The screenwriter of Batman Returns, Daniel Waters said he was aware of the potential backlash immediately. Tim Burton’s Batman 3never happened because of the reaction to Batman Returns, which was swift and brutal throughout the press. In fact, if it weren’t for the inclusions of Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth and Pat Hingle as the perpetually underused Commissioner Gordon, there would be nothing to connect Batman Forever with the two films that came before it.
Michael Keaton became Val Kilmer, the Art Deco hellscape that was Anton Furst and Bo Welch’s Gotham City became an Andy Warhol inspired Las Vegas party, and Tim Burton’s tearful angst for the mythology’s rotating cast of freaks turned into Joel Schumacher‘s “toyetic” Happy Meal generator. Within the relatively short span of three years, which marked the distance between Batman Returns and Batman Forever, the series not only underwent a facelift, but had a full-on reboot before the word even existed in Hollywood lexicon. Nevertheless, the hue of Batman’s signal in the sky experienced substantial and immediate changes.
It also grossed an undeniably profitable $266 million in worldwide box office receipts. That movie was a saturating force in pop culture as well, appearing on lunchboxes, backpacks, and, of course, McDonald’s Happy Meals. fast-tracked a sequel ( putting Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian on permanent vacation), and the dream team of Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were back for more with 1992’s Batman Returns. It out-grossed Ghostbusters II and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that summer, and went on to be the highest grossing film of all-time up to that point with over $400 million worldwide. As the film that buried the Adam West image of the Caped Crusader, Batman proved to a global audience that the story of Bruce Wayne could be one filled with brooding trauma and fanciful daydreams that crept into our nightmares. Batman was more than a hit movie in 1989 it was a pop culture phenomenon that could be felt on every T-shirt, poster, and trading card being hawked that summer. This seemed especially true for Batman.īut if Donner made people believe a man could fly, Burton made them believe he could also be psychotic enough to dress up like a bat and beat up crazed clowns. Prior to their DC epics, the form was largely viewed by the mainstream as stuff meant to distract the little ones and shut-ins.
Nowadays with no shortage of superhero movies being released each year, it’s easy to take for granted what filmmakers like Richard Donner and Tim Burton did for the superhero genre.
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