The production history of Superman II is a long, troubled, and oft-storied one: Originally, director Richard Donner shot the majority of Superman II during principal photography of Superman (1978), but deadlines and a sky-rocketing budget forced the production to switch gears, so the first film could be delivered for a Christmas '78 release. After that film's success, feuding between Donner and the producers led to the director's dismissal before he could return to complete the second film. With the firing of Donner, producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind brought in director Richard Lester (who had helmed The Three Musketeers [1973] and The Four Musketeers [1974] for them) to finish Superman II. However, Gene Hackman didn't return out of respect to Donner, and after a lawsuit the Salkinds didn't want to pay Marlon Brando again (which explains Susannah York's appearance in some crucial scenes). And to make matters worse, Lester didn't even use th majority of Donner's footage. Despite these seemingly-detrimental strikes against it, Superman II is a remarkably coherent, entertaining film. It's held up well, and is still one of the best sequels to a superhero movie.
