25 best director’s cut movies

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980)

Superman II had a troubled production history. Original director Richard Donner was dropped from the film after a dispute with the producers, whereupon Richard Lester stepped in to finish the film – adding a more comedic tone.

Donner eventually returned to rework the film, using the footage he'd shot before being dropped from the film alongside some Lester footage – and even using shots from screen tests. The resulting patchwork is as close as we're going to get to Donner's original vision.