The Director: Richard Donner

The Studio: Warner Bros (though really producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind)

The Fight: The mammoth shoot for Superman and Superman II in 1977 proved to be fraught with tension between director Richard Donner and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind.

But while they kept it in check long enough for the first film to be released in 1978, the trouble boiled over when the producers decided to snip Marlon Brando's scenes from the sequel to avoid paying his excessive fee.

That didn't sit well with Donner, who publicly spoke out about the move, angry that they were messing with his vision. "They have to want me to do it. It has to be on my terms and I don't mean financially. I mean control."

After more back and forth, the Salkinds eventually terminated Donner in the coldest way possible: "After I waited to hear for six or eight weeks, I got a telegram that said, 'Your services are no longer needed.'" Ouch!

He was replaced with "producer" Richard Lester, who had acted as a go-between for the parties and was on set for much of the shoot, and a lot of new footage was shot from a re-written script.

Lester got the credit in the theatrical version.

The Victor: Warners. And, now, Donner: the studio released Lester's cut and it was successful, helping to spawn two more sequels (um, thanks?)

But Donner nabbed the last word in 2006 with his own cut of the movie, released on DVD and Blu-ray (it's still the only version to arrive on high-def formats).

Next: Touch Of Evil