Superman III [1983]

Random Trivia For This Title:

• According to the producers' commentary on the Superman III: Deluxe Edition DVD, contrary to popular belief, this film was not a flop. While both critics and fans generally expressed disappointment with the third Superman movie, and the fact that its $60 million gross fell short of the previous two movies' $100 million+ box office business, Superman III still yielded an impressive profit; this in the wake of stiff competition during the summer of 1983, with Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi opening three weeks earlier, and Octopussy opening just ten days earlier.
• Although this sequel was released two years after Superman II, it had actually been four years since Christopher Reeve filmed the role - his work on the second movie was completed in 1979.
• The little boy who appears waiting by the photo-booth while Clark Kent changes into Superman was actually the same little boy who played baby Kal-El (Superman) in Superman.
• The closing shots of Superman in space were lifted from Superman and also reused in Superman II and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
• According to the writers, the original choice to play Ross Webster was Alan Alda. They wanted an actor who could be ruthless without losing any charm. Executive producer Ilya Salkind said in the DVD commentary that his choice was Frank Langella. Langella later starred as Perry White in Superman Returns.
• When the villains are preparing to visit the site of the super-computer, Ross, Vera, and Lorelei use helicopter-like devices to float to the canyon floor. Gus prefers to ride his burro, stating, "I don't believe a man can fly!" - a reference to the tagline of the first movie in the series, "You'll believe a man can fly!"
• Annette O'Toole who plays Lana Lang, plays Martha Kent in the CW TV series [Smallville].
• The video game "played" by Ross Webster was created for the film and originally looked very life-like, so much so that the creators were asked to make it look more computer-like, so that the fact that it was actually a game would be more obvious to the audience.
• The program Gus creates in the beginning that supposedly impossible is just a series of PRINT statements when Gus lists it.
• 8352 had less than five minutes of screen time in this film, with only twelve lines in total, after she expressed her disgust to the producers over the firing of Richard Donner from Superman II.