‘Superman: The Movie’ to Be Released on Ultra HD Blu-Ray for First Time

Many regard Superman: The Movie to be a touchstone of the superhero genre, and it looks like it’s getting a pretty sweet re-release to celebrate.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment recently announced that Superman: The Movie will be released in an Ultra HD Blu-ray combo pack, as well as on digital. The release will be to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary.

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of Superman will feature Dolby VisionTM HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of Superman will also feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead.

Rumors of a 4K UltraHD re-release first popped up in July of this year, to the delight of diehard Superman fans. Besides the film’s anniversary, the re-release comes in a pretty poignant time, following the death of Lois Lane actress Margot Kidder earlier this year.

Directed by Richard Donner (The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, The Lost Boys), the film stars Academy Award® winner Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront,The Godfather) as Jor-El, Academy Award winner Gene Hackman (The French Connection, Unforgiven) as Lex Luthor, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman.

Based on the DC character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman was produced by Pierre Spengler from a story by Mario Puzo and a screenplay by Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton. Ilya Salkind served as executive producer. The film also features Ned Beatty as Otis, Jackie Cooper as Perry White, Glen Ford as Jonathan Kent, Valerie Perrine as Eva Teschmacher, and Terrance Stamp as General Zod.

“What I do know is, they’re great characters,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said of Superman: The Movie in an interview earlier this year. “They’re great characters, they’re good comics, they’ve got great history. I’m not shy about saying, Richard Donner’s Superman I still think is the paradigm by which we all still should follow. It’s all there.”

The Ultra HD Blu-ray combo pack of Superman: The Movie will retail for $41.99, and will be available starting on November 6th. Select digital retailers will be carrying the digital version as well.

Will you be adding this Superman: The Movie digital re-relase to your collection? Let us know what you think in the comments below.