Why ‘Batman Returns’ Would Never Work for Today’s Audiences
Batman fans have seen the character take on countless forms over the years. From light-hearted camp to some of the bleakest superhero entertainment around, the Dark Knight has done it all. And yet, Batman Returns — actor Michael Keaton’s second time in the Batsuit — still remains an anomaly in the character’s history. In fact, the movie as it is would probably not exist at all today. And here’s why.
‘Batman’ was the highest-grossing movie of 1989
Coming off of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and the previous year’s Beetlejuice, director Tim Burton must have seemed like a strange fit for the DC Comics superhero. But the Gothic aesthetic Burton and his team brought to the franchise ultimately shaped public perception of Batman for decades. And even upon its initial release, Burton’s film became a cultural phenomenon.
According to Box Office Mojo, 1989’s Batman earned more than $411 million worldwide. The film famously didn’t have enough merchandise deals set up to satisfy fans. And by the time the sequel, Batman Returns, released three years later, Warner Bros. knew this franchise was among its biggest money-makers. But with everything the studio had riding on it, Batman Returns would in no way get made today.
But ‘Batman Returns’ would never happen now
At the time, Batman Returns turned off some fans and critics with its darker tone. Although the movie was a commercial hit, its criticisms led Warner Bros. to take the movies down a lighter route for the follow-up. Batman Forever eventually went ahead without Keaton starring or Burton directing, though the latter did serve as an executive producer. But screenwriter Daniel Waters once admitted the most unbelievable part of Batman Returns.
“Tim and I never had a conversation about like ‘What are fans of the comic book going to think? What are the people going to think? What are the sponsors who have promotions to the movie going to think of this movie?’” Waters said in the Shadows of the Bat behind-the-scenes featurette. “We never had those conversations. We never thought about it. We were really just about the art. We never really got directives from the studio.”
How will ‘The Flash’ reflect the current state of comic book movies?
The notion that Warner Bros. would invest $80 million — the reported production budget of Batman Returns — without considering its sponsorship deals, product tie-ins, or even fan reception would never fly in today’s marketplace. Especially in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), fans’ responses are increasingly dictating creative decisions, for better or worse. But this revelation about Batman Returns explains a lot about the movie.
The drastic departures it takes specifically with Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) contrasts just about every other version of those characters. And with Keaton back as Batman in 2023’s The Flash, it remains to be seen whether that film will address the evolution the Batman film franchise has experienced over the past 30 years. No wonder Batman Returns fans appear to more fervently defend the movie with each passing year.
