 Max Fleischer (qv) and Dave Fleischer (qv) were reluctant to  take this assignment because it would require much more realistic  designs and animation than they usually used. They tried to  discourage the studio by stating they would need a budget of around  $100,000 per short, four times the budget of an average  Walt Disney (qv) cartoon, which then had the highest budgets in  animation). To their shock, Paramount executives agreed to the  amount, which made the Superman series