Although he was not a comic book fan , Singer was most impressed with Donner 's 1978 film , citing it as an influence of his , Dougherty and Harris 's writing . With Singer 's hiring , he dropped out of '' X-Men : The Last Stand '' ( 2006 ) and also had the '' Logan 's Run '' remake pushed back . '' Superman Returns '' was financed 50/50 between Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures , and pre-production began in November 2004 . By February 2005 , Dougherty and Harris had written six drafts of the script . Early versions of the script contained references to the September 11 attacks before they were removed
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Superman Returns