Trivia: For several years after release, director Bryan Singer attempted to get a sequel made, which would have been far more action-packed and moody and would have had the title "Man of Steel." The film was never made in part because Singer became attached to other projects, co-star Brandon Routh's contract expiring and an impending writer's strike. Somewhat ironically, the next Superman film was a reboot that used the title "Man of Steel" and was notable for being much more action-packed and moody in tone, similar to how Singer wanted to approach his sequel.
Trivia: One of the reasons a sequel wasn't fast-tracked is because the film made about $400 million worldwide against a budget of around an estimated $200 million. Though the film subsequently became quite profitable on DVD and Blu-Ray and was one of the top rentals and sellers for both 2006 and 2007, studio executives got cold feet, as they had initially hoped the film would hit the $500 million mark in theaters. Director Bryan Singer in an interview once half-jokingly but mostly seriously exclaimed: "That movie made $400 million! I don't know what constitutes under-performing these days."
Trivia: Bryan Singer became attached to the project as he was a massive fan of the original Richard Donner film from the 70's. He sought Donner's approval and aimed to make this film a "true" sequel to Donner's film and Donner's original vision of "Superman II", disregarding the third and fourth films.
Trivia: Due to the exposure and revamped interest this film gave to the prior "Superman" movies, original "Superman" director Richard Donner was able to finally complete and release a "director's cut" of "Superman II"- a project which he filmed a great portion of before being fired and replaced with Richard Lester. Donner's cut of the film however had to get creative and use archival footage from the other films and screen-test footage to fill in the gaps for incomplete scenes.
Trivia: Henry Cavill was considered to play Superman. He'd later go on to play the part in Man of Steel and subsequent movies.
Trivia: While the film received generally positive reviews and decent fan reception upon release, it gained a moderate amount of backlash in the years since its release due to its slower pace and lack of action in the first half. Director Bryan Singer has admitted that the film is a bit too heavy on drama and light on action, and has stated that if he could go back and re-do the film he would have cut out most of the first act to quicken the film, and would have begun the movie with the famous "plane rescue" sequence to grab ahold of the audience's attention early on.
Answer: There are two stories: a) the suit was made by Martha Kent from the blankets which came with Superman when he was a child and these blankets got superstrenght from the sun too. b) Superman generates an aura which protects him and his suit against such forces. Both stories can be true: either the suit itself is weakend by the kryptonite or Superman's aura was weakend by it. Currently it is said that the blanket-story is the correct one. Also, they don't actually cut it off him - it appears to open along a predefined line (coupled with someone exclaiming "got it!"), presumably the method Superman uses to get into the suit himself.
Bjoern_Buller