digitalfreaknyc

The facts:

The only HD DVD's to be released will be Superman The Movie (extended cut), Superman 2 (Donner Cut) and Superman Returns.

That means that the following discs will not be released on HD DVD:
Superman The Movie (theatrical cut w/ commentary)
Superman 2 (theatrical cut/bonus material)
Superman 3
Superman 4
Look Up In The Sky documentary
You Will Believe documentary

So that means that anyone who wants both will have to buy the HD DVD's AND the boxed set...which will definitely cost $$$. I'm thinking about $120-$140 for all.

Anyone else doing this? Or is the HD stuff "good enough?"

Vipper II

I prefer the DC of Superman: The Movie, and I'm quite sure I'll prefer the Donner Cut of Superman II, since I can't really stand most of Richard Lester's changes. Superman III and IV are a non-issue. Bottom line - HD DVD stuff is plenty for me.

The Bus

I'll be buying Superman Returns and Superman Returns only. I have zero interest in the old Superman movies and would probably not watch them, even if they were on HD DVD.

Maxflier

Same here.

digitalfreaknyc

What is wrong with you people.

matome

I'll be happy with just S1 & S2 in any cut. Buying Returns blind, but have no interest in 3 & 4 in any form

Shannon Nutt

I'm buying the Ultimate set and the three HD-DVDs. There are very few movies I would consider doing this for, but I'm such a big Superman fan that I can't be without all the other material in the Ultimate set.

Compared to the double dipping I've done for other movies (yes, Mr. Lucas, I'm talking to you), this one doesn't seem so bad...

Oliver Clothesoff

I'd like to have the original theatrical cuts of 1 & 2 and I'm sure they will come to HD eventually, so I'm not too worried at the moment. Sucks for those that are really huge fans and want everything right away.

Mr. Cinema

I'll cave and buy everything.

FantasticVSDoom

Well whatever is on HD is what Im getting...And Digi, we have had this conversation many times. Will you REALLY watch all that stuff?

digitalfreaknyc

But i neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed it!

candyrocket786

I can wait for the TC of S1 and S2....especially since we'll have the SE and DC on HD-DVD

For me, Supes 3 and 4 are almost the equivalent of Highlander 2...so I can wait or skip them all together.

Look Up In The Sky documentary is already on DVD.

BravesMG

I'm in for the Superman Returns, but I never caught the originals. Is the majority feeling that the extended cut of Superman is the best one?

lizard

I wouldn't presume to guess at the majority feeling here but, to me, Superman: The Movie is one of the best, perhaps THE best, comic book movie made to date. But I think it may be an age thing. If one is old enough to have caught Superman: The Movie in a theater, one remembers it as a remarkable, transforming, experience, as was the case for Star Wars a year earlier. If one grew up with it on a little TV screen, then one might have a different view because it loses its "magic". Superman: The Movie was a big screen "event" movie; it should be glorious on HD DVD (and BD, for that matter). Now that effects movies are so common we tend to take a lot of the stuff that was so special about S:tM for granted.

Since I prefer the DC to the TC, I have no qualms about buying the HD DVD coming out. I am not a purist fanatic; I buy what I like. (I prefer the LotR Extended Editions and have zero interest in the theatrical cuts of those movies, for example.) While I don't quite know what to expect with the Donner version of Superman II, I am cautiously optimistic that I will like it better than the TC also. But that remains to be seen.

In the case of Superman Returns, while I enjoyed it, the movie is hardly in the same league as Superman: The Movie. Not even close. So far as the HD DVD is concerned, I am not about to buy a combo disc. I will pick up the inevitable re-release in a year or so. Or I might pick up the combo on the secondary market (Amazon Marketplace or Half.com) if I can get it for cheap. But I am really getting pissed that I am expected to pay extra for combos when all I want is the HD DVD. So far I have not purchased a combo, and I expect that to continue.

My 2¢.

digitalfreaknyc

Having just seen the extended edition again on the big screen this week, I can say that it's honestly in my top 5 best movies ever made. There's very little to pick apart (aside from Can You Read My Mind?). The rest is damn close to perfection.

Big Worms

Same here.

Josh Z

I love the first half of the movie and really hate almost the entire second half. All that stuff with bumbling Ned Beatty, Luthor's ditzy secretary, and the spin-around-the-planet-to-turn-back-time... man, most of that is just embarrassingly awful. And Hackman was a very poor Lex Luthor, IMO.

The Smallville stuff and early scenes in Metropolis, though, pure brilliance.

Spiky

Ditto. Although III is a guilty pleasure, mostly just for Richard Pryor.

Darknite39

Do you suppose there's hope that the 14-discer (or a close approximation) will be released in HD-DVD at some point in the not-too-distant future?

Iron_Giant

Maybe next Christmas, but not before then for sure.

Paul Arnette

This is an interesting question, and one I have been grappling with recently.

I actually prefer the theatrical cut of Superman: The Movie. As with Donner's other director's cuts of Lethal Weapon 1-3, I don't feel the stuff added to Superman: The Movie really adds all that much, and, in some instances, detracts from the film. For example, the scene with a young Lois is just way too contrived, and the extended scenes with Superman entering Lex Luthor's hideout go on forever.

However, I have no particular love for Superman II. I used to think that I liked the Lestner cut, as I seemed to remember enjoying it as a child, but it just did not hold up very well in my opinion.

Superman III and IV are abysmal, and I am not a huge bonus material/documentrary fan, as I usually do not have time to watch such things.

So, where does that leave me... I will definitely buy Superman: The Movie, Superman II: The Richard Donner, and Superman Returns on HD DVD. I may purchase Superman: The Movie on DVD as well, but that will require some thought. Everything else is unnecessary in my eyes.

Eric D.

Just the HD DVD stuff for me. I already have the old Superman box set on DVD as well as the Best Buy 2 disc version of the Look Up In the Sky doc. So I don't feel the need to buy the 14 disc set at all.

bboisvert

Yeah, I'm doing it. I'm not happy about it. And I wouldn't do it for most films.

But Superman is special. I'm doing it.

XavierMike

Just the Hd stuff for me. I hate Supes 3 and 4.

Supermallet

I'll be getting it all! I'm looking at the 14-disc set the way I look at several of the big laserdisc box sets I bought even after DVD came out: they're too cool not to have. Look at that box set, it's a beauty. No way the collector in me could pass that up.

As for Superman: The Movie, it perfectly encapsulates the optimism that many people still associate with America. Christopher Reeve is so utterly charming as both Clark Kent and Superman that you can't help but smile when he's on the screen. It's one of the best comic book movies ever (Batman Begins finally managed to top it, though), and an American classic. I would say the scene where Superman reveals himself and saves Lois from the helicopter crash is one of the most uplifting (pun intended) in all of Hollywood cinema.