie.

  31. @JesseCuster  Sigh. It would have been ridiculously expensive and while it may have been what you want to see most movie goers want to see and it would have been jsut too generic. Superman fights aliens.