"Superman-The Movie" first premiered in over 500 U.S. theaters on December 15, 1978 with a running time of 144 minutes. Since that time, different editions have been released on home video and television with various running times, the longest "official" release to consumers being the expanded 152-minute Special Edition DVD in 2001. However, some television airings around the world have shown an even longer 188 minute edition called "Superman- The Movie: Salkind International Cut", edited by the Salkind's company in the early 80s for worldwide television distribution. Fans rejoiced at seeing extensions and deleted scenes from the film and began discussing the possibility of an official release of a "Superman- The Movie: Restored International Cut" made from those extended televised airings, and over the years several fan attempts to create a watchable version of this epic had failed. The reason for these failures was simple: the quality of these extended network t.v. copies had been far too inferior to any theatrical or current home video release.

For some time Alex Serpa had been discussing restoring the extended version of the film to its original television length of 188 minutes. Alex dabbled for many years trying to find the best possible copies in existence and recently felt he had obtained enough quality footage to begin a restoration attempt on the film officially entitled "Superman-The Movie: Restored International Cut", and he eventually began on the restoration of the film- which included releasing some of his efforts for all to see on youtube.com. Many fans applauded his efforts as he dug deeper into the film's restoration, but to truly have a restored version of the film you must have a quality print to work from.

Enter Mr. Jim Bowers of CapedWonder.com, whose wonderful website captures the true meaning of what Superman is about. From long lost imagery to stories untold, his site is the place to go all for all things Superman. As work continued on the project, Mr. Bowers offered a special gift: his personal 16mm copy of the film to be used as a part of the restoration. Work on the project continued with the added benefit of the wonderful Bowers footage.

On or around this same time another restoration attempt on the film was quietly being made by a team named PhineasBg and Nighthawks at OriginalTrilogy.com (primarily known for its "Star Wars" roots). A discussion thread there was being updated with restoration efforts by PhineasBg, and was then being called "Superman- The Movie: The KCOP Cut". Alex paid a visit to the thread, and despite the fact that he was working on the same restoration attempt, he left encouragement and good faith to the editor.

A while later, at the Bizarro World Forum's all new and first ever live Superman chat room, a member named Wyatt Earp began talking with Alex about a restoration he was also involved with- and little to be known that Wyatt was actually part of the team that was working on OriginalTrilogy's "KCOP Cut".

So in early 2009 discussions began on a possible collaboration and merger between Superman1978.com's (Bizarro World Forum)/Capedwonder's "Restored International Cut" and PhineasBg and Nighthawk's "KCOP Cut". Each of the restorations offered something that the other did not have. Naturally a deal was struck and work began. With this collaboration a quality version of the 188 minute "Superman- The Movie: The Salkind International Cut" can be viewed.

If you have ever seen any version of the extended television broadcasts you will probably appreciate the way it will be presented here: restored frame by frame, a 5.1 audio track, no commercials, subtitles or station ID's, completely uninterrupted and featuring extensive supplemental material never released to home video!

Register on the Bizarro World message forum and visit the thread called "Superman The Movie Restoration" for further details.

The material featured in "Superman-The Movie: Restored International Cut" is in no way meant to infringe on any motion picture copyright laws, but is solely meant as a dedication to the work featured in the film and its creators.

"Superman-The Movie: Restored International Cut" will not be for sale on-line or at any convention, and is NOT meant to be used for profit-making purposes in any way, shape or form, and should not be used as such. No Blu-ray DVDs will be created from this project.

Capedwonder.com, Jim Bowers, Superman1978.com, SupermanII.com, SupermanIII.com, SupermanIV.com, SupergirlTheMovie.com or OriginalTrilogy.com will NOT be distributors of "Superman-The Movie: Restored International Cut".

UPDATE- AUGUST 31, 2009

All of the Krypton, Smallville and Clark treks North scenes have finished video restoration.