Superman III

Superman III is a 1983 movie that is a sequel to Superman II from 1980.

Critical reaction

The total domestic box office gross for Superman III was $59,950,623http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086393/business. It was considered a major financial disappointment since the first two movies each grossed over $100 million. A frequent criticism of Superman III is the inclusion of comedian Richard Pryor, who wound up getting the second biggest role in the movie behind Christopher Reeve. Many suspected that Pryor (who was riding off of the heels of smash hits like Stir Crazy and The Toy) helped himself into getting into Superman III after appearing on The Tonight Show and telling Johnny Carson about how much he enjoyed watching Superman II. Audiences also saw Robert Vaughn's villainous Ross Webster as an uninspired fill-in for Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, who sat out Superman III due to his problems with the Salkinds. Hackman along with Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) were upset with the way the Salkinds treated ' director Richard Donner. The Salkinds retaliated against Kidder by severely reducing her role in Superman III.

Related Topics:
Box office - Richard Pryor - Christopher Reeve - Stir Crazy - The Toy - The Tonight Show - Johnny Carson - Superman II - Robert Vaughn - Gene Hackman - Lex Luthor - Margot Kidder - Lois Lane - Richard Donner

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Fans also placed most of the blame on director Richard Lester, who unlike with Superman II (when he was brought in by the Salkinds after they fired Richard Donner midway through the production), made Superman III from start to finish. Lester broke tradition by having Superman III opening up with a prolonged slapstick sequence with difficult-to-read titles over it (the first two movies opened up in outerspace with big and bold credits). Fans believed that Lester, unlike Donner, had virtually little if any knowledge or more importantly, respect for the Superman legacy and legend. In fact, Richard Donner was supposedly fired because he wouldn't go follow the Salkinds' vision of Superman being campy (a la the Batman television series starring Adam West). Superman III is commonly seen as more or less, a goofy (albeit uneven) farce than a grandiose adventure picture like the first two movies.

Related Topics:
Richard Lester - Slapstick - Camp - Batman - Adam West

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Film critic Leonard Maltin said of Superman III that it was an "appalling sequel that trashed everything that Superman was about for the sake of cheap laughs and a co-starring role for Richard Pryor." Fans generally agree though that the only redeeming and sincere moments in Superman III were the scenes involving Clark Kent and his childhood sweetheart Lana Lang, who for all intents and purposes, replaced Lois Lane as the love interest in this movie, and the climactic junkyard fight between Clark Kent and the "Evil Superman." "Evil Superman's" acts of assorted mischef have also made the film immensly popular amongst fans of the "Superdickery" website, and the film has become better received in much the same way the Adam West Batman film is looked on favourably.

Related Topics:
Leonard Maltin - Clark Kent - Lana Lang - Batman

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