WB To Release Three Hour Cut of Superman: The Movie
In 1982 ABC broadcast a special three-hour cut of Superman: The Movie over two nights. At 188 minutes, it was almost forty minutes longer than the original, and contained many scenes that have never been seen since. Until now, the only way you could see some of these scenes was if you had a VHS taping of that ABC airing. But now you can finally put away that dusty cassette for good — Warner Bros. is releasing an HD transfer of this version of the film through their Warner Archive program.
Some scenes are simply longer, while others close plot holes and add extra elements. For example, when young Clark Kent is racing the train, we get a peek inside said train that reveals Lois Lane is riding inside it with her parents. She sees Clark and points him out, but her parents (played by Noel Neill and Kirk Alyn, who portrayed Lois and Superman respectively in 1937) don’t look and refuse to believe her.
In another scene, shortly after Superman spins the world backwards to save Lois, Lex Luthor attempts to feed Miss Teschmacher to a pit full of lions — until Superman saves her (see the splash image for a pic from this scene).
WB will be releasing this “3-hour long TV version” on Blu-Ray later this year though their website. The preorder page has yet to go up, but you can see more details in the Facebook post announcing the disc.