Superman II's Donner Cut Explained: Biggest Changes To The 1980 Movie
https://screenrant.com/superman-2-richard-donner-cut-differences-changes-explained/
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut features some pretty big changes from the original 1980 movie. Christopher Reeves' Superman: The Movie is a classic, and given how big of a hit the 1978 film was, it's no surprise that Warner Bros. ordered a sequel; however, production on that second film was marred by controversies and other difficulties. As a result, Superman II was the product of two different directors: Richard Donner — who directed the first Superman — began production on the film, but was eventually replaced by Richard Lester.share
Following the success of the 1976 film The Omen, Donner was hired to direct Superman: The Movie and its sequel, which would be filmed simultaneously; however, personality conflicts arose between Donner and the producers, father-son duo Alexander and Ilya Salkind, and Pierre Spengler. Once filming began, tensions continued to rise, prompting the producers to bring in Richard Lester to "co-produce" the film. Things got so bad that Donner was eventually told to forget about filming anything more for Superman II and just finish up the first film. When Superman: The Movie proved to be a hit, production on the sequel resumed — with Lester at the helm. Despite the fact that Donner had filmed about 70 percent of the sequel, Lester reshot much of the film and radically changed the tone and several sequences.
Although Lester's version of the film was also a hit, in the years following the release of Superman II, there was growing interest in seeing Donner's version — especially with the introduction of DVDs and the trend of re-releasing films as extended or director's cuts. In the early 2000s, a fan campaign began asking Warner Bros. to restore Donner's vision for Superman II for the 25 year anniversary. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. initially was unable to do so because of various reasons. Marlon Brando had sued the studio over royalties, so his likeness could not be used. Donner had never completed filming, and it wasn't possible at that point to film more. Furthermore, Donner had no interest in being involved [via IGN]. However, circumstances changed, and in 2006, the studio released the "Donner Cut" on DVD.
As the Donner Cut was being assembled, the attempt was made to restore as much of Donner's original vision for Superman as possible by using the footage that was already shot. Some of Lester's footage was needed to make a coherent story to fill in the gaps, as well as a screen test and even a sequence from the first movie. The end result is that Superman II: The Donner Cut is not quite a finished film. Instead, it's an interesting look at "what might have been" that features several major differences from the film released in theaters.